Work to disassemble and remove Vaillancourt Fountain from Embarcadero Plaza is scheduled to start Monday, following months of controversy and a legal challenge, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department told the Chronicle on Wednesday.
The first phase – removing grout from the massive concrete sculpture and cataloging the pieces for future reassembly – will take at least a week, officials said. Starting in May, cranes will begin removing the artwork’s 10-ton cantilevered arms and hauling them away on a flatbed truck.
The fountain, which has been a fixture along the Embarcadero since 1972, will be placed in storage for up to three years while its owner, the San Francisco Arts Commission, decides its permanent fate.
Rec and Park sought the removal of the aging fountain in advance of its planned $32.5 million renovation of Embarcadero Plaza. The Board of Supervisors in January approved the move under an emergency exemption from the environmental review process after the city planning department declared the deteriorating structure a public safety hazard.
But the preservationist group Friends of the Plaza sued to keep the fountain in place, arguing that the city had inappropriately bypassed the California Environmental Quality Act. Its motion for a preliminary injunction to halt the removal was denied by a San Francisco Superior Court judge on April 9.
Susan Brandt-Hawley, an attorney representing Friends of the Plaza, told the Chronicle Wednesday she had filed an appeal seeking an immediate stay of physical alteration on the site, to prevent any work beyond putting up security fencing and documenting the site. The city attorney’s office confirmed it had received notice of the appeal.
“The trial court conducted a thorough examination of these issues and agreed that the city’s administrative record contains substantial evidence that the fountain poses an imminent public safety hazard,” said Jen Kwart, spokesperson for City Attorney David Chiu. “The city’s plan is to carefully disassemble and store the fountain offsite, allowing experts to study the deterioration and evaluate options.”
Brandt-Hawley countered that all security concerns can be solved by adequate fencing and 24-hour guards, a much less costly option than removing it to storage.
“There is no emergency here and there is no public harm,” said Brandt-Hawley, who hopes to convince the appeals court that the project must be subject to the full environmental review process.
If the sculpture is removed, the group seeks its restoration and return to Embarcadero Plaza. The initial hearing on the merits of the group’s lawsuit is scheduled for August.
The temporary fountain removal will be carried out by Silverado Contractors under supervision of San Francisco Public Works, Rec and Park, and the Arts Commission. A technical consultant from Architectural Resources Group will also be onsite, as will a crew from BXP, the real estate company that owns Embarcadero Center and is working with the city on the redesign of the area near the foot of Market Street across from the Ferry Building.
The removal project, expected to take months, is budgeted at $4 million to be paid by Rec and Park, which maintains the fountain for the Arts Commission. The location of the off-site storage facility has not been disclosed.
“Given the documented public safety issues as well as the scale and complexity of the fountain, this work demands a thoughtful, step-by-step approach,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park Department Interim General Manager Sarah Madland. “Every stage is designed to balance safety with careful preservation and documentation.”
The fountain has been inoperable since May 2024, and the entire site was fenced off last summer after an independent assessment determined it was a safety hazard. Findings included that the 710-ton structure was corroding and deteriorating, contained toxic materials including asbestos and lead, and failed to meet seismic safety codes.
Additional fencing is being put up this week to ensure that the rest of Embarcadero Plaza and the adjacent Sue Bierman Park can remain open during the disassembly process.
“The Arts Commission has worked closely with project partners and conservation experts to develop a plan that prioritizes careful documentation, preservation, and respect for the artwork,” said Ralph Remington, Director of Cultural Affairs. “Our goal is to ensure that every step is carried out with intention and with a clear sense of our responsibility as stewards of the city’s civic art collection.”
Vaillancourt Fountain, with its blocky, Brutalist design, has been a lightning rod for public opinion since its debut more than a half-century ago. It originally buffered the sight and sound of traffic on the elevated Embarcadero Freeway that whizzed by between it and the Ferry Building. The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 led to the demolition of the freeway.
The brick plaza surrounding the fountain has become a popular recreation area with padel courts and stone steps plied by skateboarders. In November 2024, then-mayor London Breed announced a public-private partnership to redesign and rebuild the 5-acre plaza to combine it with adjacent Sue Bierman Park.
Preliminary renderings excluded Vaillancourt Fountain in the design of the future park. Officials said at subsequent community meetings that the fountain was too expensive to repair and include in the plan. Rec and Park then began planning to remove it, at least temporarily, while a final decision on its fate is determined.
The preliminary work began Wednesday, when historic photographers were onsite to document the fountain, created and constructed by Armand Vaillancourt, a Montreal artist now in his mid-90s.
“First we want to recognize the importance of that work of art,” said Kat Anderson, President of the Recreation and Park Commission. “This change, while painful for some, will make park space for a changing population that desires community, activation and places of respite.”
The third in a series of community meetings for the Embarcadero Plaza/Sue Bierman Park project will be hosted by Rec and Park at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Codi, 3 Embarcadero Center.
This article originally published at S.F. to begin removal of controversial fountain from Embarcadero Plaza on Monday.
