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 " pissing contest " with other park feature artists . Grant Park have been protected since 1836 by " forever open , clear and free " legislation that have been affirmed by four previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings . 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 have what are termed the Montgomery Ward height restrictions on buildings and structures in Grant Park . However , Crown Fountain and Jay Pritzker Pavilion , which stand 139 feet ( 42 m ) tall , was exempt from the height restriction because they was classified as works of art and not buildings or structures .