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| Civic Center Spire, Marin County 2011 |
Seen as I was driving to the Sunday AM Farmers Market. Of course I had to pull into the post office parking lot and pull out the Canon G12 before continuing on with my booth setup.
Update: In reference to the puff of steam coming from mid-spire, alert commenter Diane has discovered the following:
"The central architectural focus for the building is the 80-foot diameter dome with its 172-foot, slender gold spire. The spire creates a visual punctuation mark that breaks the horizontality of the two buildings. It was originally designed to serve as an exhaust outlet for the furnace and as a radio tower, which was precluded by new technology."
More info in comments. One wonders if the exhaust outlet is still in place with condensation producing the steam . . .??
10 comments:
Ouch, that looks dangerous. Have a great day at the market!
Well, this was a few weeks ago. But I did OK! At least I covered my entry fee.
I'll be back there next week!
PS: Frank Lloyd Wright design.
Earlier spire shot here along with an early iteration of the booth.
Are those clouds on the right side of the spire?
Thanks for another interesting photol
Good question. Steam??
I've tried to look online to see if the spire has some actual functionality . . . couldn't find anything.
Maybe next time I'm on jury duty I can do some research.
This site below said it was originally built as an exhaust outlet for the furnace and a radio tower.
http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/CU/main/flw/cctourarch.cfm
Ok, I've found another website which talks about repairs to the spire in 2002. (scroll down to CA-7 Public Works sec. g)
http://www.co.marin.ca.us/EFiles/BS/AgMn/02_0730/index.html
I also read about Frank Lloyd Wright and the Civic Center on the Marin County Free Library website. It said that the spire houses a 45 foot radio and T.V. antenna. No mention of it being for furnace exhaust. So now I'm thinking that the original link is written oddly and perhaps it should read.....the spire was originally designed for a radio and antenna, but was later used as a furnace exhaust flue. ??
Thanks!
I've put some of this data in the post. I can only hope that in the future if someone Googles "Marin County Civic Center Spire" that they will be led inexorably to this entry.
Sorry about my exuberance over this topic, must stem from me watching "Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman" over this past weekend. haha!
. . . well, I don't know about that.
What I DO know is that this post now has ten (10) comments.
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