Back to photostream

San Francisco - Telegraph Hill: Coit Tower - California Industrial Scenes

California Industrial Scenes, located on the outer north wall of Coit Tower's rotunda, was executed by John Langley Howard in 1934. In this mural industry is physically portrayed, and with a powerful social and political message: demonstrating workers, the homeless, a strip mining operation, and Shasta Dam to name a few.

 

The interior walls of the tower are decorated with murals, mostly done in fresco, carried out by 26 artists under the auspices of the Public Works Project. The muralists, who were mainly faculty and students were supervised by Ralph Stackpole and Bernard Zakheim. Artists included Maxine Albro, Victor Arnautoff, Ray Bertrand, Rinaldo Cuneo, Mallette Harold Dean, Clifford Wight, Edith Hamlin, George Harris, Robert B. Howard, Otis Oldfield, Suzanne Scheuer, Hebe Daum and Frede Vidar.

 

Coit Tower, sitting in Pioneer Park atop Telegraph Hill, was built in 1933 by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard, at the bequest of Lillian Hitchcock Coit for the purposes of beautification of the City of San Francisco. The 210-foot tall, unpainted, reinforced concrete, Art Deco tower resembles a fire hose nozzle. However, even though Lillie Coit was a big supporter of the city's fireman, contrary to urban legend the tower does not serve as a memorial in wake of the 1906 earthquake. Over 250,000 visitors come to Coit Tower annually to take the elevator ride up to the 360-degree observation deck, which sits 179-feet high and 542-feet above sea level. There is a small studio apartment on the first level of the tower, which was originally used as lodging for the structure's caretaker.

 

Pioneer Park, one of the first dedicated parks in San Francisco, was established atop Telegraph Hill in 1876. Telegraph Hill earned its name from the marine semaphore telegraph which was posted there in the 1850's, providing notification of arriving ships.

 

National Register #07001468 (2007)

3,779 views
1 fave
0 comments
Uploaded on September 29, 2009
Taken on September 7, 2009