Planner, Developer, and Benefactor

GEORGE WAS A DEVELOPER, BUILDER, AND FOUNDER of neighborhoods and institutions, in part due to his passion for architecture and landscape design, and in greater part to fulfill the vision of thoughtful urban planning that he and other Progressives saw but city leaders resisted.

In addition to addressing social concerns, George actively set out to ensure San Diego's built environment was worthy of its natural setting and his own growing sophistication, fed by trips to New York and San Francisco. He hired the City of New York's landscape designer Samuel Parsons to prepare Balboa Park's first comprehensive plan, and twice brought the renowned Chicago-based planner John Nolen to town to envision a civic center linked to San Diego Bay. Nolen's proposed new city hall, which became the County Administration Building, was George Marston's last realized architectural project—approved when he was 83.