Fate of San Francisco’s Armand Vaillancourt Fountain in Question as New Documents Emerge

16 October 2025 Fate of San Francisco’s Armand Vaillancourt Fountain in Question as New Documents Emerge

Posted at 16:36h in Newsletters by

Fate of San Francisco’s Armand Vaillancourt Fountain in Question as New Documents Emerge

Armand Vaillancourt, center, stands at Vaillancourt Fountain in Embarcadero Plaza with his wife Joanne Beaulieu, left, and his son Alexis Vaillancourt, right, in San Francisco.
Photo: Getty Images

We wholeheartedly support Armand Vaillancourt in
defending his fountain sculpture in San Francisco.

Claude Gosselin, Directeur général et artistique
Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal
www.ciac.ca

The city of San Francisco wants to demolish the sculpture to redevelop Embarcadero Plaza, but new papers reveal there’s more to the story.

Artnet recently published an interesting article about the situation surrounding the possible destruction of the Vaillancourt Fountain in San Francisco.

Excerpt from the article:

  • San Francisco’s Brutalist Vaillancourt Fountain faces demolition due to safety concerns and high restoration costs.
  • Documents reveal property company BXP, and not the Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) has been responsible for maintenance, contradicting public claims.
  • RPD is accused of misleading the public amid revelations that restoration is possible, but the fountain’s future is still at risk amid redevelopment plans.


The saga of San Francisco’s most controversial public sculpture has taken another turn. In June, Armand Vaillancourt’s massive Brutalist sculpture in Embarcadero Plaza was fenced off by authorities owing to alleged safety and security concerns. In August, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) asked the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) to deaccession and demolish the sculpture to redevelop the Plaza, citing the prohibitive cost of restoration.

Now, it appears RPD has misled the public over who has the responsibility for maintaining and repairing the Vaillancourt Fountain, which was built in 1971. Documents reviewed by The Art Newspaper show that BXP, the property company leading the demolition effort and redevelopment of the Plaza, has largely been responsible for maintaining the Vaillancourt Fountain for almost 50 years.

Read the entire article on Artnet’s website:
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vaillancourt-fountain-recreation-parks-department-controversy-2699795

The Vaillancourt Fountain in 1971, the year it was unveiled.
Courtesy San Francisco Civic Art Collection.