Stairways of San Francisco – Public Art and Architecture from Around the World

Tompkins Stairs

Posted by Cindy on August 7, 2019

Aug 072019

Tompkins Avenue
Between Putnam and Nevada
Bernal Heights

Andre Rothblatt, was the architect responsible for the design of the Tompkins Stairway Garden. The zigzag tile design was inspired by the Steps to Peace painted by youth in the Syrian town of Deir Atiyah.

Children of Syria painting the Stairway of Peace. Photo from Designboom.com

According to a 2019 article in the San Francisco Chronicle:

The park “won a $15,000 community challenge grant from the city to landscape the hill, but with no water, the unaccepted bit of Tompkins fell back into disrepair during the drought.

They tried again with additional neighbors in 2016, this time applying for and receiving a water meter for irrigation from the Public Utilities Commission. They partnered with the San Francisco Parks Alliance to win a variety of grants, including another community challenge grant from the city, this time for $100,000.”

Even though :”The block remains unaccepted (the City of San Francisco takes no responsiblity), and its upkeep remains firmly on the shoulders of its neighbors.”

Ocean Avenue History Staircase

Posted by Cindy on September 10, 2018

Sep 102018

Unity Plaza Opened in 2016 Unity Plaza features a new pedestrian path that stretches from the north side of Ocean Avenue to the City College campus. The path, created in partnership with City College, features an integrated landscape and this stairway that features a collage of historic photographs of the neighborhood laid out on the steps. In 2009, the Balboa Park Station Area Plan was adopted by the City and County of San Francisco. This was the culmination of a 10 year Better Neighborhoods Planning Process. The plan also included a reconfiguration of the Phelan Bus Loop, now known as Continue Reading

Lincoln Park Steps

Posted by Cindy on August 10, 2015

Aug 102015

Lincoln Park End of California Street Lincoln Park was dedicated to President Lincoln in 1909. At the terminus of California street just past 32nd Avenue sits the Lincoln Park Steps. These steps date to the time of the park and were the access for the surrounding neighborhood. If you simply sit on the benches at the top of the hill you can enjoy views of downtown and fog permitting, the East Bay hills. In 2007 Friends of Lincoln Park began a campaign to have the stairs structurally supported and brought back to their glory days. With the help of the Continue Reading

Arelious Walker Stairway

Posted by Cindy on May 5, 2014

May 052014

Innes Avenue Bay View / Hunters Point This was the proposal that was written for the Call for Artists by the SFAC: The Arelious Walker Drive Stair replacement is a dynamic community project in partnership with the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency and the Department of Public Works to create ceramic tile mosaic steps on the Arelious Walker Drive extending uphill from Innes Avenue to Northridge Road in the Bay View Hunters Point neighborhood. The stairway provides a vital connection from an isolated low-income community to the India Basin Shoreline, the Bay Trail, Herons Head Park, and future development at Hunters Continue Reading

Tiled Stairways to Heaven

Posted by Cindy on January 9, 2014

Jan 092014

Golden Gate Heights 16th Avenue between Kirkham and Lawton This is the second project by Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher covering stairways in the Golden Gate Heights area. You can read about both of them and their first project here. This project was made possible by a group called Hidden Garden Steps. According to their website: The Hidden Garden Steps Project is a community-based, public art initiative to create mosaic steps, a public garden and a wall mural on 16th Avenue extending uphill from Kirkham to Lawton in the Golden Gate Heights/Inner Sunset neighborhood. Formal partners include the San Francisco Continue Reading