Wallace's devotion led him to remain in his Parisian villa even as the city was besieged, rather than take refuge on one of his palatial estates, so as to be in Paris when he was needed.

He founded a hospital, where he personally welcomed victims of the bombings and distributed supplies, among his other efforts on behalf of Parisians at war.

As a result of the siege of Paris and the Commune episode, many aqueducts had been destroyed, and the price of water, already higher than normal, increased considerably.

The fountains had to meet several strict guidelines: The locations, as well as the color (a dark green, like all urban development of that era, in order to blend in with the parks and tree-lined avenues), were quickly chosen by the city government.

The fountains are still molded by the historical foundry G.H.M Wishing that his project be completed as rapidly as possible, Wallace called on Charles-Auguste Lebourg, a sculptor from Nantes whom he knew and whose talents were already renowned.

The more recent designs are not as strongly steeped in Wallace's aesthetic ideals, that in true Renaissance style, they should be useful, beautiful, and symbolic, in addition to being real works of art.

(size: 2.71 m, 610 kg) The large model was conceived by Sir Richard Wallace, and was inspired by the Fontaine des Innocents.

On a foundation of Hauteville stone rests an octagonal pedestal on which four caryatids are affixed with their backs turned and their arms supporting a pointed dome decorated by dolphins.

To make distribution easier, two tin-plated, iron cups attached to the fountain by a small chain were at the drinker's desire, staying always submerged for cleanliness.

[1] In the middle of a semi-circular pediment, the head of a naiad issues a trickle of water that falls into a basin resting between two pilasters.

This model, costing little to install, was to have been many units along the lengths of the walls of buildings with strong humanitarian focus, e.g. hospitals.

The general shape resembles that of the Large Model and the caryatids were replaced with small columns to reduce the cost of fabrication.

The responsibility for choosing such locations fell to Eugene Belgrand, a hydraulic engineer and Director of Water and Sewers of Paris who worked with the prefect Georges-Eugène Haussmann.

The fountains work from March 15 to November 15 (the risk of freezing during the months of winter would imperil the internal plumbing), are regularly maintained and are repainted every few years.