The statue had generated objections in the past, but the Black Lives Matter protests amplified the displeasure with the artwork, which was defaced three times in the last week. According to the San Francisco Arts Commission, which oversees the care of the city's civic art collection, the installation did not align with the city's "commitment to racial justice." [1] Although Coit Tower is not technically a California Historical Landmark, the state historical plaque for Telegraph Hill is located in the tower's lobby, marking the site of the original signal station. The decision to remove the statue was at the direction of San Francisco Mayor London Breed and the reasoning behind it was twofold. [6] Art Commission president Herbert Fleishhacker suggested a memorial on Telegraph Hill, which was approved by the estate executors. In the 1998 Eddie Murphy film Dr. Dolittle, Murphy's title character talks a suicidal tiger out of jumping off of Coit Tower. [23], After most of the Coit Tower murals had already been completed, the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike, much of which was taking place nearby at the foot of Telegraph Hill,[25] caused government officials, shipping companies, some union leaders and the press to raise fears about communist agitation. Bernard Zakheim's mural Library depicts fellow artist John Langley Howard crumpling a newspaper in his left hand as he reaches for a shelved copy of Karl Marx's Das Kapital (here spelled as Das Capital) with his right. The art deco tower, built of unpainted reinforced concrete, was designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard. The interior features fresco murals in the American Social Realism style, painted by 25 different onsite artists and their numerous assistants, plus two additional paintings installed after creation offsite. On Monday, a statue of John Sutter — a colonizer of California during the Gold Rush — was removed from Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento after it was defaced amid complaints of racism. Live look at NorCal: San Francisco, Oakland, SJ & more. This statue of Christopher Columbus sits in the center of the parking lot for Coit Tower.The figure of Columbus, the famous Italian explorer, gazes out over San Francisco Bay standing on a concrete pedestal in the center of a circular flower bed, bordered by a marble ring. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. Christopher Columbus Statue Near Coit Tower Defaced During Italian Heritage Parade - YouTube. “Christopher Columbus is a deeply polarizing historical figure given the deadly impact his arrival in this hemisphere had on indigenous populations,” a statement from Senate President Pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Assembly Rules Committee Chair Ken Cooley noted Tuesday. The tower, which stands atop Telegraph Hill in San Francisco's Pioneer Park, offers panoramic views of San Francisco including "crooked" Lombard Street, Nob Hill, Russian Hill, Twin Peaks, Aquatic Park, Pier 39, the Financial District, the Ferry Building, as well as San Francisco Bay itself including Angel Island, Alcatraz, Treasure Island, and the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges. Coit Tower was featured in the finale of The Amazing Race 16 and was the site of a task in which contestants had to use an ascender to climb to the top of the tower.[30]. The removal of the Columbus statue at Coit Tower follows actions throughout the state and around the country to eliminate effigies and monuments connected to racism. Recent vandalism of the artwork, which was previously defaced, occurred as other monuments to Columbus — as well as those commemorating the Confederacy — came under more intense scrutiny as symbols of racism in American history. [citation needed] The murals in the spiral stairway, normally closed to the public, are open for viewing through tours. Stefani previously presented a resolution to recognize October as Italian American Heritage Month after city supervisors voted to replace Christopher Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day. In Fort Bragg, a Northern California town named after Confederate Army general and slave owner Braxton Bragg, the City Council is considering changing the town's name by adding a query on the November ballot. San Francisco officials have removed a statue of Christopher Columbus at Coit Tower to do away with what to many was a symbol of oppression. The Christopher Columbus statue near Coit Tower was vandalized. Sympathy for Rivera led some artists to incorporate references to the Rivera incident; in Zakheim's Library panel, Stackpole is painted reading a newspaper headline announcing the destruction of Rivera's mural. Activists Celebrate Removal of Columbus Statue at SF's Coit Tower By Sergio Quintana • Published July 4, 2020 • Updated on July 4, 2020 at 12:21 pm NBC Universal, Inc. She was an avid gambler and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the males-only establishments that dotted North Beach.[7]. [10], The San Francisco Arts Commission ordered the removal of the Statue of Christopher Columbus that has stood outside the entrance of the tower since 1957 on June 18, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, following numerous other removals of controversial statues during the George Floyd protests that began in May 2020. The Columbus statue at Coit Tower was installed in 1957: The work was sculpted by Count Vittorio di Colbertaldo, a former member of Benito Mussolini’s “black musketeers” and the group’s sculptor. English: Coit Tower — 1933 observation tower on Telegraph Hill, in San Francisco, California. [9], The San Francisco County Board of Supervisors proposed that Coit's bequest be used for a road at Lake Merced. The nationwide antiracism protests erupted in recent weeks following the death of George Floyd. [6], The Coit Tower murals in the American Social Realism style formed the pilot project of the Public Works of Art Project,[6] the first of the New Deal federal employment programs for artists. (Speaking of Italian history, the artist’s association with fascism is enough justification for the statue’s removal for me.) Through her youth and adulthood Coit was recognized as an honorary firefighter. The announcement was made on behalf of Peskin, Breed and Supervisor Catherine Stefani. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — The statue of Christopher Columbus that stood in front of Coit Tower is gone. Statue in front of the Coit Tower, Pioneer Park, San Francisco. Most murals are done in fresco; the exceptions are one mural done in egg tempera (upstairs, in the last decorated room) and the works done in the elevator foyer, which are oil on canvas. “At a time of great unrest and deep reflection by our country, we recognize the pain and oppression that Christopher Columbus represents to many. A closer photograph of Coit Tower from the parking lot. "The continued presence of this statue in California’s Capitol, where it has been since 1883, is completely out of place today. Ralph Stackpole and Bernard Zakheim successfully sought the commission in 1933, and supervised the muralists, who were mainly faculty and students of the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA), including Maxine Albro, Victor Arnautoff, Ray Bertrand, Rinaldo Cuneo, Mallette Harold Dean, Gordon Langdon, Clifford Wight, Edith Hamlin, George Albert Harris, Otis Oldfield, Suzanne Scheuer,[13] Hebe Daum, Jane Berlandina, Frederick E. Olmsted Jr., Jose Moya del Pino[14] and Frede Vidar. Coit's fortune funded the monument four years following her death in 1929. SAN FRANCISCO—A statue of Christopher Columbus at Coit Tower in San Francisco was defaced on Friday, June 12. One was Coit Tower, and the other was a sculpture depicting three firemen, one of them carrying a woman in his arms. It will be removed.". Red paint covered the face of the controversial colonist, while the base of the statue had graffiti that read "Destroy all … Park with a great City view. All reviews telegraph hill christopher columbus coit tower statue. The Columbus statue near Coit Tower in San Francisco is shown in 2014. Coit was one of the more eccentric characters in the history of North Beach and Telegraph Hill, smoking cigars and wearing trousers long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. “Coit Tower is an emblem of the San Francisco skyline, beloved by visitors for its panoramic views. Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Art director Henry Bumstead, who worked on Vertigo, noted that Hitchcock himself was adamant that Coit Tower should be seen in the film from the apartment of the lead character (portrayed by Jimmy Stewart). Coit Tower is a 210-foot (64 m) tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California.The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built in 1933. This is ahead of a planned protest that planned to throw it into the bay. Lillie Hitchcock Coit left one-third of her estate to the city "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved". The Commission. A statue of Christopher Columbus at San Francisco’s Coit Tower was vandalized with red paint over the weekend. But Columbus also represents the painful foundations of American history — the slavery, subjugation and conquest we must all condemn.”. "It doesn’t align with San Francisco’s values or our commitment to racial justice," a city official said. A statue of Christopher Columbus near Coit Tower was covered in red paint on Sunday as the Italian American community celebrated its history with a parade in nearby North Beach. Telegraph Hill, the tower's location, has been described as "the most optimal 360 degree viewing point to the San Francisco Bay and five surrounding counties." An additional $7,000 in city funds was appropriated, and a design competition was initiated. COVID Vaccinations: Bay Area COVID-19 Vaccine Resources Page Menu A statue of Christopher Columbus no longer stands in the shadow of Coit Tower. Workers of all races are shown as equals, often in the heroic poses of Socialist realism, while well-dressed racially white members of the capitalist classes enjoy the fruit of their labor. Various statues across the United States and the world have been targeted recently. [6], The artists were committed in varying degrees to racial equality and to leftist and Marxist political ideas, which are strongly expressed in the paintings. Coit Tower is one of the most notable landmarks in San Francisco. [23], The youngest of the muralists, George Albert Harris, painted a mural called Banking and Law. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-jos-moya-del-pino-12903, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-maxine-albro-and-parker-hall-12350, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-otis-oldfield-13601, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-william-hesthal-12752, https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/wwwprotectcoittower/pages/158/attachments/original/1433545599/JLH_Interview.pdf, https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/wwwprotectcoittower/pages/158/attachments/original/1434252443/RalphChesseInterview.pdf, "How Coit Tower's murals became a target for anticommunist forces", "Rare Look at 7 Upstairs Murals at Coit Tower", "Tower of films to recall Alcatraz takeover", "Bumstead gives talk on art direction, "˜Vertigo, "The Amazing Race season finale recap: If You're Going to San Francisco", Hamon Observation Tower at the de Young Museum, National Register of Historic Places listings in San Francisco, History of the National Register of Historic Places, National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coit_Tower&oldid=1015625913, Buildings and structures in San Francisco, Observation towers on the National Register of Historic Places, Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in California, National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco, Articles using NRISref without a reference number, Short description is different from Wikidata, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 2 April 2021, at 15:20. The murals are of the American Social Realism styles featuring everyday working people. This proposal brought disapproval from the estate's executors, who expressed a desire that the county find "ways and means of expending this money on a memorial that in itself would be an entity and not a unit of public development". Two of the murals are of San Francisco Bay scenes. Coit Tower, a slender white concrete column rising from the top of Telegraph Hill, has been an emblem of San Francisco’s skyline since its completion in 1933, a welcoming beacon to visitors and residents alike. [25], After Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads mural was destroyed by its Rockefeller Center patrons for the inclusion of an image of Lenin, the Coit Tower muralists protested, picketing the tower. The removal of the Columbus statue at Coit Tower follows actions throughout the state and around the country to eliminate effigies and monuments connected to racism. The winner was architect Arthur Brown, Jr, whose design was completed and dedicated on October 8, 1933. The observation deck is 32 feet (9.8 m) below the top, with an arcade and skylights above it. BREAKING: Christopher Columbus statue at San Francisco's Coit Tower taken down early this morning. “There is no room in the hallowed halls of this democracy to memorialize people who embody violent bigotry and grotesque racism of the Confederacy,” she said. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21] These 25 artists (chosen by Walter Heil, director of the de Young Museum, together with other officials) were each paid $25 to $45 per week to depict "aspects of life in California. This is a category about a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America . 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