Explore the Design and construction of this artwork.
Vaillancourt Fountain was a product of the redevelopment of San Francisco that took place in the 1950s and 1960s. The Transamerica Pyramid was constructed from 1969-1972.  BART was also being constructed; the Embarcadero Station would eventually open in 1976, three years after the other stations along Market.
Justin Herman, for whom the plaza was named, was a leading figure in this process and the executive director of the redevelopment agency in charge.  The plaza was one of several plazas proposed in the 1962 redevelopment analysis What to do About Market Street,  including Hallidie Plaza and United Nations Plaza, which were also completed in the mid-1970s.  That 1962 analysis was written by planners Livingston and Blayney, landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, architects Rockrise & Watson, and Larry Smith Co. real estate consultants.
Plans for Embarcadero Plaza were drawn up by Mario Ciampi, John Savage Bolles, and Halprin.  In August 1966 a committee consisting of those three, plus sculptor and Art Commission member Sally Hellyer, invited six sculptors to submit models for a loosely defined "monumental abstract sculpture".  By December five had responded:  Jacques Overhoff, Reuben Nakian, Alicia Penalba, James Melchert, and Vaillancourt.  The committee chose 38-year-old Vaillancourt but his second model, meant to show development of the design, did not even resemble the first model.  By November 1968 Hellyer had been replaced by Ruth Asawa, who rejected the design, saying in part, "I for one, am not willing to remain silent while we play the old game of the emperor's new clothes on the unsuspecting people of this city." For his part, Halprin was quoted as saying that if the fountain didn't prove to be among the "great works of civic art ... I am going to slit my throat".
The fountain is about 40 feet (12 m) high, weighs approximately 700 short tons (640 t), and is constructed out of precast concrete square tubes. The fountain is positioned in a pool shaped like an irregular pentagon, and is designed to pump up to 30,000 US gallons (110,000 L) of water per minute.The fountain looks unfinished, like concrete that has not been completely mixed. Up close, it is very rough and textured. There are several square pillars or cubed tubes that form a semi circle inside a pentagon shaped pool. The natural colored pillars jut out and crisscross from the corner of the plaza "like the tentacles of some immense geometrical octopus. ... breaking open." There are two bridges, or walk ways (with stairs), that allow the public to stand between the tubes and have a view overlooking the plaza and city. A series of platforms at pool level permit pedestrian entry into the fountain and behind the falling water. The fountain and plaza are easily accessible to the public at all times and in all conditions, rain or shine. The fountain's budget was US $310,000. It was dedicated on April 22, 1971. The Los Angeles Times reported that its cost was US $607,800.
Rockrise precast concrete redevelopment of San Francisco Ruth Asawa pentagon Mario Ciampi United Nations Plaza BART Hallidie Plaza Los Angeles Times San Francisco Reuben Nakian John Savage Bolles Market Street Embarcadero Plaza Justin Herman Transamerica Pyramid Time Alicia Penalba Lawrence Halprin