Coit Tower :: San Francisco

Coit Tower sits at the top of Telegraph Hill in San Francisco and provides you with one of the best viewpoints in the city. Built in 1933, the art deco tower was designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard and is decorated with murals by 26 different artists. It also serves as a marker for people lost in the maze of San Francisco’s streets, as it can easily been seen from all around the waterfront areas. Due to traffic in the area; it’s usually best to visit Coit Tower on foot, walking through the streets of North Beach to Filbert Street or via taxi/limousine. It is one of the steepest spots in the city but thankfully, the street has steps to make the hike a little bit easier to handle.

Although Coit Tower’s main draw is the magnificent 360 degree views of San Francisco, it also houses a beautiful collection of 25 murals, considered one of California’s best examples of depression-era public art. The murals, created as part of a public works of art project, were painted in 1934 by 25 different artists in Diego Rivera’s social realism style. They show you a glimpse of the daily life of working class Californians during the depression. The mural areas are mostly open to the public for viewing free of charge. The murals in the spiral stairway are normally closed to the general public, except during Saturday mornings at 11am when a free guided tour is given by San Francisco City Guides.

Many people believe that, due to Lillie Hitchcock Coit Tower was designed to look like the nozzle of a fire hose, but the designers have always denied it and in fact, the tower looks more similar to the towers at London’s Battersea Power Station which were completes 1 year prior to Coit Tower. Despite containing an elevator, Coit Tower is not wheelchair accessible due to the steps at its base and a short staircase between the elevator landing and observation deck. Many local artists usually set up shop in Pioneer Park at the base of the tower and offer their works for sale.

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