Point Reyes Light - November 22, 2000

For sale: Point Reyes Station's historic Foresters Hall

One of the signature buildings of Point Reyes Station, the Foresters Hall on Mesa Road, is on the market. Asking price: $1,225,000.

The building - the last of several in West Marin owned by celebrated Abstract Expressionist painter Sam Francis - is being sold by Francis' widow, Los Angeles artist Margaret Francis.

The powder blue Frontier Victorian with paired cupolas has changed hands and uses several times in its long history.

Built in 1914 by the Foresters of America, it served as a community center where Saturday-night dances attracted railroad workers and ranching families from all over West Marin. In the 1920s movies were shown on Thursday evenings; electricity for the projector came from a dynamo rigged to the drive shaft of an Oldsmobile parked outside.

Movie night

West Marin historian Jack Mason in Earthquake Bay describes one young audience member on a Thursday night in 1923: "The boy watching the movie from a bench in Foresters Hall looked like any other brown-eyed kid. Next to him sat his grandfather, Frank Dolliver, known locally for catching the largest salmon ever taken out of Paper Mill Creek - 'so big, by golly, I had to take it into Tomales Bay to turn it around... The movie: 'The Kid.' The boy: its star."

The boy, Jackie Coogan, who was in West Marin visiting his grandfather, was the biggest child star of his era, and played alongside Charlie Chaplin in 1921's The Kid.

In 1940 the club was bought by the Companions of the Forest, the women's counterparts to the Foresters. The Companions sponsored the first Western Weekend in part to raise money for maintaining the building.

WWII hospital

During World War II the downstairs was outfitted as an emergency hospital to treat injured soldiers or civilians.

The Companions of the Forest sold the building to Charles Mel for $7,500 in 1960. Later, artists Jean and Bill Booras bought it for $35,000 and converted it into an art gallery called The Sandcastle, which remained open for 14 years.

After Jean Booras' death, Inverness resident Rip Goelet - who now owns the former Red Barn across the street - and his wife Leslie in 1985 bought the Foresters Hall for $160,000 with the intent of converting it to a recording studio, theater and art gallery. However, the cost of bringing the building up to code was stratospheric, and in 1988 the Goelets sold the building to Sam and Margaret Francis.

Rumor has it that around that time, a famous pop star used the building as a residence and recording studio.

Retrofitted for earthquake

The building is now fully earthquake retrofitted. Listing agent Debra Burnett of Prudential California Realty said, "Margaret [Francis] really has lovingly done upgrading not apparent to the eye."

The building features an art gallery with 25-foot ceilings, which Burnett describes as, "a room within a room."

Horse trainer Beth Marsh is currently taking care of the building.

The property can be seen by appointment by calling Burnett at 457-7340. Burnett has asked that interested parties not disturb the caretaker.

As to what a new owner might use the property for, "It could be anything," Burnett said.

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