Coit Tower (photo courtesy of Michael Doeff)

Coit Tower is a notable landmark dedicated to the San Francisco, California firefighters.

The art deco 210-foot (64-meter) unpainted reinforced concrete tower was dedicated in 1933. It was built with funds bequeathed by Lillie Hitchcock Coit, widow of a wealthy financier.

In planning, its design was criticized for looking like a fire-hose nozzle of the fire companies adored by Coit since childhood. The architects vigourously denied this claim. The Widow Coit is alleged by some local historians to be an early "groupie", not as in modern times of rock bands but rather of fire fighting companies. Coit Tower is located at the top of Telegraph Hill, and is a landmark visible in much of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Designed by Arthur Brown Jr. and Henry Howard with murals by Victor Arnautoff and a score of other artists. While most of the murals have been restored, a small segment (the spiral stairway exit to the observation platform) was not restored but durably painted over with epoxy surfacing. These murals in particular contained very "leftist" political and social themes related to the great depression and socialist political movements and while severely vandalized, arguably did not deserve such complete erasure. Most of the murals are open for public viewing without charge during open hours. The murals in the spiral stairway, however, are generally closed to the public. San Francisco City Guides provides free walking tours which give access to these murals on a regular basis. See the bottom of this article for a link.

The tower stands in San Francisco's Pioneer Park. The tower offers views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Aquatic Park, Alcatraz, Pier 39, Angel Island , Treasure Island. the Bay Bridge, Russian Hill, and the Financial District.

The hill upon which the tower stands is called Telegraph Hill, named for its use before the local implementation of the electric telegraph. From here observers, when seeing arriving ships, would identify them and by "wig-wag" mechanical signals (a form of telegraphy) relay the information to observers operating for financiers, merchants, wholesalers and speculators. As some of these information consumers would know the nature of the cargo carried by the ship they could quickly predict the upcoming (generally lower) local prices for those goods and commodities carried. Those who did not have advance information on the cargo might pay a too-high price from a merchant unloading his stock of a commodity - a price that was about to drop.

External links

• Information on Coit Tower
• Tourist information on Coit Tower
• Coit Tower Virtual Tour
• San Francisco City Guides