Latest news with #ArmandVaillancourt
San Francisco Chronicle
16 hours ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. officials take first formal step to remove controversial fountain from Embarcadero Plaza
San Francisco parks officials this week requested the removal of the massive Vaillancourt Fountain from Embarcadero Plaza, the first written acknowledgement that they do not intend to include the controversial 710-ton sculpture in the plaza's planned redesign. 'We respectfully request the Arts Commission's consideration and approval to proceed with the formal deaccession of the Vaillancourt Fountain from the Civic Art Collection and its removal from Embarcadero Plaza,' read a letter from Recreation and Parks Department General Manager Phil Ginsbug sent Monday to top management of the Arts Commission, which owns the fountain. 'This step is necessary to ensure public safety, uphold responsible stewardship of civic assets, and realize a reimagined Embarcadero Plaza that serves all San Franciscans.' The letter, a copy of which was provided to the Chronicle by Rec and Park officials, notes that it would cost an estimated $29 million to restore the broken-down fountain to working order. That sum almost equals the entire $32.5 million budget for the ambitious park makeover to combine the area formerly known as Justin Herman Plaza with Sue Bierman Park, creating a seamless 5-acre multiuse destination across from the Ferry Building. The concrete Brutalist fountain, which has been a lightning rod for public opinion since its debut a half-century ago, sits in the middle of the planned multiuse area. A Rec and Park report estimates that it would cost $2.5 million to remove it. Rec and Park owns the property and is in charge of the plaza renovation project, which is a public-private partnership. But the Arts Commission will ultimately determine the fountain's fate, with the final decision possibly being sent to a vote by the Board of Supervisors. The letter was received by the Arts Commission on Monday afternoon, and staff is considering next steps, which will include evaluation and a presentation to the Visual Arts Committee and full commission at a meeting this fall. The fountain cannot be removed without the commission's approval. If the commission votes to deaccession it, the sculpture will no longer be part of San Francisco's Civic Art Collection, in which case it would either be destroyed or offered back to the artist who created it, Armand Vaillancourt, or even a private collector. Either party would have to cover the cost of its removal, according to Coma Te, director of communications for the Arts Commission, the city agency in charge of art and culture. 'Due to the size and nature of the work it would prove difficult to relocate elsewhere in the city,' said Te. 'The full commission will have the final say, and if they decide to keep it we will need to find a funding source to renovate it.' The cost of its removal, should that be the final decision, is included in the budget for the Embarcadero Plaza project, which is currently in the design phase. Initial renderings did not include the fountain, prompting an outcry from preservationists who want the sculpture, opened in 1972, to remain. Those concerns even brought a visit from Vaillancourt, now 95, from his home in Canada to San Francisco in May to argue for its restoration and preservation. 'This survived a 7.1 earthquake with no damage, not a scratch, but they never took care of it,' he told the Chronicle, during the June visit. 'There's nothing wrong with it except the dirt.' At a community outreach meeting in July, project manager Harrison Goodwin told the audience that it was impractical to keep the fountain, a statement that moved the artist's daughter, Oceania Vaillancourt, who lives in San Francisco, to tears. The letter sent Monday was the written follow-up to that determination. 'The current location, scale, and orientation of the fountain fragment the plaza, hinder sightlines, and constrain circulation and event programming,' read the letter. . . 'The scale of the fountain is incompatible with the open lawn and gathering spaces envisioned in the new design. Simply put, the design cannot meet community needs or project goals while retaining the fountain in place.' Alexis Vaillancourt, who represents his Montreal-based father, said he still held a glimmer of hope when reached by phone Wednesday. 'We are not surprised. Everything was going that way,' he said. 'We are still trying to see what is possible to do, in order to preserve it.'
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
SF fountain that divides public opinion to be fenced off
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A controversial fountain along San Francisco's waterfront has been ordered closed off from the public. The Vaillancourt Fountain across from the Ferry Building at Embarcadero Plaza is being fenced off in the interest of public safety, according to city officials. A representative with the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department told that a recent report had made it clear that the fountain, in its current state, is a potential hazard. 'The Vaillancourt Fountain was designed for people to interact with,' an official said. 'This report made it clear that is no longer safe.' Two Bay Area restaurants named among 'world's best' by prestigious global ranking According to a Rec and Parks official, parts of the fountain are 'cracked, corroded, or missing,' including a key support rod in one of the structure's arms. The fountain also contains hazardous materials like lead and asbestos. 'As a result, we are fencing it off,' a parks official said. People will still be able to view the fountain, but not to walk through it or get close to it. Installed in 1971, the Vaillancourt Fountain divides public opinion. Fans of brutalist architecture and preservationists have defended the 710-ton sculpture, which has been inactive as a fountain for the past year due to a pump failure. Recently, plans were unveiled for a $30-million renovation of the Embarcadero Plaza and adjoining Sue Bierman Park. The fountain was not pictured in renderings for the planned renovations. Armand Vaillancourt, the Canadian artist behind the fountain, visited SF last month to try and urge city officials to preserve the structure. Parks officials maintain that the report will have no impact on long-term plans for the future of Vaillancourt Fountain. 'This step is strictly about ensuring public safety,' officials told KRON4. 'It doesn't impact the timeline or scope of the broader Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park Renovation Project.' Parks officials maintain that long-term decisions regarding the fountain's future will follow public process established by the San Francisco Arts Commission, including review from the Visual Arts Committee, and will include opportunities for community impact. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
San Francisco Chronicle
09-06-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F.'s controversial fountain deemed ‘hazardous' and will be fenced off indefinitely
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.'
San Francisco Chronicle
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. fountain's 95-year-old creator returns: ‘I'm here to save that piece of art'
The creator of the giant Vaillancourt Fountain at San Francisco's Embarcadero Plaza is aware that he may never see it restored to its former glory with water gushing through its white concrete pipes and channels. But dry and dingy as it is, the monumental artwork has been there for nearly 55 controversial years, and Armand Vaillancourt says it can last another 55 at least. That is why Vaillancourt, 95, made the six-hour flight from Montreal to San Francisco this week. 'I'm here to save that piece of art,' he said in a thick Quebecois accent while sitting in the sun Tuesday admiring his work. The 40-foot-tall, 710-ton fountain, installed in 1971 next to the Embarcadero Freeway, has survived a legion of critics over the decades who decried its blocky Brutalist aesthetic. It also survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which damaged the freeway beyond repair. But its supporters, including Vaillancourt, fear it may not survive the pending transformation of the park that surrounds it. An ambitious $30 million project is underway to dramatically redesign Embarcadero Plaza, formerly known as Justin Herman Plaza, and link it to the adjacent Sue Bierman Park. The effort was announced last November by then-Mayor London Breed, and endorsed by the Board of Supervisors in March. A preliminary rendering published with the announcement did not show the fountain. That got the attention of Vaillancourt's daughter Oceania, who informed her father. The project is still in the planning phase. No design decisions have been made, no public hearings have been held, and Vaillancourt said no representative of the city has reached out to him. But he did not like what he did not see on the renderings. So he booked his own flight and booked his own preemptive hearing this week with the staff of the San Francisco Arts Commission, which owns the sculpture as part of the Civic Art Collection. 'They made the new plan and my monumental sculpture is not there,' said Vaillancourt. He described his message to city staff as, 'Be reasonable. Let that artwork live forever.' 'This survived a 7.1 earthquake with no damage, not a scratch, but they never took care of it,' he said. 'There's nothing wrong with it except the dirt.' San Francisco Recreation and Park Department officials told the Chronicle that they had met with Vaillancourt on Wednesday. 'It was an initial conversation focused on listening and exploring ways we might work together going forward,' said spokesperson Tamara Aparton. She said the park department spent an average of $100,000 per year on maintenance of the fountain, which includes repairing persistent leaks and clogged drains, servicing the pumps, removing debris and cleaning graffiti. But the only recent sign of attention Vaillancourt said he could see was a high fence on the Embarcadero side, an apparent attempt by the city to keep people from sleeping on the sculpture. While he was there Tuesday, a security guard came and rousted people who seemed to be setting up camp. He had not visited the fountain in eight years, and his first reaction upon seeing it was to utter: 'Wow.' 'The joy,' he said. 'It is so powerful.' The fountain's sheer size is part of its artistic power — and a major issue in deciding its fate. Part of the civic discussion is whether it can be moved to another location in the city, or put into storage. Vallaincourt laughed at that idea. The fountain, which took him four years to build, is anchored to a foundation 40 feet deep and has steel cables running throughout. It was intended to shift and sway but never break, and did not even burst a pipe during the Loma Prieta quake. However, it eventually blew a pump, and last summer the water was turned off. It would cost millions to repair, but Vaillancourt said it would cost millions more to demolish the fountain and backfill the huge crater that would leave behind. He endorses whatever plan the city has for the plaza, which is likely to remove the brick and replace it with grass and trees or other natural elements. He said the fountain will go perfectly amid all of this, provided it is sandblasted to return it to its original white luster, and the water is turned back on. (When it was installed, the flow at 30,000 gallons a minute was intended in part to drown out the traffic noise from the adjacent freeway.) 'If you keep the sculpture like it is, people cannot enjoy it,' he said. 'When the water is on, the kids run through it. It's a big toy in a sense.' The redesign and renovation is a partnership between the Recreation and Park Department, the Downtown SF Partnership and BXP (formerly Boston Properties), the commercial real estate firm that owns the four Embarcadero Center office buildings east of the plaza. One community outreach meeting has been held by the park department, and a second one is to be scheduled sometime this spring or summer. Vaillancourt said he has done his own community outreach and claimed that 'all of the people we talk to, engineers and architects and all that, they say do anything in the park but don't touch Vaillancourt Fountain.' Skateboarders, who like to thrash up the concrete benches, don't want it touched. Neither do the members of the Northern California chapter of Docomomo US, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the architecture of the modern movement. They will host an informal picnic at 4 p.m. Friday at the fountain, with Vaillancourt promising to attend and engage in any form of conversation or debate. With his distinctive flowing white hair and beard, he describes himself as a 'small tiger,' and though he will be 96 in September, 'all my life I've never said I'm tired,' he said. Then he leaned back to admire his creation and started singing a song that was popular when he was building it, with his wife, Joanne, and son Alexis looking on. 'All we are saying, is give peace a chance.'
