{"nrhp_refnum":"78000705","name":"Outdoor Art Club","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 W. Blithedale Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mill Valley","county":"Marin County","state":"CA","lat":37.906669761000046,"lon":-122.54676339499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-11-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Other","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A women's clubhouse and garden at 1 West Blithedale Avenue in downtown Mill Valley, Marin County, California, designed by Bernard Maybeck in 1904 and expanded in 1923.","why_significant":"The nomination argues significance is twofold: the clubhouse is an important example of Maybeck's work from his most creative period, and the Outdoor Art Club itself, founded in 1902 for conservation and civic responsibility, has sustained the building and garden. The original Maybeck structure is described as unaltered, and the 1923 addition is compatible with it.","narrative":"Set on a pie-shaped parcel in downtown Mill Valley, this clubhouse and its wooded garden were built for the Outdoor Art Club, a women's organization founded in 1902 by thirty-five members to protect the natural scenery of the town and the slopes of Mount Tamalpais. Bernard Maybeck designed the redwood-paneled main hall in 1904, with exposed trusses, carved dragon-head beam ends, a stone fireplace and untreated shingle walls that blend with the setting. In 1923 local architect William E. Huson added a kitchen, library and other rooms in a style matching the original. The nomination presents the building as a fine example of Arts & Crafts design in the San Francisco Bay Region and as one of seven clubhouses Maybeck designed. It also credits the club's continuing activities, now with over three hundred fifty members, for keeping the garden and hall from being lost to downtown commercial pressure.","period_of_significance":"1902, 1903, 1904 & 1923","architect_builder":"1904: Bernard Maybeck, Architect; Charles Alsup, Builder. 1923: William E. Huson, Architect; Hanson, Builder","architectural_style":"Arts & Crafts (Maybeck)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Form lists the property as occupied and in use as a women's clubhouse and gardens; the Maybeck hall is described as unaltered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.834404-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/78000705.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000705/489778a758-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000705/489778a758-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Bento00","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Outdoor_Art_Club,_Mill_Valley,_California.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bento00</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Outdoor_Art_Club,_Mill_Valley,_California.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859698","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outdoor_Art_Club","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q122790719"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/marin-county/outdoor-art-club-78000705/"}