Courtesy County of Marin, Cultural Services

I think everyone has a house or a building in their life that is special to them. You don’t have to be a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, or even follow what your city council is doing with buildings where you live, to care deeply about a specific structure or two. I’d like to tell you about one of mine.

The Marin County Civic Center, in San Rafael, California.

It was designed by the famed (and infamous) architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was hired by Marin County officials in 1957. Although Wright died in 1959, the project went forward and the Administration building was completed in 1962. The adjacent Hall of Justice opened in 1969.

I was eight years old in 1962, and our family lived in the suburb called Marinwood, just a few miles away from the Civic Center. In my memory, the building was always perched on the hillside along Highway 101. I loved it from the beginning, not only because it was beautiful and interesting, but because it also housed the main county library in a room under the massive dome. My mother would drive me there all the time, though we still visited the Carnegie Library in downtown San Rafael, too.

When I was in junior high I would occasionally ride my bike out to the building after school, and find a way to sneak onto the outdoor balconies where I could take in the view and peek at the office workers. Some evenings after dinner my mother would drop me off at the entrance so I could ride the elevator up to the library to check out piles of books and study until closing time. (Of course, then she’d have to pick me up. But she also loved books, so she understood.)

The futuristic interiors fascinated me, and if you’d told my fourteen-year-old self that a sci-fi movie would one day be filmed there, I wouldn’t have been surprised. And it was. The 1997 film Gattaca was shot at the Civic Center, and the setting was perfect.

The building has also seen tragedy. In 1970 armed men opposed to the incarceration of the Soledad Brothers took over a courtroom and took hostages. Guards and police opened fire and a judge and three of the protesters were killed. This led to the installation of metal detectors at both the Administration building and the Hall of Justice, and it was years before visiting the Civic Center Library did not involve walking through one of these detectors. One night I had to leave the library early because of a bomb threat. Recent scholarship about the shooting has given deeper context to the story, and you can read more here: https://rebelarchives.humspace.ucla.edu/exhibits/show/rebel-archives/the-marin-county-courthouse-in

By the 1990s the buildings were entering their third decade and the county created the Frank Lloyd Wright Civic Center Conservancy. I’m proud to say I have been a member of the conservancy since 1992, and also served a term as Chair. Our charge is to make sure this state and national historic landmark is preserved and Wright’s original vision maintained, even while it serves as the buzzing heart of county administration.

I’ve lived in Sonoma County for nearly twenty years, but I still feel the Civic Center belongs to me. I have a poster of the building on the wall of my living room. And I always try to get there early on the mornings we have our once-monthly conservancy meetings, so I can spending time wandering the halls. Today I sat at a table on the glorious patio outside the cafeteria.

It was a perfect autumn day, and every color in the building – blue, pink, and gold – sparkled in the morning light. I am so privileged to have this place in my life. And to be a part of protecting its future.

For more details about the history of the Marin County Civic Center, go to: https://www.marincounty.org/depts/cu/history

Cover photo courtesy Anne T. Kent California Room, Marin County Library.