Coit Tower

Today I visited Coit Tower, the phallic monument overlooking San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay.

The tower was built by architects Arthur Brown Jr. and Henry Howard at the behest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit. It was completed in 1933. Ms. Coit funded the project in order to "beautify" San Francisco. Although she loved the fire department and was herself a volunteer firefighter claims that the tower is designed to look like a fire hose nozzle are apparently untrue. Ms. Coit was actually deceased when the tower was erected (she passed away in 1929) but she had bequeathed one-third of her estate for this project.

Coit Tower resides on the top of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. It is 210 feet tall. It rises 180 feet about Pioneer Park, which is at the base of the tower. It is made of fluted reinforced concrete, and its top has arches. It's shaft is 18 wider at the base than at the top.

In the base, which I will post pictures of, there are murals which were made as part of the 1934 Public Works of Art Project, a New Deal Program.

The monument is considered a monument to San Francisco's firefighters.

Part of my excursion to Coit Tower.