San Francisco’s controversial monument, the Vaillancourt Fountain, could be facing demolition

The Vaillancourt Fountain may be demolished as part of a redevelopment of the Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, where it has stood for 54 years. The controversial public artwork, officially named Québec libre! and designed by Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt, is missing from plans for the new plaza.

City officials maintain that renderings are merely illustrative and no decisions have been made regarding the fate of the fountain. Nonetheless, Vaillancourt, now 95, and his family are applying pressure to local politicians to preserve his work.

The artist has rallied the support of various groups, including modernist architecture preservation group Docomomo; The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF); and proponents of public art and brutalism, as well as local skateboarders (the site has been a popular skateboarding spot since the 1990s).

Completed in 1971, the Vaillancourt Fountain is a modernist sculpture made of precast concrete tubes; members of the public can interact with the monument via bridges, walkways and stairs. It formed an important part of the Embarcadero Plaza, which was designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, who described the fountain as a ‘modern-day Trevi Fountain’.

The outdoor art installation has, however, been a source of controversy. It is meant to have water flowing, but it was drained in June 2024, leading some to question its purpose.

The significance of the Vaillancourt Fountain also changed when the Embarcadero Freeway was demolished in 1991; the fountain’s concrete tubes were originally meant to obscure and echo the freeway. Additionally, not everyone is a fan of its brutalist architecture aesthetic; architecture critic Allan Temko compared the fountain to ‘something deposited by a concrete dog with square intestines’.

The redevelopment of the Embarcadero Plaza will create a five-acre park that integrates the waterfront with the financial district, and is estimated to cost $30 million. Restoring the fountain would cost an estimated $3 million, according to San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department.

Is it worth it? The answer will depend on how you see the Vaillancourt Fountain: modernist gem or ailing monument, icon or eyesore.