 Before the fountain was completed in 2004 , Art Institute of Chicago president James Wood felt the columns would be too tall and other community leaders felt that the height and scale of the project stemmed from a " <unk> contest " with other park feature artists . Grant Park has been protected since 1836 by " forever open , clear and free " legislation that has been affirmed by four previous Illinois Supreme Court <unk> . Aaron Montgomery Ward twice sued the city of Chicago in the 1890s to force it to remove buildings and structures from Grant Park , and to keep it from building new ones . As a result , the city has what are termed the Montgomery Ward height restrictions on buildings and structures in Grant Park . However , Crown Fountain and Jay <unk> Pavilion , which stands 139 feet ( 42 m ) tall , were exempt from the height restriction because they were classified as works of art and not buildings or structures . 
