Near the Arguello Gate in the Presidio of San Francisco stands Spire, a 90-foot tower by Andy Goldsworthy made from 37 Monterey cypress trunks. Installed in 2008, it has long been one of the park’s most recognizable works.
In 2025, Spire entered a new chapter. As part of the Presidio’s Shaping Legacy program, the sculpture was preserved and thoughtfully re-contextualized—bringing renewed attention to its role in the landscape and along the Presidio-to-Mission Walking Tour.
Goldsworthy designed Spire with time in mind. The sculpture was always meant to weather, soften, and eventually return to the earth. Around its base, young cypress trees were planted with the intention that one day they would rise high enough to envelop it. In 2025, those trees reached a meaningful milestone: they now stand roughly halfway up the height of the tower.
What makes Spire compelling isn’t just its scale—it’s its patience. The original cypress forest was planted during the Presidio’s military era. Goldsworthy’s work links that history to the park’s ecological future, allowing one generation of trees to frame the next.
This is a sculpture you don’t see just once. You return to it. Each visit reveals subtle shifts—more growth, more weathering, more blending of art and environment. In San Francisco, public art isn’t only steel and neon. Sometimes, it’s wood, soil, and time quietly doing their work.