The smallest structure ever designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright—a dog house—is now on permanent display at the largest building he ever designed, the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. The doghouse was donated to the county in 2016 by Jim Berger, a former Marin resident.
Berger grew up in San Anselmo in a Wright-designed home, known as the Berger House. His parents, Robert and Gloria Berger, commissioned Wright to design the Usonian-style house in the early 1950s. Then in 1956, 12-year-old Jim Berger wrote to Wright asking for plans for a compatible doghouse for his Labrador retriever, Eddie. Wright provided plans for the 4-square-foot doghouse the next year on the back of an envelope and at no charge. The triangular structure was designed in keeping with the main house and included signature Wright details, such as the low-pitched roof with exaggerated overhang. Wright even suggested that Jim use scrap pieces of Philippine mahogany and cedar left over from the home’s original construction.
When Jim joined the army in 1963, his father and brother, Eric, finally built the doghouse, affectionately known as “Eddie’s House.” Eddie refused to use it, however, preferring to sleep in the warmth of the main house. Then, in 1970, Gloria sent the unused doghouse to the dump.
In 2010, Jim and Eric Berger rebuilt the doghouse from the original plans for a documentary film about Wright. It had one flaw common to many of Wright’s buildings: the roof leaked.
In the new display, the curved plexiglass used to protect the doghouse is fabricated from one of the original Marin County Civic Center skylights. There are no skylights in the original 1958 Civic Center model, located on the first floor of the building. Wright had intended that the mall space be open to the sky, allowing for natural light and air conditioning. Within five months of Wright’s death in 1959, the design for skylights to shelter the public mall areas had been developed by William Wesley Peters and incorporated into the design of the building.
The doghouse is on display in the building’s cafeteria (Suite 233). Docent-led tours are offered at 10:30 a.m. every Friday. Tickets must be purchased in advance. For more information, visit marincounty.org.
[Lead photo courtesy of the Marin Civic Center]
