Many have called the hulking Brutalist fountain at Embarcardero Plaza “maligned” and even “ugly,” but artist Armand Vaillancourt’s sculptural work still has many ardent fans who will not be pleased by the lastest move by SF Rec & Parks to remove it in short order.
It’s been two months since San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department submitted its formal request to have the Vaillancourt Fountain removed, seeking the SF Arts Commission’s approval for deaccession of the artwork for various reasons, including public safety. The department says that the fountain, which has fallen into disrepair and has reported structural integrity issues, should be removed in part because the cost to restore it is prohibitive — and plans still taking shape to reimagine Embarcadero Plaza and the adjacent Sue Bierman Park do not include the fountain in their designs.
Since then, a battle has been brewing between preservationists, art historians, skateboarders, and 96-year-old Vaillancourt himself, on one side, and city officials and fountain detractors on the other side, a battle which threatens to slow or even derail the city’s plans for a grand renovation of the two plazas.
Now, as the Chronicle reports, Rec & Parks is seeking to fast-track the removal of the fountain by proposing to pay for its disassemblage and storage, until such time as a final decision about its fate can be made. The department is proposing to pay the estimated $4.4 million to take the 710-ton fountain apart and store it, somewhere, within a matter of months.
And a decision on this proposal is now on the agenda for the SF Arts Commission’s next meeting on Monday, per the Chronicle.
The proposed action is being framed as “temporary,” likely to appease some of the fountain’s supporters, but it certainly sounds like a strategy to speed up the fountain’s removal, with no plan in place for reassembling it should the Arts Commission decide that is what they want to do.
“This is solely for public safety reasons, after two reports have stated that the fountain poses an immediate and serious hazard,” says Rec & Parks spokesperson Tamara Aparton, speaking to the Chronicle. “This is a temporary measure that does not have anything to do with the ultimate fate of the fountain, which will be decided by the Arts Commission.” Aparton noted that the fountain has been recently vandalized, and that homeless individuals have been sleeping in its concrete tubes, which is not safe.
The department earlier produced a report suggesting that the cost to restore, retrofit, and stabilize the fountain would be $29 million — a figure that some supporters have questioned. Meanwhile, the entire estimated budget for the renovation of the two plazas is $32.5 million, not including any fountain costs.
The Art Newspaper did its own reporting earlier this month, in support of the fountain’s fans who question where the ultimate responsibility for the artwork’s upkeep and preservation lies. The report suggests that property management firm BXP and its predecessor company Boston Properties, which manages Embarcadero Center and the plaza, were referred to in 15 separate documents dating back to 1978, by the Rec & Parks department, as being ultimately responsible for the upkeep of the fountain.
BXP has sought a retraction from The Art Newspaper, saying its assertions are false, and the company issued a statement saying, “BXP and its predecessors have never been responsible for the fountain’s long-term upkeep. Their obligations, which varied over time, applied only to certain plaza elements such as paving, landscaping, janitorial services, and trash collection.”*
Supporters of the fountain accuse Rec & Parks of not being entirely transparent in its representations of the fountain and who bears legal responsibility for it. And the artist, Vaillancourt, has sent a cease and desist letter to the city, with a potential lawsuit looming.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation asks “Will the San Francisco Arts Commission Be Complicit in the Demolition of the Vaillancourt Fountain?“, in a piece that also suggests that Rec & Parks has overstated the annual maintenance costs for the fountain, when it was up and running. And the Northern California chapter of Docomomo, a nonprofit devoted to the preservation of modernist architecture, has also weighed in on the fountain controversy.
“In their own words, the city believes Vaillancourt Fountain is not a symbolic sculpture, but ‘a critical design challenge in the Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park project’ and ‘incompatible with the open lawn and gathering spaces envisioned in the new design,” says Docomomo chapter board member Jack McCarthy, speaking to The Art Newspaper.
Previously: SF Rec and Parks Officially Requests Removal of Embarcadero’s Vaillancourt Fountain
*This story has been updated with the statement by BXP.