In an eight-to-five vote on Monday (3 November), the San Francisco Arts Fee (SFAC) voted to disassemble Armand Vaillancourt’s namesake fountain.
Two days prior, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that San Francisco Recreation and Park Division (RPD) officers acknowledged the fountain posed an “an instantaneous and severe hazard” and would suggest dismantling the monumental fountain and storing it for as much as three years, at a price of $4.4m. The price is round $2m greater than what RPD officers estimated it may cost to demolish the fountain.
SFAC’s determination comes simply days after the San Francisco Planning Division decided that the fountain, which was constructed by Vaillancourt as the principle attraction of Embarcadero Plaza in 1971, was a historic useful resource eligible for preservation beneath the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations.
Many members of the general public who spoke at Monday’s SFAC assembly supported preserving the monument and protecting it within the plaza. Those that supported its elimination typically voiced issues over public security and well being dangers.
Eoanna Goodwin, the RPD mission supervisor accountable for the Embarcadero Plaza redevelopment, opened the SFAC assembly by describing the alleged security hazards and well being issues posed by the monument in its present state. She mentioned dismantling the fountain was a “vital step to guard the general public”.
A report commissioned by RPD earlier this 12 months revealed traces of lead and asbestos within the construction, and additional indicated features of the construction had been both less than code or merited strengthening. However that report, by the structure agency Web page & Turnbull, didn’t advocate disassembly or demolition of the fountain, suggesting remediation as a substitute.
“Lots of of 1000’s of San Francisco residents reside and work in buildings susceptible to collapse throughout an earthquake, and are probably uncovered to guide and asbestos frequently,” Bob Pullman, a board member of the Northern California chapter of Docomomo US, a preservation organisation, instructed the Arts Fee throughout Monday’s assembly. “No San Francisco company has declared these circumstances as representing a security emergency […] town can’t have it each methods. Both we now have an unprecedented public well being disaster affecting billions of {dollars} in buildings and lots of of 1000’s of individuals, or town is setting up a synthetic emergency to expedite a park renovation mission to keep away from its personal authorized duties.”
Andrew Sullivan, a neighborhood panorama architect who labored with Lawrence Halprin, the designer of Embarcadero Plaza, argued that your complete course of had been “disingenuous from the start”. He added, throughout the public remark part of the assembly: “At any time when there’s been dialogue of nationwide registry designation, unexpectedly there’s a brand new emergency and the fountain must be eliminated.”
The humanities fee’s vice-president Janine Shiota and commissioner JD Beltran each mentioned they had been casting “painful” votes in assist of the movement to dismantle Vaillancourt Fountain. Previous to taking the official vote, a number of commissioners had sought to abstain however had been finally compelled to take a place on the matter.
Requested if the general public shall be permitted to boost funds for the fountain’s restoration and potential rehabilitation, and whether or not town would help members of the general public serious about doing so, Coma Te, SFAC’s director of communications, tells The Artwork Newspaper that the fee “will take no additional motion till the fountain has been eliminated and subjected to additional research”.
The property administration firm BXP has been main a public-private partnership to redevelop Embarcadero Plaza, the place Vaillancourt Fountain sits. The corporate’s plan proposes combining two separate public areas—Embarcadero Plaza and the adjoining Sue Bierman Park—right into a single multi-use area. Vaillancourt’s fountain has not had water working via it since June 2024 and has been fenced off from the general public since 9 June of this 12 months.
Whether or not there’s any recourse for Vaillancourt and his representatives is unclear. In September the Québécois artist had despatched municipal officers in San Francisco a cease-and-desist letter to dam what seemed to be the sculpture’s imminent destruction. Monday’s movement permits for motion to be taken inside 90 days.
“San Francisco public artwork was not on the agenda” throughout Monday’s assembly, Jack McCarthy, a board member of Docomomo US’s Northern California chapter, instructed The Artwork Newspaper in a press release. “As a substitute, the Arts Fee heard a story curated by [RPD] based mostly on their non-expert interpretation of an engineering report and a visible evaluation by the Division of Constructing Inspection.”
Charles A. Birnbaum, the president and chief government of The Cultural Panorama Basis, an training and advocacy organisation, instructed The Artwork Newspaper in a press release: “For years the fee intentionally determined to not correctly keep the paintings and now they’ve voted to pardon and absolve themselves, and by extension the Recreation and Park Division, for his or her poor stewardship choices.” He added: “Sadly, that is a part of a broad and harmful nationwide development.”
