08/11/2025
Marin County Civic Center,
Frank Lloyd Wright completed November 1962
Before Wright was chosen, the 26 architects Marin County interviewed proposed
to bulldoze the hills.
Wright instead was inspired by the landscape. He drove around the site and after 20 minutes he declared,
“I know exactly what I’m going to do here.
I’ll bridge these hills with a series
of graceful arches and build the buildings upon those arches.”
In his own words, the hills and the topography inspired the arches.
Wright died before the Civic Center was constructed. Upon his death a new contract was executed (May 26, 1959) between Marin County and The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Olgivanna Lloyd Wright, the architect’s third wife and President of the Foundation, signed on its behalf. The drawings for the Administration building were completed in September 1959. They were signed by William Wesley Peters as Chief Architect and Aaron Green as Associate Architect for the Foundation.
"We know that good building is not the one that hurts the landscape, but is one that makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before that building was built. In Marin County you have one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen, and I am proud to make the buildings of this County characteristic of the beauty of the County.” --Frank Lloyd Wright
