Read @tedbarrow 's article (link in bio) on the Fountain and why its destruction would be a "betrayal of the once-accepted notion that in San Francisco, public art and architecture make the city itself a place of wonder." It's time we demand that the city properly steward its art.
📢📢📢 Hearings on the future of the Fountain at the Arts Commission are tentatively scheduled for:
👉September 5th, 2pm (TODAY) - Closed session on legal issues
👉September 30th, 2pm - about removing from the Civic Art Collection
👉October 6, 2pm - potential vote on removal
If you can attend ANY of these, go and provide in-person public comment! You'll see us there!
“She was direct and self-assured as she spoke. I was intimidated. She captivated me with stories of nights with Surrealists in Paris and dinner with a heavy-drinking Mies van der Rohe in Berlin.
As I sat on a well-loved Corbusier chaise, she took me through portfolios of drawings. She made it clear she wanted them to end up in museums.”
Docomomo NOCA’s Gary Leung explores the extraordinary life and unsentimental authority of the late Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. Read the full feature at the link in bio.
Love Modernism? Join us for a free tour of OMCA!
Docomomo US/NOCA is heading to the Oakland Museum of California for their Architecture Walk and Talk on April 5th (1:00 pm – 2:00 pm).
Explore OMCA’s iconic building and gardens alongside members of the Council on Architecture.
• Cost: Free
• Logistics: No tickets or RSVPs needed. Just meet us near the Mid Level ticketing desk.
Come for the architecture, stay for the community—be sure to find us and say hello!
Join Docomomo US/NOCA on Saturday, June 13 (10:00 am – 11:30 am) for a walking tour of the College of San Mateo’s College Heights campus. Led by Josh Weinberg, this 90-minute tour explores John Carl Warnecke’s vision for a unified collegiate environment. You’ll experience a campus defined by a distinctly West Coast New Formalist style, and a contextual approach to modernism that responds directly to the site’s unique topography.
Registration is open. Tap the link in bio for tickets and full tour details.
Don’t let the old San Francisco be a thing of the past. Tap the link in bio to see how you can help save an iconic piece of San Francisco’s history.
How do you see architecture through a lens?
Join us Tuesday, March 31, 2026 7:00PM-8:00PM for Architectural Photography 101, a 60-minute Zoom workshop led by San Francisco-based photographer and guide Josh Weinberg. It’s a dynamic deep dive into capturing more impactful architectural photography.
Secure your spot via the link in bio.
What makes a great architectural photograph?
Join us for Architectural Photography 101 with Josh Weinberg—San Francisco-based urban photographer, photo educator, and tour guide—for a dynamic 60-minute Zoom workshop on how to see and capture architecture more powerfully through your lens. Find tickets at the link in bio.
1. Shulman, Julius (Photographer). V.C. Morris Gift Shop, San Francisco, California.
2. Baer, Morley (Photographer). (1968). Moonraker Athletic Center, Sea Ranch, California.
3. Stoller, Ezra (Photographer). (1963). Marin County Civic Center, Frank Lloyd Wright, San Rafael, California.
Roger Lee was born on February 19th, 1920.
Join us on April 11th for a walking tour where we’ll celebrate Roger Lee and explore some of his multi-unit housing projects.
Who was Paffard Keatinge-Clay? If you went to college in San Francisco, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a building designed by Paffard Keatinge-Clay, yet he remains one of the city’s lesser known architects. Keatinge-Clay spent a formative year working for Le Corbusier in Paris before apprenticing under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin. After a brief tenure with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, he transferred to their San Francisco office in 1960, soon departing to establish his own independent practice. Join DOCOMOMO US/Northern California this year as we further explore Keatinge-Clay’s radical legacy and his lasting impact on the modern built environment of the Bay Area.
We're headed to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, January 13th at 3pm for our appeal of the fountain removal. Please send your public comments and show up in person. This may be the last public forum in which to share your thoughts about the fountain and it's removal.
The appeal is on the basis of legal issues of project precommitment and use of an emergency exemption to avoid an EIR. You can read more on our website!
We're excited to see a design for Embarcadero Plaza that shows a possible option to KEEP the Plaza and Vaillancourt Fountain and shows a concept that is centered on San Francisco's history.
JRDV International (@jrdvurban ) put this together to show an alternative to the designs from project sponsors.
Check out their video and tell us what you think! What are your ideas to reimagine this space?
Edit*** this is a concept design and is not approved or endorsed by RPD, which is still proposing removal of the Vaillancourt Fountain.
#savevaillancourtfountain #saveEMB
Embarcadero Reimagined is a bold concept design for Embarcadero Plaza and Sue Bierman Park from JRDV Urban International @jrdv_urban . This concept design demonstrates what is possible when unique San Francisco history, adaptive design, fiscal and environmental responsibility, economic revitalization, and creativity come together. This is the first concept design that shows an option that KEEPS Halprin's hardscape plaza and the Vaillancourt Fountain.
Check out their website for more information!
