Marin County Launches Interactive Frank Lloyd Wright App

The interactive app takes you on a virtual tour of the Civic Center building featuring historic and recent photographs, exterior and interior drone videography, 360 degree photographs, plans and blueprints of the building process, and accounts about Wright’s history in Marin County.

The Marin County Civic Center (1957) is one of the last major works of Wright’s career and his only realized project for a government entity. An innovative design that simultaneously houses in one structure all of the functions of county government and serves as a focal point for civic and cultural engagement, it dramatically illustrates the kinship of architecture to the surrounding landscape with long horizontal buildings that gracefully link the crowns of three separate hills. Wright boldly projected the main government building as a bridge joining one hill to the next with a series of graceful arches sheltered under barrel-vaulted roofs. Its forms and colors relate it to surrounding hills and to the mountains of the Coastal Range in the distance.

 App sections include:

• Frank Lloyd Wright in Marin County – tells the story of Wright, his architectural philosophies and how they are showcased in the Marin County Civic Center and the Berger House in San Anselmo, California

• Civic Center Building History – highlights the tumultuous story of how two powerhouse women in the 1950s (Vera Shultz and Mary Summers) selected Wright to design the Marin County Civic Center and how it all almost didn’t come to pass; this section also features historic plans, sketches, and drawings by Wright alongside historic photographs of the building construction and opening dedication shots

• Architectural Exteriors – showcases the building from dawn to dusk with beautiful and atmospheric photographs by Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation photographer Andrew Pielage

• Architectural Interiors – offers behind-the-scenes access to the Marin County Board of Supervisors Chambers and their private balcony, tales about the custom furniture designed by Wright but built by inmates from San Quentin’s wood shop, a sneak peek into the iconic Marin County Library, a rare look at the inside of a Hall of Justice courtroom, and more

• Civic Center Campus – learn more about the Civic Center campus including the Wright-designed United States Post Office, the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium designed by William Wesley Peters, and the Marin County Fairgrounds

• Plants & Landscaping – learn about the care and consideration Wright took to select each and every interior plant as well as the exterior landscaping surrounding the building; “relax” in the Café garden; learn about where Wright first came to see the Civic Center site and his response when he got there

• Offices – take a virtual tour of the Civic Center offices with 360 degree access; “walk” down the Wright-designed mall spaces; get access to all your Civic needs from jury duty to building permitting

The app is available for download in the App Store and Google Play Store to accommodate all mobile devices including iPhone, iPad, and all Android phones and tablets. The app is also available in English and Spanish.

Google Play       App Store