A WATER bubbler labelled a "monstrosity" will be removed from a Beechworth street after Indigo Council conceded it was wrong to install it in a heritage spot.
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The shire has been strongly criticised for placing the drinking fountain outside Beechworth Gold opposite the former post office.
"It's a silver monstrosity, the most ugliest thing you've seen," accommodation owner Heidi Freeman said.
"I thought 'am I seeing things?' when I saw it, how can this modern fountain be in that part of town in front of our heritage streetscapes."
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Ms Freeman said she had "painstakingly" renovated properties in the town to comply with heritage requirements and was disappointed to realise the council had approved of the fountain in that location.
Others on a community Facebook page described it as "not heritage, looks like a soup spoon bent in half", a "slap in the face" to residents and "dangerous".
Mayor Jenny O'Connor said it was designed to give those with mobility issues access to water and reduce reliance on plastic bottled water, but she accepted the feedback it did not fit in with the streetscape and said it would be removed.
"The corner's streetscape is very iconic and people want that preserved and I understand that and so do I (want it preserved)," Cr O'Connor said.
"In this case we missed the call and we're happy to fix it."
Cr O'Connor said shire heritage advisor Deborah Kemp agreed to the site but had not seen the design beforehand.
The bubbler will be used elsewhere in the shire and a different design will be considered for that area.
The same model of drinking fountain has already been installed at Beechworth's Baarmutha Park as well as Chiltern and Rutherglen.
In a message to residents, shire chief executive Trevor Ierino stated "we agree with the recent feedback we have received, it looks out of place, and we will change it. We got it wrong".
