Coit Tower
- Architect
- Arthur Brown, Jr.
- Year
- 1933
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- San Francisco, CA
- Collection
- s.f. deco
Coit Tower, a 210-foot tower in Pioneer Park atop Telegraph Hill, was built in 1932-33 using a bequest from Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the city, and was designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Henry Temple Howard. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2008.
the building
The WPA murals. The tower's interior features fresco murals in the American Social Realism style, painted by 22 different onsite artists and their assistants; three artists preferred oil on canvas and worked offsite, and one preferred egg tempera over fresco.
The firefighter myth. It's often mistakenly said Coit Tower was built to honor San Francisco's volunteer firefighters. In fact Lillie Hitchcock Coit's will made two separate bequests: one funded a firefighter memorial realized as statuary in Washington Square, and the other, unrelated, funded the tower itself.
the style
Coit Tower is built of unpainted reinforced concrete in the Art Deco style, its fluted, unornamented shaft reading as a pure geometric form on the skyline rather than leaning on applied decoration.
More on Art Decothe architect
Coit Tower was designed by Arthur Brown Jr., who also designed San Francisco City Hall, together with Henry Temple Howard.
significance
Coit Tower was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2008.
nearby
- One Lombard Street
- Saints Peter and Paul Church, San Francisco
- National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi
- Sentinel Building
- International Hotel
- Fugazi Bank Building