In San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza, Armand Vaillancourt’s Brutalist sculpture Vaillancourt Fountain has been subject to calls for its demolition for some time. Since June, the art piece comprised of precast concrete square tubes has been fenced off. A public-private partnership between the city and real estate development firm BXP proposes a new $32 million park encompassing the site, putting the deteriorating sculpture at further risk.
The fountain installed in 1971 is the centerpiece of the public plaza designed by Lawrence Halprin. Infrastructure damage following an earthquake in 1989 spurred calls for the art piece to meet the wrecking ball, and in 2004 with its water supply turned off more flooded in.
Now, redevelopment plans to renovate the park are circulating. They call for combining Embarcadero Plaza with the adjacent Sue Bierman Park to create a single, unified 5-acre park. City officials have said the renovations are necessary to attract more foot traffic to the area, and help local businesses.
Preliminary renderings and early design schemes for the park notably didn’t include Vaillancourt Fountain, catching the attention of skateboarders, local activists, organizations centered on protecting the built environment, and Vaillancourt’s family.
At a community meeting on July 8, concerning the site, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD) project manager Eoanna Goodwin said it will cost $29 million to rehabilitate Vaillancourt Fountain, and that its annual operating cost hovers around $100,000, implying these costs warrant its demolition, which is estimated to cost $2.5 million.
Goodwin said on July 8: “Typically, on these projects we’ll have multiple [design] options. We did look into keeping the fountain on site. But once we also took in all the site’s constraints, including the budget constraints, it’s not possible to have it on the site with our current budget.”
In addition to fixing cracks, the sculpture also requires waterproofing, accessibility upgrades, and new fountain equipment, among other structural issues. Page & Turnbull outlined safety concerns over Embarcadero Plaza in a 122-page report. The report acknowledges the need for repairs, but affirms Vaillancourt Fountain can be saved.
“Overall, Vaillancourt Fountain exhibits a range of deterioration that must be addressed for it to continue to be enjoyed safely. That said, the fountain does not appear to have yet 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,” the Page & Turnbull report states.
After the meeting on July 8, city officials made it clear that a final decision has yet to be made about the fountain’s future. Among the groups pleading for its rehabilitation, and sparing from the wrecking ball, are The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and DOCOMOMO. TCLF has been closely monitoring the case, sharing updates and resources for the public to understand not only its cultural value, but how they can step in to help save it.
Oceania Vaillancourt, the artist’s daughter, lives two blocks away from Embarcadero Plaza. At the July 8 meeting she spoke saying, “My dad asked me to help him. I just can’t imagine the fountain not being there. I just hope we can gather the community and hopefully change the decision of removing the fountain.”
DOCOMOMO US’s Liz Waytkus echoed this sentiment in a statement she shared with AN:
“The Embarcadero Plaza and Vaillancourt Fountain are a wonderful and significant example of art and design, community and activism coming together to form the lifeblood of what it means to be a San Franciscan. Sadly, public spaces such as this one continue to be endangered, threatened by years of deferred maintenance and a lack of understanding of twentieth century design and landscapes The designs by Lawrence Halprin and Armand Vaillancourt are world-class examples of civic-minded public space. We hope our colleagues in San Francisco will find opportunities to rehabilitate and celebrate this multidimensional wonderfully complex landscape.”
The San Francisco Recreation and Park Department is asking for the public to weigh in on the Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park Renovation Project. The survey will remain open through July 29.
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