Silicon Valley’s image in the world of architecture is, shall we say, opaque. When considering the buildings that surround us, one is likely to conjure up visions of business parks, those unremarkable grids of reflective glass penning in teams of people who are themselves architects of information or computer components. Old-timers might recall Silicon Valley’s agricultural era, when the landscape from here to Gilroy was mottled with long buildings where farmers unloaded the sweet treasures of their orchards in the mists of dawn. But Silicon Valley also contains some true architectural gems of historical significance that are destined to be landmarks for future generations.

Two private homes are among Silicon Valley’s most important architectural legacies. The first is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hanna House, nestled on a hill on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. Built in 1936 as a “modest residence” for a Stanford professor and his family (although Wright’s estimated budget ballooned from $15,000 to $37,000), it is a series of hexagon shapes clustered around a central fireplace. The hexagons repeat as a leitmotif in carpet and bathroom tiles, prompting the nickname “Honeycomb House.” Noted by the American Institute of Architects as one of 17 landmarks that represent Wright’s significant contribution to American society, the Hanna House was really the first “outside the box” design for Wright, who craved to free himself from traditional rectangular structures. Greatly damaged by 1989’s earthquake, it took nearly 10 years and $2 million to complete a seismic retrofit, but the house has been re-opened for public tours by reservation.

Another most unusual residence was built in the San Mateo Highlands in 1956, when that area was the rustic countryside. Called the X-100, it was merchant developer Joseph Eichler’s showcase “house of the future,” replete with ultra-modern kitchen and a series of glass doors set in a steel-beam constructed frame. Sunset magazine’s pictorial on the X-100 lured an estimated 150,000 viewers to the Highlands, and many of those ambling through its unique design – which included interior gardens glowing beneath a 32-foot skylight – were wowed enough to purchase one of Eichler’s wooden home models in his nearby development. The X-100 is one of the masterpieces of Modernist architecture, which set out to cure America of its drastic housing shortage after World War II. The home is one of only two steel homes designed by Eichler, who built 11,000 homes in California. It’s occasionally opened for tours; more information and a recent book on the project are available on www.eighlernetwork.com.

BUILDINGS IN SAN JOSE

The Peralta Adobe, 175 W. St. John (408) 993-8182 Hyatt Sainte Claire, 302 S. Market St. sainteclaire.hyatt.com San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd. Le Petit Trianon, 72 N. Fifth St (408) 998-0223 Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph (408) 283-8100 www.stjosephcathedral.org To get involved in saving historic landmarks, contact The Preservation Arts Council of San Jose www.preservation.org

Visiting Filoli Center and Garden in Woodside is a great way to enjoy architecture in nature. Centered among Fioli’s radiant formal gardens is a uniquely Californian home designed in 1917 by noted San Francisco architect Willis Polk that blends Spanish and Stuart elements within a grand, Georgian-style mansion.

You can dine at Filoli’s café or enjoy a meal among the sweet Craftsman elements of MacArthur Park restaurant in Palo Alto. It’s one of the few remaining buildings in the area designed by Julia Morgan, pioneering female architect and the first woman to graduate from the University of California School of Engineering. She designed nearly 700 buildings, including YMCAs up the Pacific Coast, but is best known for designing William Randolph Hearst’s incredible mansion in San Simeon.

Downtown San Jose’s ongoing cultural revival has architectural restoration and preservation at its core. The California Theatre, a 1927 former movie palace built by Weeks & Day Architects, enjoyed a grand re-opening last fall. (Total cost: $72 million.) The majestic theatre echoes with the arias of Opera San Jose and hosts major speakers, corporate events and classic films, as well. Across the street is another restored landmark building, the Hyatt Sainte Claire, with its fan-shaped, Art Deco entrance. One of just three Art Deco buildings remaining in San Jose, Vintage Towers (formerly the Medico-Dental Building) is a 1925 structure that officially re-opened in February. Its restoration was a collaboration of The First United Methodist Church and many others, and the property includes 57 low-income residences. An 1892 neoclassical mansion based on a building at Versailles, Le Petit Trianon survives as a frequent home to chamber music concerts.

Churches, majestic homes and theatres usually rank among a city’s best-preserved architectural properties. Quiet moments under the resplendent stained glass windows in the multi-domed Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph’s in San Jose will inspire thanks for the generations of workers who have maintained and restored the 1877 church to its current glory. Two of the region’s oldest theatres, the 1904 Jose Theatre and Palo Alto’s Art Deco-era Varsity Theatre, now house comedy and books, respectively. An agricultural landmark in Sunnyvale, the Historic Del Monte Building, moved from seed testing to hosting banquets, meetings, weddings and, appropriately, the local weekend farmers market.

These kinds of re-use are critical in saving valuable architectural artifacts, and The Preservation Action Council of San Jose is the region’s primary watchdog. They encourage local governments, agencies, and developers to consider alternatives to demolition. Only one building remains from San Jose’s earliest history. Built in 1797, the Peralta Adobe stands as the last remnant of the area’s Spanish rule, when the area was named “Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe.”

OTHER SILICON VALLEY BUILDINGS OF NOTE

Hanna House by Frank Lloyd Wright, Stanford campus, Palo Alto. One-hour tours offered alternate Sundays and Thursdays. Advance reservations are required; phone (650) 725-8352. Stanford’s “d.school” is currently under construction. www.stanford.edu Filoli Center and Garden, Woodside (650) 364-8300 offers self-guided and docent-led tours and nature hikes. www.filoli.org Joseph Eichler’s X-100 experimental house in the San Mateo Hills is not open for tours until 2006. www.eichlernetwork.com MacArthur Park Restaurant, 27 University Ave., Palo Alto (650) 321-9990 www.macpark.com www.macpark.com The Historic Del Monte Building, 100 S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale (408) 735-7680 hosts the Sunnvyale Farmers Market on Saturdays (8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) www.thehistoricdelmonte.com Birthplace of Silicon Valley: The garage where Hewlett-Packard began. 367 Addison Ave., Palo Alto

Other historic buildings are scattered through the region, but Silicon Valley’s architectural wonders aren’t just old ones. The influx of wealth in the region over the last few decades has resulted in the creation of some great design projects. San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts (1965) was built by Taliesin West Architects, part of the atelier founded by Frank Lloyd Wright. The building’s soft curves and graceful lines are testament to Wright’s stylized, organic style, which was influenced by his visits to Japan in the early part of the 20th century. Bolder, modern buildings include the Children’s Discovery Museum (1980) and The Tech Museum of Innovation (1998), two large-scale works in San Jose designed by noted Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta in partnerships with The Steinberg Group. In both structures, Legorreta intersects large shapes to play with light and space and uses large areas of color to infuse the atmosphere with energy.

Some buildings are less about space and more about creating opportunities for communities to collaborate. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Library (2003), the largest new library west of the Mississippi River, is a unique joint project of San Jose State University and the City of San Jose, who pooled resources to create a state-of-the-art learning facility for students and citizens. Under construction at Stanford is their new “d.school,” a collaborative learning environment that applies design knowledge among students across multiple disciplines to address and solve larger human problems in more innovative ways. It’s these sorts of creative architecture projects – reconstructing the way we think – that will likely redefine the future of Silicon Valley.

Of course, the grandeur of all these buildings may hold no match for the garage at 367 Addison Ave.in Palo Alto. A little building that housed a big idea, it’s the birthplace of Hewlett-Packard. Perhaps it’s wise to remember that the tallest temples crumble, but the structures that truly bind us – our personal relationships – are also the ones that support us more than anything made of brick and mortar.