Planting the Future: The Outdoor Art Club Gets Ready for Its Next Century
If you’ve walked past the shingled building tucked behind the wisteria-covered gate at 1 West Blithedale Avenue lately, you may have noticed something: the Outdoor Art Club has been busy.
In fact, over the past three years, the Club — one of the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce’s longtime members — has quietly undertaken a once-in-a-century effort to preserve and renew one of downtown’s architectural gems.
Designed by Bernard Maybeck and completed in 1904, the Outdoor Art Club clubhouse was the first building in Mill Valley to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also listed on the California State Register. The clubhouse itself is a classic shingle-style Arts and Crafts building, all warm wood and hand-hewn detail, with a soaring ceiling, carved trusses and redwood-paneled walls. For more than 120 years, it has been an oasis in the heart of downtown, set in by an acre of gardens and winding paths.
The club has hosted generations of civic gatherings, performances, celebrations, and community conversations – but few people remembeer that in the 1930s it narrowly escaped demolition when the City proposed turning the site into a parking lot. The club’s members voted down the idea, preserving the clubhouse for the community.
Now, the Club’s members have once again rolled up their sleeves to care for this landmark — this time by ensuring it meets modern safety and health standards while preserving its historic character.
In the past three years, the Club has tackled the essentials first. The building was earthquake-retrofitted to strengthen it for the next century. The roof — long patched and repatched over the decades, sometimes by members’ husbands — was finally replaced in full. The original French doors were painstakingly restored, preserving the craftsmanship that allows the clubhouse to open wide to its gardens and flood the Great Hall with light.
And this spring, the Club is in the midst of a full remodel of its commercial kitchen, which was originally added in 1923 and last renovated when Dwight Eisenhower was in office. The kitchen is being brought into compliance with current Marin County health codes and is scheduled for completion by June 1.
Although the clubhouse may be closed for now, the club is not. The club is a nonprofit organization still dedicated to its original mission of supporting the arts, environmental conservation, and civic engagement. In February 2026, the Outdoor Art Club awarded $65,000 in grants to local nonprofits, continuing a long tradition that has returned more than $1 million to the broader community.
This year the club’s free public speakers program is being co-hosted by venues around town (including the Mill Valley Public Library, Sweetwater Music Hall and Marin Theatre). Next up on the schedule: “The Future of Public Health” with Marin’s public health officer Dr. Lisa Santora and civic leader Teri Dowling, at 3 pm March 8 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon.
As the renovation work moves toward completion, the Club has launched a community fundraising effort called Planting the Future / SEEDS Campaign, with a goal of raising $100,000 to help complete and sustain this historic renewal. For more information or to contribute, visit outdoorartclub.org.