Marin Civic CenterMarin Civic Center

Last July we were driving north from San Francisco toward the redwoods. Before we reached the trees, we took a ten-minute detour off Highway 101 in San Rafael to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin County Civic Center.

Wright began designing it in 1957, at ninety. He died in the spring of 1959, before ground was broken, and the county spent the sixties finishing it without him.

Corridors with sky in them#

The building has almost no interior in the usual sense. The hallways are balconies, the balconies look down into gardens, and above them runs one long window of sky.

The garden inside#

Down the middle of each atrium runs a planter. In it grows, not to put too fine a point on it, a jungle: schefflera, birds of paradise, philodendron and palms, all leaning toward the light.

The library#

We ended the visit in the library at the top of the building: a round desk, a circular leather bench, red walls, and afternoon light falling through the skylight.

The building opened in 1962. For more than sixty years, people have polished the floors, repaired the building, cleaned the skylights and watered the plants. Year after year, the county has made room for that work in the budget. That was what we talked about for the rest of the drive north.