Vaillancourt Fountain is in a highly visible spot on the downtown San Francisco waterfront, in Justin Herman Plaza, where Market Street meets The Embarcadero.
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11 Facts About Vaillancourt Fountain
2.
When Vaillancourt designed the fountain, the elevated Embarcadero Freeway or Interstate 480, was still in existence along the Embarcadero.
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3.
Vaillancourt Fountain was a product of the redevelopment of San Francisco that took place in the 1950s and 1960s.
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4.
Vaillancourt Fountain is about 40 feet high, weighs approximately 700 short tons, and is constructed out of precast concrete square tubes.
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5.
Vaillancourt Fountain looks unfinished, like concrete that has not been completely mixed.
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6.
Armand Vaillancourt Fountain flew from Quebec to California after the incident, and spoke in favor of Bono's actions at U2's Oakland performance several days later.
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7.
Armand Vaillancourt Fountain immediately pledged that he would "fight like a devil to preserve that work".
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8.
Vaillancourt Fountain was turned off in 2014 for the drought, but after that drought ended, the Recreation and Park department cited lack of funds to make repairs to the Vaillancourt Fountain as the reason it had not been reactivated.
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9.
Vaillancourt Fountain is a sprawling, lifeless skeleton in its current dry state, with a chain-link fence blocking the two sets of stairs that once allowed people to peer down into the roiling maelstrom below.
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10.
Vaillancourt Fountain has been considered controversial since its construction, and criticism of it has continued over the years.
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11.
Vaillancourt Fountain has been called the "least revered modernist work of art" in San Francisco.
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