S.F.'s controversial fountain deemed ‘hazardous' and will be fenced off indefinitely

San Francisco Chronicle​

8 hours ago

San Francisco officials ordered Vaillancourt Fountain on Embarcadero Plaza to be fenced off indefinitely Monday morning after a new report concluded that its crumbling condition poses a public safety risk.
Construction of the fence, scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Monday and continue throughout the week, cast new doubt on the massive artwork's future as a major renovation of the plaza gets underway.
The blocky, 710-ton sculpture has been a lightning rod for public opinion for more than a half-century, but it was a draw for parkgoers who darted through its gushing water and for skateboarders who plied its famed stairs and ledges.
But a pump failure has left the fountain dry for the past year, and the closure seeks to prevent anyone from climbing on the interactive structure or even getting close to it.
It comes as a result of an independent report commissioned by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, which manages Embarcadero Plaza, as officials consider how to treat the fountain as part of the planned $30 million plaza renovation.
The 122-page assessment issued last week by architecture firm Page & Turnbull found that the 55-year-old public art is corroding and deteriorating, contains toxic materials including asbestos and lead, and fails to meet seismic safety codes. Based on those findings, Recreation and Park staff judged the sculpture unsafe for the public to interact with and for structural maintenance workers to get inside and repair.
'The fountain isn't just falling apart — it's hazardous,' said Recreation and Park spokesperson Tamara Aparton. 'The structure is cracked, corroded and missing key supports. Add lead and asbestos to the mix, and it's a serious safety risk. That's why we're fencing it off now, to protect the public while longer term decisions are made.'
The new steel mesh security fencing will be 3½ feet tall on the Market Street side, so people can still lean over it and look at the sculpture. In the back, on the Embarcadero side, it will connect to an existing 6-foot-tall fence.
The reinforced concrete artwork by Canadian sculptor Armand Vaillancourt, completed in 1971, is part of San Francisco's Civic Art Collection, and any final decision about its fate will be determined by the Arts Commission after public hearings and possibly a vote by the Board of Supervisors.
The city is in the planning and design phase for an ambitious new park that will combine Embarcadero Plaza and the adjacent Sue Bierman Park in a space spanning 5 acres, twice the size of Union Square.
Since the release of a preliminary rendering of the park that omitted the fountain, Vaillancourt and architectural preservationists have been lobbying for it to stay put.
The report, which included structural analysis by DCI Engineers and hazardous materials testing by North Tower Environmental, did not specify the cost of bringing the fountain up to code and restoring the water element. Rec and Park estimates the cost to fully renovate the artwork, inside and out, at $12 million to $17 million, with ongoing maintenance costs of $100,000 per year.
Boosters of Brutalist architecture and other preservationists have been lobbying on the fountain's behalf, and in May, the 95-year-old Vaillancourt made a trip from his home in Montreal to meet with staff of both the Arts Commission and Rec and Park to plead for his sculpture's preservation.
'They made the new plan, and my monumental sculpture is not there,' Vaillancourt told the Chronicle during a visit to his namesake work. 'I'm here to save that piece of art.'
The fountain is 40 feet tall, and Vaillancourt told the Chronicle it is anchored 40 feet down. It survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which severely damaged the adjacent Embarcadero Freeway, forcing that structure's demolition. The sculptor argued that cleaning and repairing the fountain would return it to its original glory and keep it sound for another century. He also said the fountain is immobile, and demolishing it would cost more than it would to fix it.
But the technical report tells a different story. It states that the fountain sits on bay mud and infill and does not meet seismic safety standards. In a major earthquake, 'The structure is likely to yield and deform beyond that deformation already apparent in some of the stress cracking in the concrete,' it says.
The report also states that parts of the interior support structure are corroded or missing, and asbestos-containing materials and lead-based paint were found in parts of the sculpture, including the pump room.
Mechanical and electrical systems 'are beyond their serviceable life' and would need to be replaced, it says.
Disassembling and reassembling the fountain would be 'feasible,' the report says, but 'require substantial effort and time' to perform. The job would be complicated by the large machinery needed to stabilize and move the concrete tubes, and the dangers to workers who would have to climb in and around the pipes to cut them — as well as the precautions needed to prevent asbestos exposure.
'Overall, Vaillancourt exhibits a range of deterioration that must be addressed for the fountain to be enjoyed safely,' the report summary reads.
'That said,' it concludes, 'the fountain does not appear yet to have deteriorated beyond repair, though certain systems and components have, and there may be a variety of approaches to treatment to be explored in future phases that could stabilize and restore it.'
In the meantime, Aparton said, 'the bottom line is that the fountain is no longer safe to approach or interact with.'
Arts Commission spokesperson Coma Te concurred. 'Given the findings presented in the structural report, public safety comes first,' he said in an email. 'The Arts Commission supports Rec and Park's decision to secure the area as they work to complete planning and design work for the plaza.'