Construction workers have started the arduous process of dismantling Vaillancourt Fountain, a Brutalist sculpture by Armand Vaillancourt in San Francisco’s Lawrence Halprin–designed Embarcadero Plaza.
The concrete structure by Vaillancourt weighs approximately 710 tons, and moving it will cost $4 million. Workers began deconstruction by picking at the grout. Due to stress cracks, asbestos, and lead, construction workers are wearing protective equipment.
The artist Vaillancourt is now 96 years old. Watching the fountain’s dismemberment has been a source of pain and frustration for him and his family.
“To see the image of workers drilling, I saw that before going to sleep a couple of days ago,” Vaillancourt’s daughter Alexis recently told Global News. “I took a moment. It was not easy.”
“This monumental work, shaped by a powerful history and enduring symbolism, remains profoundly relevant today, and we are confident its artistic and cultural value will continue to deepen with time,” the Vaillancourt family said in a shared statement.
Talks about demolishing or removing the structure have swirled for some time. Last summer a proposal for a larger park left the status of the piece unknown.
In November, the San Francisco Arts Commission approved a motion to allow the work to be taken apart and put in storage, and an appeal was subsequently filed on December 1. Soon after, in February 2026, a preservation coalition called Friends of the Plaza filed a lawsuit to prevent the fountain’s disassembly. Its goal was to keep the fountain in situ. The coalition filed an appeal again in April.
Per The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), which has been steadfastly pushing for it to stay put, the storage period is limited to three years.
City officials also recently shared five possible designs for the reenvisioned Embarcadero Plaza, which combines the historic plaza with South Embarcadero and Sue Bierman Park as part of an effort to further activate the city’s waterfront.
Friends of the Plaza was represented by environmental attorney Susan Brandt-Hawley and included the TCLF, Vaillancourt family members, Docomomo US, and Docomomo US/Northern California.
“If this so-called ‘emergency’ is allowed to stand, no historic resource will be safe from politically motivated destruction,” Docomomo US executive director Liz Waytkus said of the fountain’s relocation.
Workers began taking apart the sculpture piece by piece early the morning of April 27. Its removal will happen in phases and will take several months.