Marin County Civic Center

The Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in San Rafael, California, United States. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wright's death and under the watch of Wright's protégé, Aaron Green, and was completed in 1962. The Hall of Justice was begun in 1966 and completed in 1969. Veterans Memorial Auditorium opened in 1971, and the Exhibit Hall opened in 1976.Located away from the former county seat in downtown San Rafael, the expansive complex stretches across two valleys just east of US 101. Its pink stucco walls, blue roof and scalloped balconies are distinctive. The smaller wing is the county administration building and the larger the Hall of Justice, joined by a round structure on a small hill that houses a county library.A battle between factions of the Marin County Board of Supervisors played out through the selection of the site and the architect, the financing of the project, and its eventual completion. The Marin County Civic Center is a state and National Historic Landmark. The main Civic Center building has been nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of ten properties by Frank Lloyd Wright. The nearby fairgrounds host the Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance each spring; they host the Marin County Fair each July.ArchitectureThe selection of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957 to design the Civic Center was controversial. The Civic Center project was Wright's largest public project, and encompassed an entire campus of civic structures. The post office was the only federal government project of Wright's career. Wright's design borrowed ideas and forms from Wright's Broadacre City concept, first published in 1932.