Marin County Historic Preservation Services

Marin County, the Bay Area’s second-least-most populated county, is an exercise in contrasts. Ranging from the nautical charms of the bayside town of Sausalito, to the rural ranchlands of Pt. Reyes, and from the county seat in San Rafael, to the exurban housing tracts of Novato, Marin County embodies the Bay Area good life. Although mostly rural, the eastern third of the county contains Marin’s main population centers, extending northward from Sausalito and Mill Valley to the central Marin communities of San Rafael, Corte Madera, and the Ross Valley, and on toward the suburban community of Novato just south of the Sonoma County line. The character of these towns varies, but most have compact historic downtowns and older residential neighborhoods ringing these downtowns that contain Victorians and Craftsmans that would rival many older and larger communities.

Since 2011, VerPlanck Historic Preservation Consulting has completed more than two dozen historic resource evaluations (HREs) throughout Marin County, including in Sausalito, Mill Valley, Corte Madera, Ross, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Tiburon, and Belvedere.

In Sausalito, VerPlanck has recently completed a citywide historic context statement, which follows on a survey of the Marinship neighborhood and a successful nomination of the Marinship Machine Shop to the National Register of Historic Places.