Marin Voice: 60 years later, Wright’s Civic Center is still a conversation piece

The last time I led a docent tour at the Marin Civic Center, the first question I was asked was: “Wasn’t there opposition constructing such a radical building?”

“Whoa,” I said, “that’s coming up shortly.”

In fact, the fight against the Civic Center – whose opening 60 years ago is being celebrated on Thursday – is a major part of my commentary as I guide visitors through architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s last building.

Wright died in 1959 at age 91 after finishing the preliminary designs for his controversial, modernistic structure, his only government building. Former New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberger called it, “Wright’s crowning achievement on the West Coast.”

But long before construction began, the Civic Center and Wright were controversial in ways that sound familiar today. It was only a few years after the heyday of Sen. Joe McCarthy, who accused scores of Americans of being Communists.

In Marin County, a group opposing the Civic Center read a letter to the Board of Supervisors claiming, without evidence, Wright had Communist leanings and had been an anti-war activist. The architect, then 88, jumped up while the letter was being read, protesting he was a loyal American who detested Communism. Walking out of the meeting, he protested: “I am what I am. … If you don’t like it, you can lump it. To hell with it all.”

Incidentally, Wright was not a Communist. While not overtly political, at one point he was actually an admirer of Charles A. Lindburgh, the pilot who was an American Firster and a fan of European dictators. Wright had not favored the U.S. entering World War II and he advised disciples to claim “conscientious objector” status.

Communist charges mostly evaporated, but distrust of Wright and his building did not. Supervisor William Fusselman – a conservative candy manufacturer from San Anselmo – fought tooth and nail against Wright’s design, claiming it was too expensive and unnecessarily complex.

“Who gets anything out of this but the architect?” Fusselman exclaimed. And the Marin Tax News wrote: “The majority of the people of Marin do not want the proposed costly and fantastic structure being arbitrarily planned for them.”

Construction came in under budget at just over $15 million. In large part, the battle revolved around political and cultural antagonisms.

In those days, Marin was slowly changing from a sleepy semi-rural county into a commuting suburb; population was growing and the county was becoming less conservative. But the change took a while.

During construction, conservative forces still held sway and, at one point, succeeded in stopping work, instead trying to turn it into a hospital. In response, the Independent Journal took a readers poll. Continuing with the Civic Center won by a ratio of 8 to 1.

Fusselman relented and construction resumed. When the administration building was finished he took credit for it. You can find his name on official plaques at the building.

It’s hard not to conflate the political opposition and the accusations of communist ties with the tactics of former President Donald Trump.

“A vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream,” he said.

Civic Center opponents in 1958 weren’t quite so pointed, but the thought was there. Mostly, they wanted to reduce taxes however they could.

In fact, the leading proponent of the new building, Supervisor Vera Schutz, was defeated for re-election after advocating higher assessment of properties that had been under-assessed.

In the end, of course, the building was finished. It remains controversial, but for artistic (not political) reasons.

A sympathetic biographer of Wright, Brendan Gill, called the Civic Center a “radically overextended beachhead whale of a structure … which exemplifies the arrogance for which he was famous.”

Goldberger took the opposite view: “It is a vast stucco spaceship set gracefully into the brown hills just north of San Francisco.”

As I tell the folks I shepherd around the building, you make up your own mind. That will be especially possible Thursday when special events including free docent tours, a photographic exhibit, a panel of experts and an architectural scavenger hunt will put this amazing building in the spotlight once again.

Spencer Michels, of San Anselmo, is a retired correspondent for the PBS NewsHour and a Civic Center docent.