Coit Tower, San Francisco, California
Featured on this unused Selithco [Security Lithograph Co.] True Color, from Ektachrome, postcard is a photograph of Coit Memorial Tower, San Francisco, California. The card was published by E F. Clements of San Francisco. The number 1652 and a blurb appear at the upper left corner on the reverse. The blurb: “Coit Memorial Tower, Pioneer Park, San Francisco, is on the summit of Telegraph Hill. The glass enclosed observation gallery atop the slim fluted-concrete column, is 540 feet above the water of the Bay, affording a view of the entire Bay Area.”
Also known as Coit Tower, it was built between 1932 and 1933 using a bequest from Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the city of San Francisco. In 2008 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The tower is constructed of unpainted reinforced concrete and designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr., and Henry Temple Howard. It has an Art Deco style that was popular during the 1930s. Fresco murals in the American Social Realism style were painted by 22 different onsite artists and assistants. Other artworks were completed on canvas offsite.
The views from the tower of San Francisco from Telegraph Hill are spectacular. There were two bequests from the Coit estate. One was to honor volunteer firemen, the other to beautify the city. Some have confused the two and erroneously claimed that the design of Coit tower resembles a fire hose nozzle. However, the monument to the firemen is in the form of statuary located in Washington Square and is not connected with the tower. Above the main entrance to the tower there is a concrete relief of a phoenix by sculptor Robert Boardman Howard. The relief was commissioned by the architect and cast as part of Coit Tower.
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coit_Tower
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