Vaillancourt Fountain
| Vaillancourt Fountain | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Armand Vaillancourt |
| Year | 1971 |
| Type | Precast concrete |
| Dimensions | 12 m (40 ft) |
| Weight | 700 tons |
| Location | Embarcadero Plaza, San Francisco, California, United States |
| 37°47′43″N 122°23′43″W / 37.7954°N 122.3953°W | |
| Owner | San Francisco Arts Commission |
| Accession | 1971.46 |
| Website | embarcaderoplaza |
year, completion_date.Vaillancourt Fountain, sometimes called Québec libre!, is a large fountain in Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, designed by the Québécois artist Armand Vaillancourt in collaboration with the plaza's landscape architect, Lawrence Halprin, and completed in 1971. It is about 40 feet (12 m) high and is constructed out of precast concrete square tubes. Long considered controversial because of its stark, modernist appearance, there have been several unsuccessful proposals to demolish the fountain over the years. It was the site of a free concert by U2 in 1987, when lead singer Bono spray painted graffiti on the fountain and was both praised and criticized for the action. The city determined the fountain to be a historic resource in 2025, and later voted to remove it citing concerns about structural deterioration.