Marin Art and Garden Center named to the National Register of Historic Places

Special to Marinscope

The Marin Art and Garden Center located in Ross, CA, has announced that the historic property has been awarded a prestigious listing on the National Register of Historic Places (National Register.) The National Register is the official list of the Nation’s cultural resources worthy of recognition and preservation.  As a result of being placed on the National Register, the Center has also been listed on the California Register of Historical Resources.

The designation results from extensive historical research into the founding of the Center in 1945 by a group of passionate advocates for conservation of open space in Marin, who wished to save this 11-acre former estate property and create a center for the community to gather and celebrate the arts and gardens.  After its founding, the board of this new nonprofit organization commissioned buildings and landscape designs from eminent practitioners in the Bay Area, resulting in a site that has a rich legacy of mid-century modern design that is intact today.

Marin Art and Garden Center will celebrate the National Register listing on the 77^th anniversary of its founding, Aug. 3, with a morning gathering on the site.

FOUNDERS 

Many of the founding women, including Caroline Livermore, Sepha Evers, Portia Forbes, Helen Van Pelt, and Gladys Smith, were instrumental in the conservation of many of Marin’s open spaces including Samuel B. Taylor State Park, Tomales Bay, and Angel Island State Park, as well as Point Reyes National Seashore and the enlargement of Mt. Tamalpais State Park boundaries. They were also active members of the Marin Garden Club, founded in 1931, which continues to be involved with the gardens at the Center.

Marin Art and Garden Center was also found to be significant in the areas of Architecture and Landscape Architecture serving as an excellent example of the Bay Region Modern–Second Bay Tradition. The buildings on site retain the original modern lines, exposed structure, glass walls, and wood panels characteristic of this period. They embody the modernist goals regarding informality, streamlined aesthetics, and affordability, which are sought after by homeowners in the region today.

THE ARCHITECTS

The Center’s resources are the work of locally recognized architects Gardner Dailey and Donn Emmons (Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons) and landscape architects Thomas Church and Robert Royston. The period of significance begins in 1945 from initial purchase by the Marin Art and Garden Center and closes in 1962 with completion of the last Wurster, Bernardi and Emmons buildings associated with their evolving master plan. 

This listing puts Marin Art and Garden Center in the company of numerous landmark sites in Marin County, including the Angel Island U.S. Immigration Station, China Camp, the Dipsea Trail, Muir Woods National Monument, and the Marin County Civic Center.

As California Historical Resources Commissioner Alan Hess noted at the October meeting, the historic buildings at the Center help bring history to life for visitors, especially children.  State Historic Preservation Officer Julianne Polanco, a Mill Valley resident, told the Commission that the Center is one of her favorite places, and commended the Center’s Board of Trustees on their vision to preserve and sustain this significant historical resource for the community.

Support for the listing was received from elected officials in the Town of Ross and by Supervisor Katie Rice, Second District, who wrote:

“…The Marin Art & Garden Center has been and continues to be a jewel, a refuge, a place of reflection, of natural beauty, of celebration, of memories for our community: the strong legacy of the women’s history including the birth of long-standing organizations that led to a broader conservation and environmental efforts in the Bay Area, its role as the original location of the Marin County Fair, the Center’s significance as a living memorial and the site’s Bay Region Modern – Second Bay Tradition architecture using the land itself to design buildings with expansive glass, outdoor space, overhangs and trellises…”