City and County of San Francisco, Recreation and Park Commission, Coit, Lillie Hitchcock, Tower, Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, CA (1932-1933)

Structure Type: built works - public buildings - monuments

Designers: Brown, Arthur, Jr., and Associates, Architect (firm); Arthur Brown Jr. (architect); Henry Howard (structural engineer); Michael Victor Pregnoff (structural engineer)

Dates: constructed 1932-1933

1 Telegraph Hill Boulevard
Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, CA 94133
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Coit Tower was located at the end of Telegraph Hill Boulevard.

Building History

Lillie Hitchcock Coit, (1842-1929), the eccentric wife of a San Francisco financier, endowed the tower as a monument to the city's firefighters. Coit was an habituée of North Beach saloons and gambling parlors, and to gain entry into these male-only spaces, she often dressed in drag.

Building Notes

The structural engineer, Michael Pregnoff, (1900-1996), periodically collaborated with the architect Arthur Brown, Jr., (1874-1957), during his work after 1930. Pregnoff has been credited with structural engineering work on Coit Tower. (See Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, "Michael Pregnoff," accessed 04/24/2020.)

PCAD id: 2384

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Pacific Coast Architecture Database (PCAD) — © 2005-Alan Michelson

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