Several excellent articles covering Marin Art and Garden Center’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places have been published this month; you may be interested to read the coverage and learn more about this important designation.
In the Pacific Sun, Nikki Silverstein reports on the Center’s founding in the 1940s, which “started with the remarkable women referred to as ‘Marin housewives’ in court documents. They were actually skilled environmentalists who founded garden and conservation organizations dedicated to saving Marin’s natural resources from development.”
“The center’s history is rich, even if some of it isn’t included in the listing. The county fair took place on the property from 1946 to 1970. It began as the Marin Art and Garden Fair, which included arts and crafts displays, outdoor installations of gardens, archery contests and Uncle Sam walking around on stilts. The fair raised enough money to keep the Marin Art and Garden Center going.”
Beth Block (left) and her daughter Kate, 17, on the bench near the Fountain Pond.
Brontë Wittpenn/The Chronicle
Sam Whiting, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, quotes our Executive Director, Antonia Adezio: “We work hard to make the place beautiful and welcoming, and we’d like to share it with a broader community beyond the Ross Valley.”
Jillian Robinson of Fairfax looks for flowers to sketch near the Bottle House. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
Garden Manager Michael Bogart chats with intern Giovana Goncalves, 16, outside the Octagon House. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
For the Marin Independent Journal, Adrian Rodriguez spoke with Juliane Polanco, the State Historic Preservation Officer (and Mill Valley resident): “She said she didn’t understand the complexity of the property until the state received the nomination over a year ago. ‘What’s so unique about this site is the combination of social history, specifically women’s history, at a very early period,’ Polanco said. ‘Then there is the landscaping and architecture, and all these pieces come together to form this very modest but very beautiful site.'”
