The Marin County Civic Center is a governmental complex in San Rafael, the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin Associated Architects (TAA), the complex consists of several buildings constructed between 1960 and 1976. The main building consists of two connected wings: the Administration Building to the south and the Hall of Justice to the north. The Civic Center campus also includes an armory, a post office, the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, an exhibition hall, a lagoon, and fairgrounds.
The site was acquired in 1956, and Wright was hired a year later. The development process was complicated by disputes between Marin County's supervisors, and Wright died in 1959 before design was completed. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center took place in 1960, and the armory opened the next year. Both the Administration Building and post office were completed in 1962. After the Hall of Justice opened in 1969, a hostage attack and a bombing took place there the next year, prompting various upgrades and security measures. The Veterans Memorial Auditorium opened in 1971, and the exhibition hall opened in 1976. Since then, the buildings have undergone multiple renovations. A new jail was added in the 1990s following much controversy, and plans for a permanent farmers' market facility were put forth in the 2010s and 2020s.
The main building has pink stucco walls with several levels of arches, topped by a blue roof. The shorter Administration Building wing and the longer Hall of Justice are joined at a 120-degree angle by a rotunda with a spire. Inside are county offices, courtrooms in the Hall of Justice, atria in both wings, and a library and cafeteria in the rotunda. The post office, a curved structure, has a lobby and curved mailroom. The auditorium, topped by a dome, has a main hall with a flexible layout, in addition to a smaller auditorium and an exhibition space. The armory and exhibition hall both contain various rooms for military and exhibition use, respectively. Over the years, the complex's architecture has received mixed commentary, though employees generally liked the design. The Civic Center's main building, lagoon, and post office are designated as a California Historical Landmark and National Historic Landmark.
Site The Marin County Civic Center covers just north of San Rafael in Marin County, within the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. The complex includes multiple buildings, roads, and landscape features, all developed around the preexisting topography as part of a master plan. The complex is located next to the US 101 freeway (from which it is readily visible), and the Marin Civic Center station of Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit is located nearby.
Landscape features The parcel comprised a relatively flat area, surrounded by rolling hills with oak trees and grass. When the complex was being designed, its architect Frank Lloyd Wright decided to erect the main building on the hills. He also suggested planting deodar cedar trees, planted by local Boy Scouts, who accidentally burned down the trees they planted. The Administration Building is constructed on three hills. As a result, an access road to the complex's parking area (now Peter Behr Drive) runs underneath the Administration Building. There is also a memorial to Judge Harold Haley, a victim of the 1970 Civic Center attack; the memorial includes a granite boulder surrounded by curved benches.
Other landscape features occupy the flat portions of the site. The complex's eastern end includes an artificial lagoon, which measures . The lagoon was originally a marsh supplied by a natural spring, which was modified when the Civic Center was built in the 1960s. The marsh was deemed unsuitable for development, and it was dredged to create the lagoon and provide fill for other parts of the complex. The lagoon was intended to accommodate fishing from the start, and a playground was built there. At the northern end of the Civic Center complex, next to the lagoon, is an county fairground. The fairground hosts events such as the annual Marin County Fair and twice-weekly farmers' markets.
Development The population of Marin County more than doubled between 1930 and 1950 and had nearly doubled once again by 1960. The county government had offices in 12 or 13 buildings by the early 1950s, and the offices' disparate locations made coordination difficult. The county rented much of the space it occupied, which cost the government $60,000 a year by 1960. Studies for a new civic center began in 1952, at which point there was a competing proposal for an expansion of the Marin County Courthouse in the county seat of San Rafael. Marin County's board of supervisors agreed in September 1952 to host referendums on a $3.5 million civic center bond issue and a $1.5 million courthouse bond issue, but voters rejected both proposals. The board instead instituted an ad valorem tax to pay for expenses as they arose. That year saw the election of Vera Schultz, a major proponent of the civic center. Schultz and three of the board's four other supervisors supported the civic center plan, while the fourth, William Fusselman, opposed it at nearly every turn.
Site selection In April 1953, the board appointed a citizens' committee,; which was tasked with selecting sites for a civic center and county fairground. After considering three fairground locations, the committee recommended in December 1953 that the board acquire Henry and Virginia Scettrini's ranch on US 101 near Santa Venetia. The committee further recommended in April 1954 that a civic center be built on the fairground.; That June, the local chamber of commerce endorsed the civic center plan. The Scettrini family refused to give the board an option on the land and rejected the county's first two offers.
The board initiated condemnation proceedings in December 1954, offering for , only to learn that developers had offered 45% more for the same land. Given the monetary shortfalls, the board debated how much land to acquire; Fusselman opposed acquiring the Scettrini property at all. After the state government provided $100,000, the board moved to condemn all 130 acres that December. The board then decided to expedite the acquisition by purchasing the land. The county offered $250,000 in March 1955, amounting to . After the offer expired the following month, the board proceeded with condemnation. The board narrowly voted in August to resume purchase negotiations,; with the county's district attorney as their representative.
The Scettrinis conditionally accepted the county's offer of in October, and the California State Legislature's counsel determined in December that Marin County governmental offices could indeed be moved to the civic center. Although the board wanted to acquire the land without encumbrance, the Scettrinis wished to retain half the site's mineral rights. The board voted in February 1956 to buy the site for $412,621, with Fusselman dissenting. The county auditor refused to complete the purchase, since the county offices could not be relocated outside San Rafael (the county seat),; but a county judge ruled the next month that the Scettrini ranch was legally San Rafael, the closest city.; The land was then annexed to San Rafael. The acquisition, partly financed by about $241,000 from the state's fairground fund,; was finalized on April 26, 1956. The site covered , though a neighboring landowner had laid claim to of that area. In exchange, the county agreed to construct at least one building within three years.
Planning The board of supervisors agreed in June 1956 to request a planning grant from the Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA). That September, the board approved a preliminary plan and received a $45,000 HHFA grant. The terms of the grant required that plans and cost estimates be completed in three months. In October, the board announced plans for United States Armed Forces facilities,; after the Navy and Marine Corps requested space at the complex.;
Architect selection While planning proceeded, an architectural selection committee interviewed 26 firms. Frank Lloyd Wright may not have initially been interviewed, as the board considered him too old and his work too expensive. Nonetheless, by early 1957, county officials were discussing with Wright's associate Aaron Green. Four supervisors and the architecture committee met with Wright that April. The board approved negotiations with Wright on June 26; and voted to formally hire Wright on July 26. Fusselman, who had not attended the April meeting, was the sole dissenter for both votes. Supervisor Donald Jensen said the commission would give Marin County "an internationally-famous civic center". On July 30, Wright accepted the commission with a public question-and-answer session. At the time, he was 88 years old and in his final years, but was still busy with multiple projects including the Plan for Greater Baghdad.
The complex was to cost about $10 million, on which Wright charged a 10% architectural fee, 2% higher than peers such as Richard Neutra. Wright's fee attracted objections from residents and Fusselman, and other opposition came from the American Legion and local groups, who tried to discredit him because of his antiwar activism. Opponents unearthed a seven-page report compiled by anti-communist investigator J. B. Matthews, which labeled Wright a communist supporter. At the board meeting to confirm Wright's appointment on August 2, County Clerk George Jones began reading Matthews's report. Wright left the room in protest, but the other supervisors refused to hear the rest of the document. Mary Summers, a member of the architectural committee, convinced Wright to stay. Jones was unable to procure Wright's contract, but the board president signed a carbon copy. Schultz claimed Jones had purposely conspired against Wright by deliberately losing the contract and by allowing the Matthews report to be read before the contract was signed.
Design Wright began working on the design immediately. He inspected the site before the contract was even signed, his last visit to the Bay Area. Wisconsin legislator Carroll Metzner, another of Wright's opponents, visited California that August, seeking to reverse Wright's commission.; Wright submitted his first report on the Civic Center in November 1957; the report proposed developing the complex in five phases through 1974. John Howe and Ling Po assisted Wright in designing the first two phases, which were announced publicly in March 1958. The plans called for a V-shaped structure nestled within the hills, which would span several bridges and measure three stories high. There would also be a triangular mast, a dome, and a jail disguised by the landscape. Some offices would be built during the first phase, and police station, courts, and jail facilities would built by 1969. Drawings of the plan were publicly exhibited in early April 1958.;
Meanwhile, opponents formed a taxpayer association to collect signatures for a referendum, which sought to cancel Wright's commission because of concerns over cost overruns.; The San Francisco Examiner reported that the plans included such expenditures as a combined swimming pool–ballet stage, and the supervisors refuted claims that the complex would cost up to $13.8 million. The association's efforts were unsuccessful, being counteracted by an effective public relations campaign. Supporters produced a short film about the plans and formed the Citizens Committee for the County Center. The board of supervisors authorized Wright to create detailed designs for the first two phases on April 28, 1958;; these phases were to cost $4.124 million. The three final phases had yet to be approved, and cost estimates had not been devised for them.