Restoring Historic Murals

Franklin Square Park
2500 17th Street
Potrero Hill

Brotherhood of Man by Anthony Stellon 

This once abandoned mosaic was found by David Schweisguth in 2006. While walking his beagle Huxley in Franklin Square Park one afternoon, Huxley sniffed around a large concrete slab serving as a makeshift potting table, Schweisguth looked under the plastic sheet covering the table top and found this treasure.

With the help of local mural expert Lillian Sizemore, who wrote A Guide to Mosaic Sites: San Francisco, they discovered that the artist was Anthony Stellon, who died in 2005.

Schwiesguth’s discovery came at the right time. A neighborhood group called Friends of Franklin Square had just formed and were raising funds to restore the 30-year-old, decaying park. When Schwiesguth and Sizemore brought the mosaic to the group’s attention, they decided to unite behind the cause and ask the city to restore it.

It took more than five years for the San Francisco Arts Commission to find funds for the restoration.

The challenge with restoring the piece was that the mosaic needed to be removed from its concrete backing and mounted on a waterproof material. The project cost $115,000.

 

The mural was originally a gift to the city from Mayor Joseph Alioto.

In the late sixties, when movie companies used San Francisco as a backdrop, the city had not yet begun to charge the film companies for film permits. Mayor Joseph Alioto negotiated with Warner Brothers Pictures when Bullitt was made for a one time donation of approximately $25,000 to be used for the construction of the new pool at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center in the Hunter’s Point/Bayview neighborhood.  With his personal funds, Mayor Alioto commissioned Anthony Stellon to create a mural for the building’s exterior.

Brotherhood of Man was the result.  The mural depicts two figures, one black and one white, flying amidst the cosmos as they hold hands around the earth. Stellon, who was deeply moved by King’s assassination, infused the mural with symbolic meaning that visualizes world peace and harmony. An infinity symbol unifies the composition.

The mural was installed at the recreation center in 1968.  In 1998, the mural was removed from the building and placed in storage to make way for a new swimming pool.  How it ended up as support for a potting table at Franklin Square Park is still a mystery.