In late 1999 early 2000, I was moved by a work of architecture tucked away just behind a grove of overgrown brush behind a vacant parking lot just east of highway 101 in Novato, CA. The building and its grounds was designed as a bowling alley for William J. Nave, a prominant business man and civic leader, and opened in 1960. The building was designed by an architect by the name of Gordon Phillips, who at one time was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright. The building was designed in a Wrightian manner which was a befitting style as it was located just ten miles north of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin County Civic Center. At the time we were living in Sausalito, and had an opportunity to learn how hard it is to save buildings, even if they have unique or historic significance. I was unable to save this work of architecture, but through a series of articles for the Marin Independent Journal and Docomomo, at least I was able to give voice to a faded memory.
