The hassle to dismantle San Francisco’s Vaillancourt Fountain is off to a rocky begin, as building crews unintentionally began a hearth whereas disassembling the construction’s cantilevered arms.
“Throughout torch-cutting exercise, particles contained in the tubes ignited,” a spokesperson for the San Francisco Arts Fee tells The Artwork Newspaper. “The group responded by repeatedly spraying water to manage and rapidly extinguish the hearth. There was no main injury.” The spokesperson added that the fountain’s welded metal tubes are being minimize by torches and, “as anticipated, this course of produces sparks”.
Work to dismantle the Armand Vaillancourt’s 1971 Brutalist fountain started on Monday (4 Could), after the California appeals court docket denied a request by the native coalition Pals of the Plaza to halt its removing.
“Town spent the final yr arguing that the fountain was riddled with asbestos and wanted to be eliminated for security,” says Jack McCarthy of Pals of the Plaza. “Now it is being eliminated with out an air-quality allow, in open air with out tenting, and a hearth has damaged out.”
Throughout a website go to on Wednesday (6 Could), it didn’t seem that staff have been sporting masks, respirators, hazmat fits or any form of protecting clothes to mitigate publicity to steer or asbestos. As well as, there have been no indicators warning passersby—together with these taking part in padel on the courts subsequent to the fountain or consuming lunch within the plaza—of potential publicity to hazardous supplies.
When requested about this, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Division says that the asbestos is “encapsulated” and that staff “usually are not disturbing it”. Nevertheless, the company couldn’t clarify what “encapsulated” meant on this context, whether or not the town had sought steerage on whether or not permits have been wanted or utilized for, nor whether or not it had thought of the necessity to warn the general public of potential publicity.
Vaillancourt Fountain, San Francisco Photograph: Wally Gobetz by way of Flickr
“We’re having a tough time understanding how the town’s declare that they wanted to take away the fountain for security might maintain water after they’re presently doubtlessly exposing the general public and staff to hazardous supplies on this method,” McCarthy says.
Pals of the Plaza has been working to carry consideration to the plight of Vaillancourt Fountain and the encompassing Lawrence Halprin-designed Embarcadero Plaza. Proof means that the Recreation and Park Division had beforehand tasked the developer BXP with a wide range of upkeep duties for each the fountain and plaza previously 5 many years.
A scarcity of correct upkeep seems to have contributed to the failure of the fountain’s pumps, as a lot as the widely poor state of the plaza. Town and BXP cited these components as justification for his or her proposal to redevelop the plaza and take away the fountain. For its half, the town has provided myriad excuses for why the fountain needs to be faraway from the location, regardless of the protests of residents who repeatedly requested in public conferences whether or not a brand new park may incorporate the fountain indirectly. This included arguments that the fountain was a menace to public security and safety, both due to structural instability or the presence of lead and asbestos, and that it attracted individuals experiencing homelessness.
Although the town initially needed to demolish the fountain outright, sustained opposition—together with from the nonagenarian, Montreal-based artist himself—appeared to alter native officers’ thoughts. In November 2025, the town determined to dismantle the fountain and retailer it for 3 years, at an extra price of roughly $4m. That call got here simply days after the town’s planning division decided the fountain was eligible for the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations.
“Whereas we’re disillusioned with the court docket’s determination to permit the removing of the fountain to start with, we stay dedicated to advocating for Vaillancourt Fountain and Embarcadero Plaza,” McCarthy says. “Town has acknowledged their plan is to fastidiously take away the fountain so it may be studied and evaluated. We are going to proceed to be engaged with the town in all public processes associated to the way forward for the fountain and Embarcadero Plaza.”
