"In the Marin County Government Center, however, the public is stationary for the most part and the logical solution was to stretch the structure out among the hills and sweeping valleys of the site. Thus the Marin County buildings are dedicated to a working public, to the individuals who will be in the buildings several hours a day, week after week, over the years. The inspiration that one receives from living in a beautifully designed home here takes place in the realm of the building in which one works. The design of the Center not only considers the fundamental practical aspects, nor simply the necessities and conveniences of those working in it, but makes their conditions at all times harmonious, beautiful, and inspiring."

— Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, text, Yukio Futagawa, ed. GA Frank Lloyd Wright: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, N.Y. 1943-59 Marin County Civic Center, California. 1957-1970. p4-5.

The Creator's Words

"We will never have a culture of our own until we have an architecture of our own. An architecture of our own does not mean something that is ours by the way of our own tastes. It is something that we have knowledge concerning. We will have it only when we know what constitutes a good building and when we know that the good building is not 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.

Here is a crucial opportunity to open the eyes not of Marin County alone, but of the entire country, to what officials gathering together might themselves do to broaden and beautify human lives."

— Frank Lloyd Wright. from Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, text, Yukio Futagawa, ed. GA Frank Lloyd Wright: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, N.Y. 1943-59 Marin County Civic Center, California. 1957-1970. p6.

Details

Address:
North San Pedro Road at U.S. 101
San Rafael, California 94903

Electrical, telephone and heating-ventilating outlets are spaced on a grid system of 2'8" x 5'4" to provide for flexible office layouts.

— Thomas A. Heinz. Architectural Monographs No. 18: Frank Lloyd Wright. p141.