Marin Art and Garden Center

The Marin Art and Garden Center is a botanical garden in Ross, California. The site is 11 acres and features gardens and historic buildings, including the Barn Theater, which is home to theater company Ross Valley Players. Admission to the gardens is free.

Marin Art and Garden Center
The gazebo at MAGC
Typebotanical garden
Location30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, Ross, California
Area11 acres
Created1945
Websitehttps://maringarden.org/

History

The land where the Marin Art and Garden Center sits was part of Rancho Punta de Quentin, a 10,000-acre Mexican land grant purchased by James Ross in 1859.[1] A few years later, the property went to Ross's daughter Annie and her husband George Worn.[2] The acres that make up the current Marin Art and Garden Center were eventually owned by the Jonathan Kittle family, who put the land up for sale in 1943.[1]

The Marin Art and Garden Center was founded in 1945 by women members of the Marin Conservation League.[3][4] This project was led by the League's president, Caroline Sealy Livermore, who organized fundraising to obtain the $25,000 needed to buy the property.[1][5] The site was the location for the Marin County Fair from 1947 to 1970.[4]

The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.[6]

Gardens and features

The Marin Art and Garden Center's master plan was designed by landscape architect Thomas Church.[7] It contains several different gardens, including those focused on roses, edible plants, plants used in basketry, and native plants.[8] There are three species of redwood on the site, including the dawn redwood.[4] A giant sequoia on the property was brought in from Yosemite Valley during the Worns' ownership.[2]

Buildings on the property include modernist buildings and the Octagon House, which was once a pump house and later the José Moya del Piño Library.[1] There are also an art studio by Gardner Dailey and the "Bottle House" by Ray Oleson, both built in the late 1940s.[7] The property's border is marked by crinkle-crankle brick walls.[2]

Pixie Park Playground, designed by Robert Royston, is located at the Center.[7] It was founded in 1952 by Elizabeth Terwilliger and American Association of University Women as a space for MAGC volunteers' children.[2]

Ross Valley Players

The Barn Theater is the headquarters of the Ross Valley Players. The barn was built in 1860 on the farm later owned by the Kittle family. During the Great Depression, the community in Ross began using the barn as a theater. The Ross Valley Players assisted in the effort to turn the land into a garden in 1945.[9]

References
  1. Saekel, Karola (May 13, 1998). "Marin's Woodsy Garden Center". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  2. Londeree, Nanette. "Pacific Horticulture | There's Magic Behind Those Walls". Pacific Horticulture. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  3. Swanson, Charlie (August 10, 2020). "Marin Sanctuary Marks 75 Years of Arts and Gardens". Bohemian.
  4. Rodriguez, Adrian (July 17, 2020). "Marin Art and Garden Center celebrates 75th anniversary with focus on longevity". Marin Independent Journal.
  5. "History watch: Preserving Marin's beauty". Marin Independent Journal. February 13, 2008 – via NewsBank.
  6. "Weekly listing". National Park Service.
  7. Weinstein, David (June 29, 2019). "Living History: Marin Art & Garden Center". marinmagazine.com. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  8. Bremier, BJ (August 31, 2018). "Fuller, fresher gardens, new MAGC manager promises". Marin Independent Journal.
  9. Rogers, Rob (December 28, 2007). "Historic Ross theater is still a barn at heart". Marin Independent Journal – via NewsBank.

37°57′48″N 122°33′16″W

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