{"nrhp_refnum":"07001468","name":"Coit Memorial Tower","other_names":["Coit Tower"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 Telegraph Hill Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.80311364800008,"lon":-122.40585791099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-01-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Coit Memorial Tower (Coit Tower) is a 180-foot Art Deco tower atop Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, California, built in 1932-1933 as a memorial to the city's volunteer firemen. It was designed by architect Arthur Brown, Jr., assisted by Henry Howard.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the tower is significant under Criterion C in the area of art, at the state level, as an excellent example of Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) art and the American Scene movement. Its interior frescoes, painted in 1933-1934 by many San Francisco artists, served as a pilot and prototype for later New Deal art programs. The murals are presented as a representation of Depression-era art.","narrative":"Rising 180 feet above Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, Coit Tower is a fluted concrete Art Deco shaft built in 1932-1933 to honor the city's volunteer firemen. Architect Arthur Brown, Jr., assisted by Henry Howard, designed it with a budget of $125,000, funded by a bequest from Lillie Hitchcock Coit plus city money. It is built as three concrete cylinders, one inside another, on a polygonal base so that it presents the same profile from every direction. Inside, the bare walls of the rotunda were turned into a gallery in 1934 when San Francisco artists painted frescoes of California life under the Public Works of Art Project. Social Realist murals fill the ground floor, while Regionalist works are upstairs. The listing rests on the tower's importance in art, as an early and influential example of New Deal mural work that foreshadowed thousands of later federally sponsored projects. The surrounding park, road and parking area also remain largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1933-1934","architect_builder":"Brown, Arthur, Jr.","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Art Deco","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Retains a high degree of integrity; some murals were restored in 1960 and 1975; the two upstairs galleries are closed to the public except by special arrangement; the original manually operated elevator is still functional.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.537535-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/07001468.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001468/a5580d980d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001468/a5580d980d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Chris6d","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coit_Tower_2021.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Chris6d</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coit_Tower_2021.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"06000372","name":"Port of San Francisco Embarcadero Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/california/port-of-san-francisco-embarcadero-historic-district-06000372/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861079","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coit_Tower","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1107297"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/coit-memorial-tower-07001468/"}