Coit Tower ( ; also known as Coit Memorial Tower) is a tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, California, overlooking the city and San Francisco Bay. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's bequest to beautify the city of San Francisco. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 29, 2008.
The Art Deco tower, built of unpainted reinforced concrete, was designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Henry Temple Howard. The interior features fresco murals in the American Social Realism style, painted by 22 different onsite artists and their numerous assistants. Three artists preferred oil on canvas and worked offsite. One artist preferred egg tempera rather than fresco.
It is often erroneously stated that the structure was dedicated to the volunteer firemen who had died in San Francisco's five major fires, but that is not accurate. The tower was constructed as the result of a bequest by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, whose will included two bequests, one to create a memorial to the city's volunteer firefighters, which was done by statuary in Washington Square, and the other to beautify the city. Coit Tower is the result of the second bequest.Robert W. Cherny, The Coit Tower Murals: New Deal Art and Political Controversy in San Francisco (2024), ch. 1 A concrete relief of a phoenix by sculptor Robert Boardman Howard is placed above the main entrance. It was commissioned by the architect and cast as part of the building.
Although an apocryphal story claims that the tower was designed to resemble a fire hose nozzle due to Coit's affinity with the San Francisco firefighters of the day, the resemblance is coincidental.
History
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." In 1849, it became the site of a two-story observation deck, from which information about incoming ships was broadcast to city residents using an optical semaphore system, replaced in 1853 by an electrical telegraph that was destroyed by a storm in 1870.
Coit Tower was paid for with money left by Lillie Hitchcock Coit (1843–1929), a wealthy socialite who loved to chase fires in the early days of the city's history. Before December 1866, there was no city fire department, and fires in the city, which broke out regularly in the wooden buildings, were extinguished by several volunteer fire companies. 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. She was an avid gambler and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the males-only establishments that dotted North Beach.
Coit's fortune funded the monument four years following her death in 1929. She had a special relationship with the city's firefighters. At the age of fifteen she witnessed the Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5 in response to a fire call up on Telegraph Hill when they were shorthanded; she threw her school books to the ground and pitched in to help, calling out to other bystanders to help get the engine up the hill to the fire, to get the first water onto the blaze. After that Coit became the Engine Co. mascot and could barely be constrained by her parents from jumping into action at the sound of every fire bell. She frequently rode with the Knickerbocker Engine Co. 5, especially in street parades and celebrations in which the Engine Co. participated. Through her youth and adulthood Coit was recognized as an honorary firefighter.
In her will she specified that one third of her fortune, amounting to $118,000, "be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved." Two memorials were built in her name. One was Coit Tower, and the other was a sculpture depicting three firemen, one of them carrying a woman in his arms.h2g2 Lillie Hitchcock-Coit – Firefighter
The San Francisco County Board of Supervisors proposed that Coit's bequest be used for a road at Lake Merced. 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". Art Commission president Herbert Fleishhacker suggested a memorial on Telegraph Hill, which was approved by the estate executors. An additional $7,000 in city funds was appropriated, and a design competition was initiated. The winner was architect Arthur Brown, Jr, whose design was completed and dedicated on October 8, 1933.
The following month Honore Bowlby-Gledhill, proprietor of the Dead Fish Cafe (an 'artists' restaurant') in Telegraph Hill, was charged (under the name 'Helen Smith') with shooting a pistol at the tower. Bowlby-Gledhill was quoted as objecting to the tower because it 'looked like a silo'.'Girl Angered, Shoots Tower', San Bernardino County Sun 18 November 1933 p. 1; 'Seek Dame Who Once Took Shot at Coit Tower', Siskiyou Daily News 15 February 1946 p. 5
Coit Tower was listed as a San Francisco Designated Landmark in 1984 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Although Coit Tower itself 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.
In 2012, residents of the city voted in favor of Proposition B, the Coit Tower Protection Initiative, that requires the city to pay for the preservation of the murals and the building. The San Francisco Arts Commission ordered the removal of the Statue of Christopher Columbus that had stood outside the entrance of the tower since 1957, following numerous other removals of controversial statues during the George Floyd protests that began in May 2020, and it was removed on June 18, 2020.
Architecture Brown's competition design envisioned a restaurant in the tower, which was changed to an exhibition area in the final version. The design uses three nesting concrete cylinders, the outermost a tapering fluted shaft that supports the viewing platform. An intermediate shaft contains a stairway, and an inner shaft houses the elevator. The observation deck is below the top, with an arcade and skylights above it. A rotunda at the base houses display space and a gift shop.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle (1985), "The tower has been leaking since the day it was dedicated." The building was never designed to house artwork. Potable water is pumped from a water main at street level to two tanks on the fifth floor, and gravity is used to feed all systems in the tower; a booster pump was installed later at the tanks to provide adequate pressure for the restrooms. Because of this arrangement, the murals (on the second and ground floors) are vulnerable to water damage from system leaks, which could be avoided if adequate pressure was available from the water supply at the street.
Mural project +Coit Tower rotunda layout and murals No. Thumbnail Name Artist Size (H×W) Notes Refs. Rotunda murals 1 a Animal Force Ray Boynton (aggregate) First mural visible as visitors enter the rotunda; left and right panels are separated by "Old Man Weather" over the entrance to the elevator lobby. Animal Force has an alcove with a bronze plaque and commemorative dates; this panel depicts the use of animals in agriculture. Machine Force shows construction, transportation, and power production machines. b Machine Force 2 California Industrial Scenes John Langley Howard Industrial scenes, including construction, oil recovery, and mining; ironic points include use of hand tools and a broken-down car. 3 Railroad and Shipping William Hesthal Train and ship, used to transport goods; a narrow window interrupts the center of the panel. 4 a Steelworker Clifford Wight (each) Straddles windows on the west wall; originally linked by a bridge with controversial symbols depicting capitalism and communism, but these elements were removed before 1934. b Surveyor 5 Industries of California Ralph Stackpole Industrial scenes, including food production and a chemical laboratory. Depicts several artists, including Tom Lehman (pouring chemicals), William Hesthal (bending over table in checked shirt), and Helen Clement Mills (part of packing crew). 6 Newsgathering Suzanne Scheuer and Hebe Daum Newspaper offices; the window ledge has a replica of the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, celebrating the completion of the murals. 7 Library Bernard Zakheim Public library; individual portraits depict numerous artists, family, and friends alongside current news topics. 8 a Scientist-Inventor Harold Mallette Dean (each) Straddles windows on the south wall; stockbroker may depict Amadeo Giannini, while scientist stands in front of Lick Observatory. b Stockbroker 9 City Life Victor Arnautoff Depicts busy street scenes in the Financial District of San Francisco, based on the corner of Montgomery and Washington. 10 Banking and Law George Albert Harris Depicts Federal Reserve Bank, Stock Exchange, and a law library. 11 Department Store Frede Vidar Contemporary department store interior, including soda fountain. 12 a Cowboy Clifford Wight (each) Straddles windows on the east wall; farmer may depict Ralph Stackpole while cowboy may depict Wight. b Farmer 13 California Maxine Albro Depicts agricultural scenes from California; most portraits are friends of Albro, including her future husband (Parker Hall, next to apricot trays) and Ralph Stackpole (checkered shirt). 14 Meat Industry Ray Bertrand Slaughterhouse and meat packing operations. 15 California Agricultural Industry Gordon Langdon and Helen Clement Mills Dairy and timber industries. 20 Power Frederick Olmsted Jr. Transition piece flanked by industrial scenes, over rotunda entrance Elevator lobby murals 16 San Francisco Bay Otis Oldfield Oil on canvas, depicts view from Telegraph Hill towards Berkeley. 17 San Francisco Bay, North Jose Moya del Pino Oil on canvas, depicts view from Telegraph Hill towards Marin County, including Alcatraz Island. 18 a Bay Area Hills Rinaldo Cuneo (each) Depicts agricultural scenes from the Santa Clara Valley and Berkeley Hills. b 19 a Bay Area Map Otis Oldfield (each) Installed in lunette spaces over doorways in elevator lobby. b Seabirds Spiral staircase murals (special access required) 21 Powell Street Lucien Labaudt (each of two panels) Largest mural in Coit Tower; most portraits are recognizable. Upper level murals 22 Collegiate Sports Parker Hall Includes depiction of The Big Game between California and Stanford 23 Sports Edward Terada Leisure sports, including golf and polo 24 Children at Play Ralph Chessé Playground 25 Hunting in California Edith Hamlin Ducks and deer 26 Outdoor Life Ben Cunningham Picnickers, bathers, photographers, hikers 27 Home Life Jane Berlandina In a separate room, shows typical home life activities, including contract bridge, baking, music making, and newspaper reading