16th Avenue Tiled Steps by Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher, San Francisco, USA (2005)
16th Avenue
Tiled Steps
Aileen Barr & Colette Crutcher · 2005 · Moraga Street between 15th and 16th avenues, San Francisco
Photo: Street Art Utopia archive. Photographer and camera date unconfirmed; the archive upload date is not treated as a sighting date.
Start among fish and shells, then follow the blue current uphill toward the sky. The picture is spread across the faces of 163 steps: you climb through it instead of standing in front of a wall. Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher made the mosaic with a neighbourhood project in Golden Gate Heights. The city’s collection record identifies both artists and the sea-to-stars design. Our latest first-hand account is a Chronicle walk published on 26 March 2026.
5 things to know
- The idea travelled from RioThe organisers trace the inspiration to Jessie Audette’s walks with her husband on the decorated Santa Teresa steps. She had lived in Rio de Janeiro for five years before helping bring a tiled stairway project to San Francisco. Project: inspiration Reported
- There is a panel for each stepThe city records 163 mosaic panels, made to fit their individual risers. The composition uses fired glazed ceramic, glass and mirror, held with cement grout on the concrete stairway. San Francisco Arts Commission Checked
- The treads protect the mosaicTerracotta treads project over the mosaic risers, helping protect them, according to the opening report. San Francisco Chronicle / SFGATE Reported
- Names helped pay for the artworkNeighbours sponsored animal, fish and shell tiles bearing names. The organisers say these sponsorships supplied most of the funding, while three community workshops let people help assemble the panels. 16th Avenue Tiled Steps Reported
- The garden became part of the projectThe project’s history records native plants and succulents, followed by butterfly-habitat work with Nature in the City in 2014. Upper-slope planting was intended to support the endangered green hairstreak butterfly. 16th Avenue Tiled Steps Reported
Check-in guide
- 📍
- Start at 16th Avenue and Moraga Street. The tiled stairway follows Moraga uphill toward 15th Avenue. The project’s location page identifies this address.
- 🕘
- The project currently asks visitors to use the steps Monday–Friday 9:30 am–8 pm, and Saturday–Sunday 10 am–8 pm. Check the organisers’ page before visiting.
- 🚶
- This is a steep staircase in a residential neighbourhood. The organisers ask visitors to keep noise down and encourage public transport; they list no public restrooms. The mosaic is on the risers facing the uphill approach. Project: visiting information · San Francisco Arts Commission
Sightings
- 20059 Aug
Construction photo: grouting under way
- 200527 Aug
Opening ceremony, organisers’ record
- 202529 Aug
Anniversary visit report; event the previous week
- 202626 Mar
Chronicle walking report and photographs
Only the first stamp is a camera date. The other stamps identify an opening record or publication dates. Greg Dewar’s anniversary article says his visit was the previous week; Peter Hartlaub’s walking article supplies no exact camera day. A July 2026 volunteer announcement is a plan, so it is not used to extend the sighting date.
On the record
Seen in stages
“There is no one vantage point where you can see it all.”
Colette Crutcher.
The neighbours open their staircase
“Lion dancers led the way up the steps”
The organisers’ retrospective account records the opening ceremony.
Twenty years later, another neighbourhood party
“a local attraction created by and for neighbors”
Greg Dewar describes attending the anniversary celebrations, with a band, lion dancers and the project’s founders.
The facts
- Artists
- Aileen Barr and Colette Crutcher. San Francisco Arts Commission · Colette Crutcher Checked
- Name
- 16th Avenue Tiled Steps; the city catalogues the work as 16th Avenue Tiled Steps Project. 16th Avenue Tiled Steps · San Francisco Arts Commission Checked
- Dates
- Project begun in 2003; opening ceremony 27 August 2005. The city catalogues the artwork as 2003–2005. 16th Avenue Tiled Steps · San Francisco Arts Commission Checked
- Place
- Moraga Street between 15th and 16th avenues, Golden Gate Heights, San Francisco, California, USA. Project: visiting information · San Francisco Arts Commission Checked
- Scale
- 163 steps and 163 fitted mosaic panels. San Francisco Arts Commission · 16th Avenue Tiled Steps Checked
- Materials
- Glazed ceramic tile, glass, mirror and cement grout on concrete. The artist and city record give 75,000 fragments of tile, mirror and stained glass. San Francisco Arts Commission · Colette Crutcher Checked
- Collection
- City and County of San Francisco; gift of the San Francisco Parks Trust, accession 2005.9. San Francisco Arts Commission Checked
- Care
- Community maintenance continues through volunteers and donations; the project’s visiting page explicitly says the area is not maintained by the city. Ownership and day-to-day care are different matters. Project: visiting information Reported
- Our photo
- Existing Street Art Utopia archive photograph, used in Made From What? (11 Photos). No photographer or camera date is recorded in its media description. Unconfirmed
- Last seen
- March 2026: Peter Hartlaub’s published walk includes these steps and photographs. This is a report date, not a separately established photo date. San Francisco Chronicle Reported
Related
- From the SAU collection Made From What? (11 Photos).
- See the artists’ own views and details: Aileen Barr’s project gallery and Colette Crutcher’s project page.
- The organisers explain the connection with Rio’s tiled stairway in their inspiration archive.
All sources (9)
Project, artists and city record
- 16th Avenue Tiled Steps — Organisers’ history: community funding, workshops, opening and garden development. The volunteer listing is an announcement.
- Colette Crutcher — Artist’s project page: collaboration, completed work and material fragments. Also contains photographs and the artists’ book about the project.
- Aileen Barr — Artist’s gallery of the same 16th Avenue stairway, used to check the work’s visual identity.
- San Francisco Arts Commission — Municipal collection record 2005.9: creators, dates, 163 panels, location, materials and gift credit.
- Project: inspiration — Project organisers’ account of Jessie Audette’s Rio experience and the Santa Teresa stairway.
- Project: visiting information — Current project guidance: exact location, requested visiting hours, residential setting and community maintenance.
Original local reporting
- San Francisco Chronicle / SFGATE — Kathleen Sullivan, 26 August 2005; Eric Luse’s construction photos, 9 August.
- N Judah Chronicles+ — Greg Dewar, 29 August 2025. Original anniversary-event report and photographs; his visit was the previous week.
- San Francisco Chronicle — Peter Hartlaub, 26 March 2026. First-hand walking account; photographs credited to Giselle Garza Lerma.
Artwork File · Last checked 13 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files