For more than half a century, a tangle of concrete tubes stood across from the Ferry Building. Walk through Embarcadero Plaza today and the Vaillancourt Fountain is gone. The city's emergency removal project, which began in April 2026, was completed in June.

Why the city took it down

San Francisco Recreation and Parks says the fountain was removed because of significant public safety risks from its deterioration. Those risks included structural instability, widespread corrosion and missing reinforcement, which raised the chance of failure in an earthquake. The department said one of the fountain's 10-ton cantilevered arms was resting on another arm, which it was not designed to do, and had caused visible stress cracks.

The fountain had not run since May 2024, when its last remaining pump failed. The city received an emergency exemption from environmental review, and Rec and Park says a court upheld that decision in April 2026.

How it came apart

Silverado Contractors led the disassembly and transport under the supervision of San Francisco Public Works and Rec and Park, in consultation with the Arts Commission. Architectural Resources Group served as the preservation consultant. In April, crews documented, photographed and labeled pieces so the structure could be reassembled later. In May, they tested removal methods on one or two arms before taking down the rest.

The work was not without drama. The Guardian reported that in early May, a spark from a torch-cutter likely ignited debris that had collected inside one of the tubes, briefly sending flames and smoke into the air. The Guardian put the cost of the removal at about $4 million for "storage and further assessment."

A divisive landmark

Built in 1971 and designed by artist Armand Vaillancourt, the fountain was the centerpiece of Lawrence Halprin's red-brick Embarcadero Plaza. The Guardian notes the plaza became the center of San Francisco's skateboarding scene in the 1980s and 1990s. Skateboarders, activists and Vaillancourt himself argued for preserving the work, while adjacent property owners and others called it unsafe or an eyesore. The San Francisco Arts Commission ultimately voted to decommission it.

What's there now

Rec and Park says contractors finished disassembly, cleanup and final inspections in June. The sunken concrete basin will stay fenced off indefinitely because it is not safely accessible to the public.