Berkeley City Council
July 28, 2026

14. Description.

Built in 1922, this is a one-story frame building
with cement plaster exterior, which, above each
shopfront, is marked in squares in imitation
of stonework. The façade is divided into four
shopfront bays by tall piers with recessed pan -
els (five piers in all). The piers extend slightly
above the roof line and are each topped by an
ornamental cast concrete urn.
2924 and 2928 retain original entries with dis -
play windows and decorative transoms. The
restaurant front has been remodeled several
times since 1970, but now is closer to the origi-
nal except for wood-frame casements windows
instead of the traditional plate glass display
windows. 2926 once had a striking late 1940s
or early 1950s remodeled “Modern” shopfront;
it has been redesigned to match the other orig -
inal entries. The south wall of the building is
visible along the pedestrian passage and there
is a side door leading to the restaurant.

15. History.

This building, with its distinctive urns atop,
was the last one built by John Bischoff on his
extensive piece of property, In total, he built
six structures on this block: three solely com -
mercial buildings facing College, a two-story
building at College and Russell with shops fac-
ing College and apartments reached from Rus-
sell, and two apartment buildings to the west
on Russell. (The two apartment buildings were
torn down in 1977 for construction of the City-
owned parking lot that was built behind the
commercial buildings.)
When Bischoff Shop Building No. 3 was com-
pleted in 1923, tenants were ready and waiting.

During 1922, Bischoff had placed newspaper
advertisements which read, “Stores for rent.

Ideal location for first-class stores, in fast-grow-
ing limited business district of Berkeley.”
The first tenants included the Eagle Candy
Store run by Joseph Perry and Gaspar Sena at
2924 College. Perry lived at 2305 Ward Street.

The short-lived candy shop was gone by 1926.

Next to the candy shop was the Elmwood Mu -
sic Shoppe & Circulating Library, run by Mrs.

Irene Evans and Madge Robinson, a librarian,
who also lived at 2305 Ward. It started out well.

In December 1924 the shop ran a joint Vic-
tor-sponsored advertisement with the Tupper &
Reed music store downtown. Both shops car -
ried genuine Victrolas and received new Victor
records every Friday. But sometime in 1925 the
Elmwood Music Shoppe was gone.

By 1924, the Elmwood Plumbing & Gas Heat-
ing Supply had opened at 2928 College, owned
by William E. Onions of 2612 Haste Street,
where he and his wife lived with their large
family. But, as with the music shop, Mr. On -
ions closed his shop in 1925.

Of the first four inaugural tenants, only the
business at 2930 College —the Wil-Mar Bak -
ery—remained, and it paved the way for oth-
er bakeries and restaurants to follow. It was
opened by William and Marion Battenhouse
(hence the name “Wil-Mar”) in 1924. The next
year, Mr. Straus, the building owner, added a
brick oven behind the shop, which proved an
enticement to future food service businesses.

Meanwhile, the Old English Bakery at 2986
College had opened about 1932 under the
charge of Mrs. Mary Sandelands Hawkins, of -
fering “home-made specialties including meat
pies, breads, and pastries.” Born in 1883 in
England, she lived on Emerson Street with her
husband James Herbert, a contractor, and their
large family. Nels Larsen, the next owner of
Mrs. Hawkins’ bakery, sold it to Michael Li -
pary in early 1944, who reopened it at the orig-
inal location. But by December of that year,
it was announced that the Old English Food
Shop (bakery and delicatessen) had opened

in the shop vacated by the Wil-Mar Bakery,
with this wartime pronouncement, “When bet -
ter cakes and pies are made, Old English will
make them.” But the proprietor barely had time
to make good on the promise, as Old English
was replaced by the Chatterton Bakery in about
1947. The Chatterton was a small local chain
of two or three shops, starting in Oakland in the
1920s. By 1924 there was a Chatterton on Ban-
croft near Telegraph, which coexisted with the
College Avenue Chatterton. In August 1955, the
bakery was sold to Robert and Clarence Parker.

Parker’s Bakery was a favorite for schoolchil -
dren who could buy small, inexpensive cookies
with a dollop of chocolate in the center.

The long line of bakeries came to an end in
late 1970 when the store was remodeled into a
restaurant. La Boheme hofbrau opened in ear -
ly 1971. It was an informal place serving large
sandwiches at lunchtime; it soon had quite a
following. By 1980 it had been replaced by
Petroushka, featuring French and Russian cui -
sine. The formal Elmwood Grill existed in the
location for a short time in 1997–98. It was
followed by Filippo’s Pastaria. In the Wood is
currently in the space.

There seem to have been always circulating li-
braries set up in various shops in the early days,
but the first genuine bookstore was likely the
Berkeley Book Bin, which opened at 2924 Col-
lege in about 1949. The shop also featured the
work of local artists through the Studio Gallery
which had moved in with the book shop after
losing its home on Milvia Street. Soon after
the Book Bin opened, a more traditional book
shop, the Elmwood Book Shop, opened at 2993
College in the Morris Building. In 1952, it was
reported that this store had been sold to two
Berkeleyans: Mrs. Margaret McPherson (liv -
ing on Cherry Street) and Mrs. Mildred Kenady
(on Kelsey). Mrs. McPherson had been with
the respected Sather Gate Book Store. Their
grand re-opening was in November 1952. They
soon outgrew the small space and six months
later bought the merchandise and fixtures of the
Book Bin, and moved to 2924 College where
they also offered a circulating library. Over the
years, the store changed hands but the name re-
mained. New owners in 1965, Eva and Charles
Baskett, owned the store the longest. They
ran a comfortable old-fashioned book store,
crowded with tall bookcases and a large table
with a vast assortment of greeting cards. Mr.

Baskett presided behind the counter at the back
of the store with a large sleeping dog next to
him on the floor. He enjoyed visiting with cus-
tomers and had opinions about everything. He
was pessimistic about the future of his store,
first when rents were being raised in the early
1980s, and then when the well-lit and spacious
Avenue Books opened a few doors away, and
again when rents went up in the late 1980s. But
it was the declining health of Mrs. Baskett that
led to the abrupt closure of the store in 1990.

By then, a book store had existed at this ad -
dress for forty years.

Another long-time tenant of the building was
Margo Roberts Interiors. Margo Ellen Roberts
was born in South Dakota in 1901 and worked
as an interior decorator in Berkeley for fifty
years. She opened her Elmwood shop at 2926
College sometime between 1950 and 1952, af-
ter first remodeling the shopfront. Its sophisti-
cated and tasteful mix of wood and stucco (gray
with gray-stained wood) and the stepped-back
entry projected a design-conscious image for
an interior decorating studio. The architect of
the new front is unknown. Margo Roberts also
carried items for sale. As Miss Roberts wrote
about her inventory, “A varied selection of an-
tiques, silver, and fine furniture. All kinds of
lovely things to make your home lovelier.” By
1970, she had moved up the street to a larger
space. Her modern storefront served the next
businesses well, especially Patou, a clothing
store that opened in 1976 offering “exciting
new clothing for the contemporary woman.”
Before Patou—or even Margo Roberts—there
was a very popular restaurant at 2926 Col -
lege: Yo-Rel’s Dining Room. Cecelia Williams

opened it on Monday, October 28, 1929 serv-
ing “home-cooked” meals. Her advertisements
read, “Menus carefully planned to please the
individual. Foods selected and prepared by
expert women cooks and served simply in an
atmosphere of cheerful quiet.” Yo-Rel’s re-
mained in business for ten years. The restau -
rant’s unusual name was Mrs. Williams’ hus-
band’s middle name spelled backwards.

In 1991, John Gordon, the new owner of the
building, returned the shopfronts—except for
the one that was then a restaurant—to a careful
semblance of what had originally been there.

16. Significance
The Bischoff Shop Building No. 3 is significant
as one of five buildings designed and built by
John A. Bischoff that make up almost a quarter
of the streetscape in the Elmwood commercial
district. Bischoff was a master designer-builder
who moved into the neighborhood and was able
to actualize his vision for the commercial strip
by buying lots and creating a cohesive group
of buildings that help to define the Elmwood
commercial district architecturally. This build-
ing is significant for its simple bold lines and its
decorative touches confined to the ornate urns
set above the roof line on the tops of the piers.

The building is also significant for its associa-
tion with so many of the iconic Elmwood busi-
nesses, such as the many bakeries and restau-
rants that have occupied 2930 College, Margo
Robert’s interior decorating studio, Yo-Rel’s
Dining Room, and the long-running Elmwood
Bookstore.

Features to Preserve.
• the transoms
• the piers with their vertical inset panels
• the simulated stone façade
• the ornate cast-concrete urns atop the piers

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No

19. Bibliography
City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12822, 14 October, 1922; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
18 December 2025
ancestry.com
“Wedding to Be October Event,” Oakland Tribune, 8 October 1910. “Engaged to Wed John A. Bischoff,” San Francisco Chronicle, 13 October 1910. “Big Apartment Sale in Lake District Made,” Oakland Tribune, 7 January 1923.

John Bischoff obituary, Oakland Tribune, 9 May 1964.
“Recollections of John A. Bischoff, Jr.” by Andrea Gabriel, Rockridge News, April 1987. “Yo-Rel’s to Observe Second Anniversary,” Berkeley Gazette, 17 October 1931. notices of intended sales, Berkeley Gazette, 2 March 1944, 23 April 1953, 20 August 1955. “Book Bin Has New Exhibit,” Berkeley Gazette, 25 May 1950. “Studio Gallery Back to Book Bin,” Berkeley Gazette, 2 November 1950. notice of removal sale at Elmwood Book Shop, Berkeley Gazette, 23 April 1953. notice of inventory sale at Elmwood Book Shop, Berkeley Gazette, 22 October 1965. “New Berkeley Book Stores” by Frances Starn, Berkeley Gazette, 8 December 1983. article on rent increases in the Elmwood, San Francisco Examiner, 21 January 1988.

Margo Roberts obituary, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 13 March 1994.

Additional Photographs.

One of the cast-concrete urns atop
the Bischoff Shop Building No. 3.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Bischoff Shop Building No. 3.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Bischoff Shop Building No. 3. Shops
in 1982: Elmwood Book Shop; Patou; The
Gallery; Petroushka.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Bischoff Shop Building No. 3. Shops
in 1939: August Schaidt Tailor; Yo-Rel’ s
Dining Room; Elmwood Cleaners; Wil-
Mar Bakery. Ormsby Donogh, 1939,
Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Pedestrian pathway between Bischoff Shop Building No. 1 and No. 3, with outdoor seating for In The Wood. left: looking west from College; right: looking east from parking lot. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Charles Baskett, owner of
the Elmwood Bookshop,
with Mrs. Byron Bolfing
(Rhoda), owner of the Elm-
wood Hardware.

Berkeley Gazette, 7 Septem-
ber 1967.

Advertisements for
various businesses in
Bischoff Shop Build-
ing No. 3.

Additional Photographs.

Interior of the Elmwood Book Shop with owner Charles Baskett and his dog. Brant Ward, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 September 1987.

Charles Baskett, proprietor of the
Elmwood Book Shop. Jerry Telfer,
San Francisco Chronicle, 1 October
1981.

Bischoff Shops Building No. 3 (at the right), seen in November 1970 when the long-time bakery space was being remodeled for its first restaurant, La Boheme, which opened in early 1971. BAHA Archives.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12822, 14 October, 1922

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 4
Bischoff Shops Building No. 1
2936–2940 College Avenue
The Bischoff Shops Building No. 1, 2936 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2936, 2940 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1568–00800
(Berry-Bangs Tract, Block K, Lot 6)
Dimensions:50 feet x 148.5 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Russell Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11936

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Bischoff Shops Building No. 1
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1922 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11299, 14 February 1922

7. Architect: John A. Bischoff (designer)

8. Builder: John A. Bischoff

9. Style: Mediterranean Shopfront

10. Original Owners: John A. Bischoff, 2717 Russell Street Original Use: commercial (1 store: “market”)

11. Present Owner: Baghdassarian Garbis & Silva Trs (2936 College); Claudia Hunka (2940 College) [2 condominiums]
Present Occupant: La Méditerranée (2936 College); Your Basic Bird (2940 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (two stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? storefronts altered

14. Description.

A one-story class “C” structure built of hollow
tile and with the façade surfaced with cement
plaster. A fringe of tile on the parapet gives the
illusion of a tile roof, and imparts a bit of Span-
ish Colonial Revival styling. Original transoms
remain. The northernmost has a stained-glass
(?) depiction of snow-covered mountains. In
the space above each transom is a raised hor -
izontal stucco panel. Between the panels and
above each pier are applied cast-concrete me -
dallions.

The three storefront bays are separated by piers
and are recessed several feet back from the
front plane of the building. A sloping surface
of aggregate leads to the remodeled shopfronts.

The two shopfronts each utilize about half of
what had been the center shopfront. The north-
ern space is a restaurant with outdoor seating
accommodated in the set-back and screened
from the sidewalk by a wood and iron railing.

A sheltering blue awning runs the length of the
restaurant.

A blue-and-white painted wooden parklet for
additional outdoor seating stands at the curb in
front of the restaurant. It was installed during
the Covid-19 pandemic. The north wall of the
building is exposed along the pedestrian pas-
sage, showing the hollow-tile construction.

15. History.

This 1922 building is the first of the one-story
shop buildings that John Bischoff built on his
extensive property on the west side of College
Avenue. It was constructed of hollow tile and
has since received seismic bracing (in 1993).

It was seemingly intended as one large space
for a market, as the permit application states,
although there is no indication that it was built
that way. However, Joseph Fritz and Emil Kes-
sler opened their Elmwood Delicatessen at
2936 College in the new building, a deli being a
close relation to a market. In 1924 the business
was transferred to E. Banducci & Co. (Eliza-
beth and Adolph Banducci), and after two years
it was sold once more: to Anibe Ferrari. But, by
1928 he had opened the Genova Ravioli Fac-
tory on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, and the
Elmwood Delicatessen was no more. In 1990
the Ferrari name returned to the Elmwood with
Ultra Lucca Delicatessen in the Martin Build -
ing, owned by Anibe Ferrario’s grandson. The
name was later changed to A. G. Ferrari Foods
to honor the founder.

The other two first businesses in the building
were Tulanian’s Carpets at 2938, which moved
to the Wilson-Tulanian Building in 1927; and
Batchelor’s Cabinet Shop at 2940 College.

The shop was run by Lester Frederick Batch -
elor who at times had his brother working in
the shop with him. The shop existed until about
1929 when he and his family moved to Ash -
land. They moved back to the Bay Area, where
Lester, at age 50, a furniture maker, was killed
by a piece of furniture in a freak accident.

In the late 1930s, two significant new tenants
moved in. In 1937 Ivanoff’s Art Studio (more
of an art and gift shop) moved into 2936 Col -
lege. Ivanoff’s had been located at 2916 Col -
lege in a double storefront since 1922.

The other new tenant was, in 1936, a five-and-
ten: the Elmwood Dime Store, founded and
operated by Mrs. Edith Quarels in a double
storefront at 2940 College. This was the store
in the Elmwood that was especially welcom -
ing to children: there was candy and an array
of inexpensive small toys. In 1941, Mrs. Quar-
els hired architect John B. Anthony to redo the
storefront with a single entrance. He gave it
a Streamline Moderne look in bright red, the
traditional color of a Five and Ten Cent store.

In 1947, due to ill health, Mrs. Quarels, who
was known to the children in the area as “The

Lady in the Elmwood Dime Store,” sold the
business to her niece Katherine Quarels. The
two of them resided close by at 2926 Benvenue
Avenue. Edith died in 1957; two years later
Katherine was diagnosed with a serious illness.

That may be the reason that she sold the store
to brothers Lloyd and Loren Gordon, who seem
to have been family friends, having all lived in
the same small town in Montana in the 1920s.

Lloyd owned the Lloyd Gordon Manufacturing
Company in Richmond, which produced store
fixtures. In 1961 Lloyd and his wife Velva pur-
chased the building from the Koerber family
and by 1971 it was owned by Loren and his
wife El Geva, who had moved to a house at
2820 College to be near the store; their son at -
tended Willard Jr. High. In June 1976, Loren
died and the Elmwood Dime Store closed by
the end of the year, after forty years of being
one of the most popular stores in the Elmwood.

When Nicholas Ivanoff retired and closed his
gift shop in the north space, Osbert Blundell
moved his gift shop in. As with Ivanoff, Blun -
dell had started his Blundell Art and Gift Shop
at another location: 2995 College Avenue in
1948. He was open for business at 2936 Col -
lege by 1959 and was there until about 1974
when he moved to Ashby Avenue. Osbert Blun-
dell was born in Liverpool in 1899 and spent
twenty years of his working life running barber
shops and gift shops for the American Presi -
dent Line. On his many trips around the world
he collected items in the various ports of call.

Eventually, the Blundells’ Berkeley home was
over-run with treasures, and, as a result, Mr.

Blundell and his wife Mary decided to open the
gift shop to give themselves some elbow room
at home. By the time the shop was in its second
location, it offered picture framing as well, ac-
complished with Mr. Blundell’s expertise.

Loren and El Geva Gordon created an ice
cream parlor and sandwich shop in the space
when Blundell’s moved to Ashby. It was open
by the end of 1974 or early 1975. It was open
for such a short time that few remember it, but
it paved the way for continued restaurant use
of this space. In April 1976, The Egg Shop &
Apple Press, which had opened its first shop
in Downtown Berkeley a few years before, re -
ceived a permit to move the front of the shop
back, creating a space for outdoor seating. The
entire front is now remodeled in this way, but it
started with only the one shop.

After the Dime Store had remained vacant for
quite a while, its double space was redesigned
inside and out by designer Richard Alan Hur -
ley in early 1978. Tenants were quick to seize
upon the new shop spaces: Andrea Faber with
Andrea, a clothing store, in March; and Ellen
Shamash with Your Basic Bird, offering rare
and exotic birds, in April. The bird shop had
started a few years before at 2935 College.

In 1982, a new restaurant replaced the Egg
Shop: Cafe La Méditeranée. After the success
of their two San Francisco locations, cousins
Levon Der Bedrossian and Garbis Baghdassar-
ian opened this Mid-East restaurant in the Elm-
wood. When Andrea closed, the cafe expanded
into part of that space as well.

Both Your Basic Bird and Cafe La Méditeranée
remain in the Bischoff building today. This
building is one of several in the Elmwood com-
mercial district that is owned by the merchants
as condominiums.

16. Significance.

The Bischoff Shop Building No. 1 is significant
as one of five buildings designed and built by
John A. Bischoff that make up almost a quarter
of the streetscape in the Elmwood commercial
district. Bischoff was a master designer-builder
who moved into the neighborhood and was able
to actualize his vision for the commercial strip
by buying lots and creating a cohesive group
of buildings that help to define the Elmwood
commercial district architecturally.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
30 November 2025
Features to Preserve.
• the tile-roofed parapet
• the transoms
• the medallions and rectangular stucco panels
in the frieze

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No

19. Bibliography.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11299, 14 February 1922; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
Property file for 2936–40 College Avenue, City of Berkeley. “Wedding to Be October Event,” Oakland Tribune, 8 October 1910. “Engaged to Wed John A. Bischoff,” San Francisco Chronicle, 13 October 1910. “Big Apartment Sale in Lake District Made,” Oakland Tribune, 7 January 1923.

John Bischoff obituary, Oakland Tribune, 9 May 1964.
“Recollections of John A. Bischoff, Jr.” by Andrea Gabriel, Rockridge News, April 1987. “Gifts to Wife Overflow House So Couple Start Hobby Shop” by Helen Nicol, Berkeley Gazette, 8 June, 1948.
advertisement for Blundell’s Gift Shop, Berkeley Gazette, 17 December 1948, page 4.

Edith Quarles obituary, Berkeley Gazette, 1 November 1957.

Notice of Intended Sale, Berkeley Gazette, 9 June 1959.

Katherine L. Quarles obituary, Statesman Journal, 5 July 1962.

Loren G. Gordon obituary, Berkeley Gazette, 23 June 1976.

Osbert A. Blundell obituary, Oakland Tribune, 16 May 1986.

El Geva Vee Gordon McCreary obituary, on-line, February 2004.

Additional Photographs.

The Bischoff Shops Building No. 1, 2936
College Avenue. Shops in 1982: Your Ba-
sic Bird; Andrea; The Egg Shop & Apple
Press.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Rear of the Bischoff Shops
Building No. 1, seen from
the parking lot and showing
original construction and
later seismic bracing.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Bischoff Shops Building No. 1, 2936
College Avenue. Shops in 1939: Elmwood
Dime Store; Ivanoff’ s. Ormsby Donogh,
1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Bischoff Shops Building No. 1.

Interior of Ivanoff’ s gift shop
at 2936 College Avenue. By -
ron Bolfing, November 1947,
Berkeley Historical Society.

Bischoff Shops Building No. 1. Interior of the Elmwood Dime Shop at 2940 College Avenue, with Katherine L. Quarles, niece of the founder, behind the counter. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Additional Photographs.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/994146176/
The Berkeley Gazette (Berkeley, California) · Fri, Dec 17, 1948 · Page 4 Downloaded on Nov 21, 2025

Copyright © 2025 Newspapers.com. All Rights Reserved.

Osbert A. Blundell, owner of Blun -
dell’ s Gift Shop. Found on-line.

Advertisement for Blundell’ s Gift
Shop. 1948.

Mary M. Blundell, wife
of Osbert Blundell.

Found on-line. Lloyd and Velva Gordon, who bought the
building in 1961. Berkeley Gazette, 12 July
1962.

John A. Bischoff, owner, designer, and
builder of the building. Oakland Tribune, 30
September 1928.

Advertisements for Andrea (Berkeley Monthly, 1980)
and Your Basic Bird (Berkeley Monthly, 1976).

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11299, 14 February 1922

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 5
Conwell Building
(College Dyeing and Cleaning Works)
2942 College Avenue
Conwell Building, 2942 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2942 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1568–00900
(Berry-Bangs Tract, Block K, Lot: northern 40 feet of Lots 7, 8, 9 ) Dimensions: 40 feet x 150 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Russell Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11937

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: Yes
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Conwell Building
Commonly Known Name: College Cleaners

6. Date of Construction: 1910 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 429, 2 February 1910

7. Architect: none listed on permit application

8. Builder: Isaac W. Bridenbecker, 2813 Piedmont Avenue

9. Style: Pioneer Storefront

10. Original Owners: Dr. Charles C. Conwell & Mrs. Julia Ann Conwell, 2801 Piedmont Ave.

Original Use: commercial (2 stores)

11. Present Owner: Srue Corporation & Mar/Dan Corporation, 2437 Durant Avenue, Ste. 204, Berkeley 94704
Present Occupant: vacant

12. Present Use: none
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: poor
Has the property’s exterior been altered? yes

14. Description.

Built in 1910, this is one of the earliest struc -
tures in the district. The Conwell Building has
housed a cleaning establishment continuously
until about five years ago. The building is now
vacant.

The Conwell Building is a one-story wood-
frame structure with a cement-plastered front.

Originally, the whole building was covered with
wood shingles. The building’s street façade has
been faced with cement plaster since at least
1939, and likely since the 1920s.

The building’s gable roof is hidden behind a
large, plain false front topped by a narrow cor-
nice. The flat stucco surface between the cor -
nice and the shopfront is enlivened with a row
of five diamond shapes formed from colored
square tiles. The center diamond is the largest,
with the two on each side increasingly small-
er. Two other nearby buildings also feature this
distinctive diamond pattern.

The store’s entrance is off-center and slightly
recessed. Seven medium-size display windows
angle their way across the front and create a
pleasing rhythm. The windows rest on a high
base which has been resurfaced with artificial
“ledge rock” in pastel shades. The display win-
dows are topped by transom windows. Two
iron handrails lead to the entrance which is one
step higher than the sidewalk. The door is ge -
neric: glass with aluminum frame. The building
is painted blue, off-white, and chrome yellow.

At the north edge of the building a door opens
to a narrow passage that leads to the rear of the
property where there was once a building with
sleeping rooms and later a brick dry cleaning
workshop, but is now empty and weed strewn.

15. History.

Many questions remain about the history of this
building. It is known that the College Clean -
ers, a venerable business in the Elmwood, was
not only one of the earliest businesses (estab -
lished in 1910), but was also owned by a Japa-
nese-American. How did the business come to
be established here? And how were the busi -
ness owners connected with the Conwells who
owned the land and signed the many construc -
tion permits over the years?
Julia A. Conwell, the widow of William O.

Conwell, purchased the lot in January 1906.

Her son Charles C. Conwell was a dentist who
first lived in Berkeley in about 1883. By 1900
he had moved his practice from San Francisco
to Center Street in downtown Berkeley.

Many widows at the time invested in real es-
tate and Julia Conwell was no stranger to buy -
ing and selling property. In fact, in the 1880s,
the Conwells and Walter Cobb, a family friend
from their days in Gold Hill, Nevada, had in -
vested in property in Los Angeles. Julia pre-
vented their disposing of the land until its val -
ue had skyrocketed. In 1902, they sold it at a
profit. The profit was so phenomenal that the
Berkeley Gazette reported that they would now
be living on “Easy Street.”
In 1903, Walter Cobb moved to Berkeley and
built a house at 2801 Piedmont, corner of Stu -
art. The idea was that the Conwells—Julia,
Charles, and his wife Cassie—would live there
with him. That is why the Conwells were in the
neighborhood and witnessed first hand Fred
Koerber’s pioneering commercial buildings at
College and Ashby being built.

In February 1910, Dr. Conwell took out a per -
mit to construct a one-story, two-room, shin-
gled commercial building on the College Av-
enue property. Dr. Conwell appears to have
built the building specifically for tenants that
he knew would occupy it. A large space was
for the dry cleaning establishment and a small
shop for shoe repairing. Five people were al -
ready living in the building by the time the

census was taken on April 20. Kunitalo Ito and
his wife Matzu were the shoemakers. George
Y . Uchida and his dry cleaning soon followed.

Uchida was born in Japan in 1881 and arrived
in California in 1909. He went into the laundry
business, advertising in the classified section
of newspapers. Perhaps he had done work for
the Conwells and expressed a goal of opening
a dry cleaning business. The business would
provide a service for the surrounding neighbor-
hoods and the Conwells would have a monthly
income through rent.

Over the next twenty years the Conwells (and
Cassie Conwell, after her husband had died in
1924) continually made further improvements
to the property, likely at the request of their
tenants. The first additional improvement was
a long one-story building with a veranda in the
northwest corner of the property. This building
contained sleeping rooms for George Uchida,
his business partner, and employees. By 1920
there were eighteen people living on the prem-
ises, but they were not all involved in the dry
cleaning business. Kunitalo Ito moved his busi-
ness to Oakland after the war, but Matsuyoshi
Kubota took his place in the shoe repair shop.
(Mr. Kubota moved his shop to 2632 Ashby in
1922; perhaps the remodel of the front of the
building from two shopfronts to one happened
then). Other residents worked as housekeepers
in private home, and some of the residents were
children. In 1928, architect George F. King de-
signed a brick dry cleaning plant and a boiler
room, also at the rear, replacing the dormito -
ry. None of these rear buildings exist today. By
1930, only three people resided at 2942 Col -
lege Avenue.

Another unanswered question is, who founded
the College Cleaners? It seems apparent that
George Y . Uchida was the founder. He was list-
ed as proprietor of the business in every city
directory from 1911 through 1927, as well as in
every newspaper advertisement.

However, an article about the Tsuchida fam -
ily by Hal Johnson in the December 1, 1947
Berkeley Gazette states that, “Seiyu Tsuchida
established the College Cleaning and Dyeing
Company as a pioneer in the Elmwood busi -
ness district which has grown extensively in
the last two decades. He has a speaking ac -
quaintance with nearly half the residents of
the area.” Seiyu Tsuchida was born in Japan in
1889 and came to San Francisco in 1906. He
returned to Japan in 1916 to marry Mon Hama-
da and they returned to California the next year.

Tsuchida is not shown in directories as propri -
etor of the College Cleaners until 1935, but a
1926 newspaper article ties him to the address
of 2942 College Avenue. Perhaps Tsuchida ac-
quired the shop after Uchida retired. At some
point Seiyu Tsuchida formed a partnership with
Michizo Yokota and Jiniro Masuda as owners
of the firm. The partnership was dissolved in
1954.

During the war years, the College Cleaners
was kept open by Rev. Walter Groesbeck, the
pastor of the Free Methodist Church, which the
Tsuchida family had attended. Seiyu Tsuchida
was able to return to his intact business after
the war.

After a falling out with the then-property own-
er in the early 1990s over responsibility of con-
tamination from a leak in an underground stor-
age tank, the College Cleaners closed for good
in 1996 after eighty-six years in business. It
was replaced by C & C Cleaners, which opened
the same year. It closed in about 2018.

A yellow placard has been posted on the site for
about five years, which describes the proposed
construction of a new two-story building. The
designer and developer are StudioKDA, an ar -
chitectural firm. They have submitted drawings
prepared in 2020 to the City for their Mixed-
Use College Avenue Development, which is
actually two buildings and includes both com -
mercial and residential uses.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
30 January 2026.

Features to Preserve.
• the cornice
• the five tile diamond shapes above the tran-
soms
• the angled shopfront with small display win -
dows, each topped by a transom
• the bulkheads faced with simulated ledge
rock made of colored concrete in muted shades
of red, yellow, and gray

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No

19. Bibliography.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 429, 2 February 1910; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“8 Hurt in Bay Auto Accidents within 24 Hours,” Oakland Tribune, 11 February 1926. “So We’re Told: Nisei Hero is Modest Author” by Hal Johnson, Berkeley Gazette, 1 December 1947.
dissolution of partnership, Berkeley Gazette, 9 August 1954.

Seiyu Tsuchida obituary, Berkeley Gazette, 23 May 1969. having housed the first minority-owned busi-
nesses in the Elmwood: College Dyeing and
Cleaning Works and Ito shoemakers. The shoe
making business opened in April 1910 and led
the way for other minority-owned businesses
in the Elmwood to follow through the years.

Significance.

The Conwell Building from 1910 is significant
as one of the early buildings in the Elmwood
commercial district, built when all businesses
were clustered on the west side of College and
on Ashby.

The Conwell Building is also significant as

Additional Photographs.

The Conwell Building, 2942 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Conwell Building, 2942 College Avenue. Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

The Conwell Building, 2942 College Avenue, interior. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Simulated ledge rock bulkhead at the Conwell Build-
ing, 2942 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Advertisement for the College Dyeing and Cleaning
Works from the Berkeley Daily Gazette, 1 March 1923.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 429, 2 February 1910

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 6
Koerber Buildings
2944 & 2956 College Avenue and 2637 Ashby Avenue
Koerber buildings, 2944 College Avenue (above), and
2637 Ashby Avenue (right). Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The 1907 Koerber Building, 2956 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2020.

1. Street Address: 2956 College Avenue, 2637 Ashby Avenue, 2944 College Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1568–01101
(Berry-Bangs Tract, Block K, Lot: southern portion of Lots 7, 8, 9 Dimensions: 140 feet x 150 feet
Cross Streets: Benvenue Avenue and Russell Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11932

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Koerber Buildings
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1907 (2956 College); 1909 (2637 Ashby); 1910 (2944 College) Factual: Yes
Source of Information: Contract notice (2956 College); City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 2567, 13 April 1909 (2637 Ashby); City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit 443, 7 February 1910 (2944 College)

7. Architect: unknown (2956 College); Leland S. Lewis, designer (2637 Ashby); Cummings & Weymouth (2944 College)

8. Builder: unknown (2956 College); Leland S. Lewis (2637 Ashby); Patrick Bros. (2944 College)

9. Style: Colonial Revival (2956 College); Storefront (2944 College, 2637 Ashby)

10. Original Owners: Fred C. Koerber, 2647 Ashby Avenue Original Use: commercial and residential

11. Present Owner: Gordon Commercial Properties LLC
Present Occupant: Bluemercury; vacant; Harvey Slocombe Ice Cream (2956 College); Dream Fluff Donuts (2637 Ashby); Cousin Home; Summer Kitchen (2944 College)

12. Present Use: residential and commercial
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property: Excellent
Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? yes

14. Description.

Built in 1907, the Ko-
erber Building is a
two-story frame Co-
lonial Revival build-
ing. It features four
bay windows on the
revealing the original board siding; missing de-
tails were recreated; and the corner store, re-
modeled by designer Ed Raberg in early 1953
with sandstone ledgerock and stainless steel,
was returned to a semblance of what may have
originally existed. The two shopfronts facing
College Avenue were also returned to an earlier
look. The entrance to the second floor apart -
ments is on College between the corner store
and the other two storefronts. Bulkheads have
raised wooden horizontal panels, each with an
elaborate iron vent grille in the center.

College Avenue, as they both feature the same
simulated cut-stone surface treatment and dia -
mond embedded frieze (although there are two
diamonds here rather than five). There are two
small-paned transom windows; the one on the
right has been replaced by white vinyl with
simulated muntins.

Piers on each end frame the shopfront which
is in traditional style, except for the sandstone
ledgerock resurfacing the bulkhead from 1951.

The building originally housed one shop and
later two. It has been one shop since 1951.

15. History.

Background on Fred Koerber.

Frederick Charles Koerber (1876–1953) owned
several grocery stores in Oakland and Berkeley
before branching into real estate development,
mortgage banking, and municipal politics.

Fred was born in San Jose, one of nine sib-
lings. His parents had immigrated from Ger -
many as teenagers. The father, George Koerber
was a wood dealer, an occupation taken up by
Fred’s brother, Adolph. Another brother, John,
2956 College Avenue.
second floor, including a five-sided corner bay.

The large projecting cornice is at the base of
the
parapet and includes modillions, a dentil
course, and a frieze band below.

The building has been restored by the current
owner. The lime sherbet stucco was removed
2637 Ashby Avenue. Built in 1909, this
was one of two side-
by-side small one-sto
-
ry, wood-frame shop
buildings. It appears
to have been altered
at the same time as
the stable at 2944
a large 1910 development that wrapped around
the earlier corner building. The façade is faced
with cement plaster that is marked to resemble
cut stone. A large, plain cornice projects from
the front wall. Below the cornice there is a re -
cessed horizontal panel that contains five dia-
mond shapes similar in configuration to those
on the College Cleaners building next door.

It is unknown when the stable was converted to
shops. Three piers delineate the shops, which
are traditional in design, with recessed entries,
transoms, and tile bulkheads.
2944 College Avenue.

Built in 1910, this
is a two-story frame
building which ap
-
pears from the street
to
be one story. It was
built as a two-story
stable that was part of

became a grocer, and Fred most likely got his
start with him.

Eventually Fred moved to Oakland, where in
1904 he married the widow Sarah Elizabeth
Cash Cook (1870–1956). His store was locat -
ed at 1932 Broadway, and he was active in the
California State Retail Grocers’ and Merchants’
Association.

A shrewd businessman, in 1907 Koerber con -
structed a building of stores and apartments
at the junction of Ashby and College avenues,
where the Key Route’s No. 6 streetcar, estab-
lished in 1905, made a stop. The Koerber gro -
cery was relocated to this building, and the
owners took up residence in one of the apart -
ments on the second floor.

The upscale grocery trade was based on home
deliveries, and Koerber delivered. Business
flourished, and Koerber quickly added to his
holdings on adjacent lots. In 1909 he obtained a
permit to construct a one-story, two-room store
on Ashby Avenue. By 1911, he owned seven
contiguous commercial buildings.

By the early 1920s, Koerber had moved on
from the grocery business to pursue other ac -
tivities. In March 1923, he filed his candidacy
for a seat on the Berkeley city council in the
May election that would launch the city man-
ager form of government. He was endorsed by
the merchants’ association of his district but
wasn’t elected that year.

In 1925, he ran again, on a slate of four can-
didates endorsed by the Berkeley Municipal
League. All four won their seats, with Koerber
coming in fourth, having garnered 6,700 votes.

By mid-September, a mere four months past
the election, Koerber tendered his resignation,
claiming that “owing to the press of private
business he was unable to devote the required
time to the council.” The private business con-
cerned mainly real estate.

Excerpted from “Grocer-Politician Fred C. Koerber
left Berkeley a Double Legacy” by Daniella Thompson,
2008; BAHA website.
mercial district. It cost $7,000 and contained
two stores on the ground floor and flats above.

The building was constructed at the far south-
east corner of the Berry-Bangs Tract, which
extends from Derby to Ashby west of College.

The section between Russell and Ashby had
been added in 1903 to the original 1902 subdi-
vision. The tract’s advertising brochure states,
“Residences only. No stores or wood-yards.”
Most likely, there were no deed restrictions
to enforce this rule, or, perhaps the develop -
ers soon realized that a corner store would be
needed by the growing population.

Over the years, the configuration of the retail
space on the ground floor of the Koerber Build-
ing changed. At first, it consisted of two shop
spaces, each running north-south. One of these
was Fred Koerber’s grocery. That later changed
to four shops running east-west, all with Col -
lege Avenue addresses. By 1950 that number
had been reduced to three, and it remains that
way today, with the largest space at the corner.

Two known long-time tenants in the corner
store were French’s Coffee Shop (1935–1952)
and Merit Cycles & Toys (1953–c1975). Rus-
sell R. French had been an ice cream maker in
East Oakland. In 1935, Joseph Edy, the famous
confectioner with shops in Oakland and Berke-
ley, directed a remodel of the corner store. Had
he planned to open an “Edy’s” on that corner or
was he helping a fellow confectioner? French’s
was more than an ice cream parlor as its sign
advertised both fountain and lunch.

In 1952, Russell French’s coffee shop business
was for sale. There must have been no takers for
this type of business in this location because in
1953 a mainstay of the Elmwood in the 1950s
and ’60s—Merit Cycles & Toys— opened. An
2956 College Avenue. The Koerber Build -
ing was
the first
commercial build-
ing to be built in
what was to become
the Elmwood
com-

advertisement in the spring 1954 telephone
directory, shows a sketch of the new modern
shopfront with a facing of Arizona ledgerock
for the bulkheads, expanses of plate glass, a
stainless steel corner column, and a band of
stainless steel running above the windows and
supporting free-standing lettering spelling out
the name of the store. This was one of five
impressive Mid-Century Modern shopfront
remodels in the Elmwood, of which only one
remains. The next tenant, in 1978, was Slat-
er-Marinoff, selling modern furnishings. One
of the proprietors, Patsy Slater, was especially
pleased with the existing shopfront as it suited
their business so well.

The northernmost shop in the Koerber Building
was home to two successive shoe repair shops.

Floyd Brown was there in the 1940s. And, at the
same time, Lester Baranco ran Lester’s Shine
Parlor in the shop. John’s Shoe Repair, owned
by Lofty Briggs, Jr., followed in the same spot
from 1967 until at least the late 1980s.

Members of the Koerber family owned the
property until it was purchased by Berkeleyan
John Gordon in 2005. The corner building’s
shops were vacant. John Gordon refurbished
the building and restored its exterior. The hos -
pital-green stucco was removed, revealing
original siding, and shopfronts appropriate to
1907 were created. Businesses filled the emp-
ty spaces and the building reclaimed its place
as a vibrant and attractive centerpiece of the
Elmwood commercial district. The restoration
was given a Preservation Award by the Berke-
ley Architectural Heritage Association in 2007,
one hundred years after the Koerber Building
was built.
2637 Ashby Avenue.

Koerber Building No. 2.

In 1909, Rolla D. Fuller,
a druggist whose busi-
ness had been at Shat-
tuck and Dwight Way,
moved his pharmacy to
this new Koerber Building. He had recently
rented a brand-new house on Plaza Drive, in
easy walking distance of his new store. Soon
after the drugstore was opened, the Berkeley
postmaster established Station No. 8 in the
store that July. Fuller was appointed clerk, al -
though the day-to-day post office work fell to
his druggist partner and father-in-law John F.

Croone. At this point, Berkeley had its main
post office (on Shattuck Avenue), two branch
offices, and eight “stations.” Later, when Sta-
tion No. 8 moved to the Dondero Building, its
name was changed to Elmwood Station.

Rolla Fuller did not stay long. In 1910, Ala-
meda developers built a new commercial build-
ing across Ashby from the Koerber properties.

Fuller and Croone immediately moved into the
large corner space, opening the College Ave -
nue Pharmacy. Years later, strangely enough,
Station No. 8 was still listed on the north side
of Ashby with Rolla D. Fuller as clerk.

The business in Koerber Building No. 2 that
has been there the longest is Dream Fluff Do -
nuts. The popular doughnut store was estab-
lished by the Herrenbruck family who lived in
the neighborhood. It was there as early as 1954,
but may go back to 1951 when the building was
coverted from two shops to one. It has the same
type of ledgerock bulkheads as the store to the
east which was remodeled about the same time.

2944 College Avenue.

Koerber Building No. 3.

This building is the re-
maining piece of the
large project that Fred
Koerber built in 1910.

It included a large, roofed-over coal and wood
yard that wrapped around the back of the Koer-
ber Building from Ashby to College. The busi-
ness was run by the F. A. Nassie Company until
about 1918. On Ashby, along with the entrance
to the yard, were three small shop buildings,
one housing a barber shop and another, the El-
mwood Creamery. On the College Avenue side,
a two-story stable opened into the yard. Koer -
ber Building No. 3 is the stable converted to
shops. No record has been found of when this
conversion happened, although it may have
been in about 1925 when the Acme Garage,
which was in the space previously, had closed.

16. Significance.
ate a nucleus of commercial buildings that
would soon attract other investors. The ground
floor provided space for a much-needed gro-
cery store for the rapidly growing surrounding
neighborhoods. Above, there were flats where
the Koerber family could live.

Koerber Building No. 2 is the second commer-
cial building in the district and is significant
because its construction was the first sign that
the original Koerber Building was not merely
a neighborhood corner store, but was the be -
ginning of a commercial district. This building
The 1907 Koerber Building is exceptional -
ly significant as the first commercial building
to be built in the present day Elmwood com -
mercial district. In fact, Fred Kroeber created
the Elmwood commercial district by buying
enough lots in the Berry-Bangs Tract to cre-
is also significant for housing the same busi-
ness—Dream Fluff Donuts— for over seventy
years.

Koerber Building No. 3, on College Avenue, is
significant as a tangible link to a past commer-
cial activity that was once ubiquitous around
Berkeley: the fuel yard. Coal and wood were
sold to heat the houses in the surrounding
neighborhoods. The College Avenue building
was the stable for the horse-driven wagons. It
carried on the transportation theme as an auto -
mobile garage until the mid-1920s when it was
converted to shops.

The Koerber property at the northwest corner
of College and Ashby—with the three earliest
buildings— is the historic hub of the Elmwood
commercial district.

Features to Preserve.
• Koerber Building: the shopfronts, the tran -
soms, the cornice, the upstairs windows, the
second-floor bays, the supports under the bays,
the siding, the air raid siren on the roof.
• Koerber Building No. 2: the Arizona led -
gerock bulkheads, the transom with wood
muntins, the two diamond shapes above the
transoms, the boxy cornice, the incised pattern
of cut stone in the stucco exterior including the
cornice, the screen door.
• Koerber Building No. 3: traditional-style
shopfronts with maroon tile bulkheads, tran -
soms, five diamond shapes in the frieze, the
boxy cornice, the incised pattern of cut stone in
the stucco exterior including the cornice.

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 2567, 13 April 1909; as well as several al - teration applications.

Block books and Sanborn maps
City directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Permits for New Buildings,” Berkeley Gazette, 24 May 1907. “2007 BAHA Preservation Award Winners,” BAHA Newsletter, No. 126, Summer 2007. “Grocer-Politician Fred C. Koerber Left Berkeley a Double Legacy” by Daniella Thompson, BAHA Website, 9 January 2008.

19. Bibliography.

18. Is the property endangered? No

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
17 October 2025

Additional Photographs.

Koerber Building, 2956
College Avenue; College
Avenue frontage.

Anthony Bruce, 2020.

Koerber Building, 2956 College Ave -
nue. Stores in 1982: Slater/Marinoff &
Co.; John’ s Shoe Repairing.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Koerber Building, 2956 College Ave -
nue; College Avenue frontage. Stores
in 1939 included: furniture; California
Citrus Distributors; Supreme Clean -
ers, French’ s Cafe. Ormsby Donogh,
1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

The Koerber Building, 2956 College Avenue, after restoration. Waiting for the new anchor tenant Lulu Lemon to open.

Daniella Thompson, 2008.

Display ad in the April 1954 Oakland Telephone Directory for Merit Cycles & Toys, showing the new, Modern glass, steel, and sandstone corner storefront of the Koerber Building..

Additional Photographs.

Koerber Building, 2944 College
Avenue. Shops in 1982: Butler Nat-
ural Foods; Great Lengths Hair
Parlor. Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Koerber Building, 2637 Ashby Avenue.

Shops in 1982: Dream Fluff Donuts.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Koerber Building, 2637 Ashby Avenue, en -
trance with Arizona ledgerock-surfaced bulk-
heads.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Koerber Building, 2956 College Avenue. Brown’ s Shoe
Repair and Lester’ s Shine Parlor, 2948 College Avenue.

With Floyd Brown and Lester Baranco. Byron Bolfing,
November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Lofty Briggs, Jr., owner of John’ s Shoe
Repair, 2948 College Avenue. Photo
by Jerry Telfer, “A Grassroots Fight
for the Status Quo” by Ann Bancroft
and Henry Schulman, San Francisco
Chronicle, 1 October 1981.

Koerber Building, 2944 College Avenue. Interior of Rob- erts Jewelry, 2946 College Avenue. Byron Bolfing, No-
vember 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Lester Baranco and Byron Bolfing in Lester’ s Shine Parlor, 2948 College Avenue.

November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 2567, 13 April 1909

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 443, 7 February 1910

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 7
Claremont Garage
2629 Ashby Avenue
Claremont Garage Building, 2629 Ashby Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2627, 2629, 2633, 2635 Ashby Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1568–01201
(Berry-Bangs Tract, Block K, Lot 10 and portions of Lots 9 and 8 ) Dimensions: 120 feet x 110 to 120 feet
Cross Streets: Benvenue Avenue and College Avenue

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11939

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Claremont Garage, Elmwood Garage, Wright’s Garage Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1925 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 22294, 10 September 1925.

7. Architect: B. Reede Hardman, 1st National Bank Building, Berkeley

8. Builder: Carlson Le Prest Company, 206 Koerber Building, University Avenue

9. Style: Italian Farmhouse & Storefront

10. Original Owners: Fred C. Koerber, 206 Koerber Building, University Avenue Original Use: residential and commercial

11. Present Owner: Gordon Commercial Properties LLC
Present Occupant: Casa de Chocolate; Labels; Lift Me Up; Yama; Mighty Pilates; Worthy; Donato & Co.

12. Present Use: commercial
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E, R-2A

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? new shopfronts

14. Description.

Built in 1925 as a large, high, one-story garage
and store building, the Claremont Garage was
constructed of reinforced concrete, brick, and
hollow tile, with a wood-truss ceiling. Two
large openings in the center flanked by shop-
fronts were the garage entries. Now, those open
entries and the three shopfronts have all been
redone as traditional shopfronts, but with tall,
elongated doors and display windows. Tran-
soms match the widths of doors and windows
below. All trim is painted dark green.

The building is faced with randomly laid buff
and reddish brown pressed brick. The façade
is dived into five bays by brick-clad piers that
extend slightly above the parapet. All is sym -
metrical except that an additional wider shop-
front extends eastward. Its façade is treated as
the rest of the building, but with a stepped par-
apet at the center of the shopfront. This section
may either be an existing store building built
by Fred Koerber in 1909 that was incorporated
into the garage building, or its dimensions were
retained for this “extra” shopfront when the ga-
rage was built.

Centered above the garage entrance is what was
once a penthouse apartment. It was constructed
of hollow tile and had integrally colored tan ce-
ment plaster and brick quoining. The penthouse
has been rebuilt without the quoining, but the
tile roof and small-pane casement windows re-
main.

15. History.

In the summer of 1911, Dewey Collignon and
Clarence Morrill built a garage on Ashby de -
signed by George F. King. The same year,
Morrill’s son Enoch built the Berkeley Theater
and the Morrill Apartments (Landmark #85) in
downtown Berkeley, both designed by King.

The garage was built on property to the west of
and adjoining the Koerber property. The garage
was quite large. Its roof and exterior walls were
of corrugated iron and it was built on a concrete
slab. The business was called the Claremont
Garage and run by Fenton J. Zehner.

Sometime before 1921 Fred C. Koerber pur -
chased the Claremont Garage property. He
combined it with some of his other property
fronting on Ashby (the three small 1910 shop
buildings, the coal and wood yard, and the
westerly of the two 1909 shop buildings). In
1925, Koerber commissioned Berkeley archi -
tect B. Reede Hardman to design the ultimate
in automotive garages on the large piece of
cleared land.

The Claremont Garage business seems to have
survived the construction of the new building,
but Zehner had not run the business since 1917.

Then, about 1929, an Oakland accounting firm,
Farrell & Mitchell, moved into the building.

William E. Mitchell also was manager of the
Elmwood Garage at the same address. It seems
the garage was under new ownership and a
name change was in order. Thereafter, William
G. Farrell ran the garage, with his wife Mar -
ian in the office, until 1978. That year, after
almost fifty years, Farrell’s Inc. transfered all
the accoutrements that made up Farrell’s Elm -
wood Garage to Wright’s Automotive Service.

Wright’s also had a long run.

When John Gordon purchased the former Fred
Koerber properties from his descendants in
2004, he realized that the large, open space of
the brick garage needed upgrading to modern
seismic standards. Wright’s moved to a new
location in West Berkeley. John Gordon deter-
mined that, due to its location on a narrow and
busy thoroughfare, the building would function
better with pedestrian-oriented retail shops (of
which there had always been two or three).

After the structural work was finished, The
Bay Architects were commissioned to design
the interior and the ground floor exterior. The

Building Permit Application No. 22294, 10 September 1925, as well as earlier applications.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Notice of Intended Transfer” Berkeley Gazette, 5 June 1978. “Wright’s Garage Leads ZAB Agenda” by Rita Bhattacharjee, Berkeley Daily Planet, 6 Feb.2007.

19. Bibliography.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
22 October 2025

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No
Features to Preserve.
• the shopfronts
• the unpainted brick exterior
• the penthouse with its tile roof and mullioned
casement windows

16. Significance.
building presents a handsome face to the street
and has successfully existed since then with a
variety of shops and a restaurant for fine din-
ing; every bit as successful as the garage was
in its day.

The Claremont Garage Building holds archi -
tectural significance for the City of Berkeley.

Although most of its length is not taller than
other nearby one-story buildings, it presents
a monumental appearance due to the texture
and rich variegated color of its brick surface,
the verticality of its brick piers, and the ver -
ticality of the components of the shopfronts.

The penthouse adds actual height and gives an
imposing and substantial feeling to the entire
building. The Claremont Garage is one of the
premier buildings, architecturally, in the Elm -
wood commercial district and may be the finest
designed garage in Berkeley.

Additional Photographs.

Claremont Garage. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Claremont Garage, showing
Italian Farmhouse-style pent-
house. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Claremont Garage. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Claremont Garage.

Betty Marvin, c.
1981
Claremont Garage repair shop
interior, late 1920s.

Photo-postcard courtesy
of Anthony Bruce,
Claremont Garage.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939,
Donogh Real Estate
File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

William G. Farrell in Farrell’ s Elmwood Garage. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Marian Farrell in Farrell’ s Elmwood Garage. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 22294, 10 September, 1925

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 8
Koerber Building No. 5
2632 Ashby Avenue
Koerber Building No. 5, 2632 Ashby Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2632, 2634, 2636, 2638 Ashby Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1573–01400
(Claremont Tract, Block E, Lot 3)
Dimensions: 50 feet x 106.8 feet
Cross Streets: College Avenue and Benvenue Avenue

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 12062

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Koerber Building No. 5
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1922, 1947 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11141, 5 January 1922; Architect & Engineer

7. Architect: John Olmquist, 5856 Trask Street, Oakland; Alben Froberg, Oakland

8. Builder: John Olmquist

9. Style: Shopfront

10. Original Owners: Fred C. Koerber, 2647 Ashby Avenue Original Use: commercial (4 stores)

11. Present Owner: Gallardo Brothers LLC
Present Occupant: Focal Point (2638); Aveda Moon Shadow Salon (2634–36); Worthy Breath & Body (2632)

12. Present Use: commercial & vacant (3 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E, R-2A

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

Built in 1922, this is a one-story wood-frame
building containing four shops. Originally,
large transoms filled half the space between the
shopfronts and the minimal cornice. In 1947,
Alben Froberg (architect of Oakland’s noted
Art-Deco Gray Shop) streamlined the façade
with Carrara structural glass and steel Kawneer
trim. Beige glass was used on the upper half of
the façade, with dark blue framing the shops.

All shops have traditional recessed entries and
plate glass displays.

The integrity of the streamlined façade has
been slightly compromised by an awning over
the westernmost shopfront, and the painting of
its window framing and dark blue glass (all re-
versible). The streamlining of this building is
one of the more successful remodelings in the
district.

There is a brick workshop behind 2634, built
in 1938 by building owner and cabinetmaker
Henry Roehnert for his antique furniture resto-
ration shop that lasted at this location for more
than thirty years.

15. History.

This is the final commercial building that Fred
Koerber built in the Elmwood commercial dis-
trict. Soon after it was built the building housed
M. Kubota’s shoe repair, James D. Logan’s U.

C. Fruit Market, Darwin E. Woodworth and
David Woodward’s barber shop and laundry
agency, and William P. Moran’s Home Bake
Shop. These were all necessary businesses for
the surrounding residential neighborhoods. A
bakery was a long-standing tenant in the east -
ernmost shop at 2638 Ashby. Lane’s Bakery,
owned by J. Ado Lane, followed Moran’s in
1937. This particular space lent itself so well
to another bakery’s use because Moran had it
well-equipped, even to adding a brick oven in
the rear. By 1964, Lane’s was gone.

The longest running business in the building
was Tail of the Yak, a gift shop unlike any oth-
er. It closely reflected the aesthetics and artistic
taste of the owners, Alice Erb and Lauren Mac-
Intosh. The shop was open for fifty-one years,
from 1972 to 2023. Tail of the Yak was so un -
usual and atmospheric that it drew followers
not only from Berkeley, but world-wide. Ac -
cording to an article in Berkeleyside about the
shop’s closing, Tail of the Yak was mentioned
or featured in many publications, such as Vogue
and the New York Times.

In 1947, architect Alben Froberg was com -
missioned by Marshall Steel, the then-owner
of the building to modernize the façade, likely
in anticipation of the opening of a branch of
his cleaning business here. Marshall Steel re -
mained at 2632 Ashby well into the 1960s.

In the 1930s and 1940s, nothing could revi -
talize the appearance of an older commercial
building more than stainless steel and gleaming
structural glass. Pigmented structural glass was
developed in the United States around 1900. It
really came into its own architecturally during
the Art Deco/Streamline Moderne era due to
its smooth, polished appearance and the fact
that by the 1930s it was possible to produce it
in a wide range of colors. The two most well
known brands of pigmented structural glass
were “Carrara” made by Pittsburgh Plate Glass
Co., and “Vitrolite” made by the Vitrolite Com-
pany. Carrara seems to have been used on this
building in both dark blue and the company’s
beige glass known as “suntan.” The stainless
steel trim was made by the Kawneer Compa -
ny, a local firm whose West Berkeley factory
is Landmark No. 104. Froberg was remodeling
the Kawneer Building while he was working
on Koerber Building No. 5.

Building Permit Application No. 11141, 5 January 1922; as well as alteration applications.

Block books and Sanborn maps.

Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Tail of the Yak, Elmwood Boutique Selling Rare and Lovely Crafts, Closing after 51 Years” by Joanne Furio, Berkeleyside, 2 May 2023.
“Pigmented Structural Glass,” Wikipedia.

19. Bibliography.

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No
Features to Preserve.
• the pigmented structural glass on the façade • the Kawneer stain1ess steel trim • the shopfronts

16. Significance.

Koerber Building No. 5 is significant as the last
building that Fred Koerber built in the Elm-
wood commercial district. Koerber was the first
investor and created the nucleus of the district,
paving the way for others. Out of an overall in-
vestment of ten structures, five remain.

The building is significant as the home of the
world-renowned retail shop, Tail of the Yak,
which remained successfully open for fifty-one
years.

The building is significant for its architect-de -
signed use of pigmented structural glass, a ma-
terial that is no longer manufactured. The mate-
rial boldly proclaims, “Mid-Century Modern.”
It is one of the few remaining examples of its
use in Berkeley and is the one remaining of five
significant Modern makeovers in the Elmwood.

Lastly, due to its scale and its traditional shop-
fronts, Koerber Building No. 5 is a contributing
structure in the district.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
19 October 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Koerber Building No. 5, 2632
Ashby Avenue.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Koerber Building No. 5, 2632
Ashby Avenue. Ormsby Donogh,
1939, Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.

Koerber Building No. 5, 2632 Ashby Avenue, showing the 1947 Carrera glass makeover.

Picture from a 1960 real estate listing, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Tail of the Yak shopfront, 2632 Ashby Avenue.

Joanne Furio, 2023, Berkeleyside.

Tail of the Yak, 2632 Ashby Avenue. Owners Lauren MacIntosh and Alice Erb.

Joanne Furio, 2023, Berkeleyside.

Tail of the Yak interior.

Joanne Furio, 2023, Berkeleyside.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11141, 5 January 1922

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 44492, 11 April 1938.

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 9
Gallardo Building
2642 Ashby Avenue
The Gallardo Building, 2642 Ashby Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2642 Ashby Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1568–01500
(Claremont Tract, Block E, western portion Lots 1 and 2) Dimensions: 40 feet x 106.8 feet
Cross Streets: College Avenue and Benvenue Avenue

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 12963

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Gallardo Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1950 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 67641, 1 June 1950

7. Architect: none listed on application

8. Builder: Ed Sheffield

9. Style: Modern

10. Original Owners: Frank Gallardo
Original Use: commercial (1 store)

11. Present Owner: Gallardo James F, Violette P, & Gregory F Trs Present Occupant: Berkeley Organic Market & Deli

12. Present Use: commercial (1 store)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? No

14. Description.

This is one of three entirely new structures built
in the district since 1928. One-story, it is built
of basalt block with cement plaster covering
the façade. The door and display window are
divided into small square panes, and both are
slightly recessed. A low planter box is in front
of the window.

The original stark white of the austere building
gave it a sophisticated Modern appearance, in
contrast to the surrounding district and to the
often delicate, antique furniture seen through
the show window. The building does not stand
out in the same way today due to its warm
coloring and the softening effect of the large
awning.

15. History.

This site began as space for fuel storage when
Fred Koerber built a shed on the property in
1912. In 1914 he built a small store building
to be used by Carl Franz Martens and his sister
Martha E. Martenz for their Elmwood Cream-
ery. The Martens’ had been original tenants in
the westernmost of the three small shop build -
ings that Koerber built in 1910. The creamery
was at 2631 Ashby Avenue, where their wid-
owed mother Anna was a clerk. The Martens
family lived nearby at 2320 Webster Street.

The creamery sold milk, butter, and eggs. In
1928 the Martens’ tore down the earlier shed
and replaced it with a work shed constructed of
hollow tile. This building, with the address of
2640 Ashby is still standing. Two years later,
with quite a bit of remodeling, they added two
new booths in the store itself. The Elmwood
Creamery had an ice cream storage room in the
back and the creamery may have become more
of an ice cream parlor. A newspaper article
from 1931 referred to Carl Martens as “a well-
known Berkeley artist” when he did the Easter
floral decorations at his church.

By 1934 the Elmwood Creamery had gone out
of business, to be replaced by the East Bay Chi-
nese Laundry. In 1943, an Emily V . Marshall
converted the store to living quarters, as war -
time housing (one of several Elmwood shops
to be so converted). This is leading up to the
fact that in April 1950 the property was pur -
chased by Frank and Emily Gallardo for their
upholstery business, Gallardo Interiors, which
was on College in the Romie Building. Their
son Jim Gallardo, who was an active member
of the family business, remembered that the
Gallardos had wanted to use the charming 1914
building as the showroom, but were told by
the City that it was a house and they could not
use it for that purpose. Some remnants of the
conversion must have been in evidence, even
though the building had most recently housed
an antique store. So, in June, Frank Gallardo
took out a permit to build the present building.

Jim, a Berkeley native, carried on the business
after his parents retired. He was a “hands-on”
businessman, making house calls, advising
clients in his attractive and well-lit shop, and
upholstering and repairing furniture. He was
community-minded and “always lent his en -
thusiasm and expertise to many organizations”
according to his obituary. He could be seen
walking through the Elmwood district to the
bank or to lunch. Jim Gallardo retired in 1997
and passed away in 2020.

The Gallardo Building and its site are signif -
icant for being the location of two longtime
Elmwood businesses that were necessary com-
ponents of a complete neighborhood shopping
district. The Elmwood Creamery was in busi -
ness from 1911 to 1933 and Gallardo’s Interi -
ors, in the new building, from 1950 to 1997.

The site is also significant as an example of
the drastic measures Berkeley citizens went to
in providing wartime housing in unusual, but
workable, locations.

The Gallardo Building is significant as the one
Mid-Century Modern building in the Elmwood
commercial district. It is not a mid-century re -
model, but is a new building, built at the mid
century mark, designed with the Modern aes -
thetic of the period. It also conforms to the
scale of other buildings in the district.

Features to Preserve.
• the simplicity of the flat stucco façade..
• the mullioned display windows and entry..

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

16. Significance.
• the planter in front of the display window.
• the hint of a cornice,
City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 3819, 5 June 1914; as well as several other applications.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Resurrection Festival Set,” Oakland Tribune, 4 April 1931.

Obituary for Carl F. Martens, San Francisco Examiner, 21 April 1938. “James Frank Gallardo (December 15, 1925 – November 21, 2020)” San Francisco Chronicle, 27 November 20.

19. Bibliography.

18. Is the property endangered? No

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
21 October 2025

Additional Photographs.

The Gallardo Building, 2642 Ashby Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 1982 The prior building at 2642 Ashby Avenue, built about 1914. Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Frank N. Gallardo in front of his shop on College Avenue in the Romie Building.

Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

James Frank Gallardo.

From an online obituary.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 3819, 5 June 1914.

For the original store building on the site.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 31785, 29 October 1928.

For the hollow tile structure in the rear.

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 10
Scott Building
2960 College Avenue
The Scott Building, 2960 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2960 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1573–00100
(Claremont Tract, Block E, eastern portion of Lot 1)
Dimensions: 57 feet x 103 feet
Cross Streets: Webster Street and Ashby Avenue

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11932

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: Yes
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Scott Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1910 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 535, 28 March 1910

7. Architect: owner (B. Thomas Scott, 1904 Encinal Avenue, Alameda)

8. Builder: William Dufour, 2326 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda

9. Style: Post-Modern/Storefont

10. Original Owners: Bert Thomas Scott, 1904 Encinal Avenue, Alameda Original Use: commercial (5 stores)

11. Present Owner: Edward M and Virginia B Plant Trs and Brian Neil Goodhue (2644. 2648. 2660 Ashby); Peter Y Lee Tr (2646 Ashby). [4 condominiums] Present Occupant: Cafenated Coffee Co.; Great Kutz; Thrift Shop Berkeley Humane

12. Present Use: commercial (3 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Excellent Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

The Scott Building was built in 1910, making
it one of the earliest buildings in the district.

However, a major fire in December 1988 de-
stroyed much of the building’s interior and the
corner section, which had been a drugstore
since 1910. The corner was rebuilt in a stark,
boxy Post-Modern style in keeping with the
stark, boxy appearance of the original building.

The Ashby Avenue frontage consisted of five
bays plus the corner entrance. The western
three bays with their traditional storefronts look
much as they did in a 1939 photo, with tall tran-
som windows. The space between the transoms
and the minimal cornice is cement plaster, flat
and unadorned. There are at least two entrances
paved with small tile.

The new section, which includes all the Col -
lege Avenue frontage and about two bays
worth along Ashby, was rebuilt as a cafe. The
boxy look was retained. The corner entry was
“pushed” into the building and a boxy tower
form was built at a canted angle to the adjoin -
ing walls. The tower was really a clock tow -
er, with a clock face near the curved top, a
neighborhood convenience that was removed
in 2023. The curve was also removed in that
remodel, which included a complete redesign
of the interior. With the corner of the building
removed, there is a lively forecourt with plant-
ings and outdoor seating.

The three windows along College and the one
new one on Ashby are designed as identical
vertical units. Slightly recessed, they are com-
posed of a flat, dark gray-painted rectangular
area at the top which is matched by the dark
gray-painted bulkhead designed as a cyma
curve. In between are the tall sliding windows
with bronzed frames. The windows are shaded
by dark gray fixed-in-place awnings that are
attached to the building at their sides by thin
metal half-circles.

The main entrance door at the base of the tower
is set within an unpainted wood frame. There
is a large-divided light transom. Above that is
a recessed panel with the name of the business.

Secondary doors lead to the forecourt which
are the same height as the main doors, but the
transoms are lower. The new section was re -
cently Tuscan red and yellow-ochre; since the
2023 remodel, it is dark gray and beige.

15. History.

In 1910, Bert Thomas “Bud” Scott, a real estate
investor living in Alameda, built this corner
building with space for five shops. He engaged
William Dufour, an Alameda contractor who
later built the Strand Theater next door, to con-
struct the building. Fred Koerber’s three fin-
ished buildings—and with the next phase un -
derway—may have been the impetus for Scott
to invest in this growing commercial corner.

In March 1911, not too long after the building
was completed, Bert Scott sold the property to
the mother-and-daughters investment team of
Carolyn Litsch, Emma Klumpp, and Elizabeth
Etter. Carolyn and her husband Frank were
California pioneers who opened a general store
in Shasta City. They did so well that they re-
tired early to San Francisco, having “amassed
a comfortable fortune.” The three women also
purchased Lot 2 next door on College Avenue
from the niece of Mark Ashby whose property
this all was. The women built the Strand The-
ater in 1914 on that parcel.

Meanwhile, Rolla Dane Fuller, a 1902 gradu -
ate of the University of California School of
Pharmacy, saw the beautiful new corner build-
ing with its highly visible corner space, and
moved his pharmacy from one of Fred Koer -
ber’s 1909 buildings on Ashby into the Scott
Building. During the first years of business,
Dane Fuller (he preferred his middle name)

was in partnership with his father-in-law John
Francis Croone. Dane married Estelle Croone
at the family home on Union Street in 1904.

The Fuller and Croone pharmacy was named
the College Avenue Pharmacy, which is how it
was known throughout its long history.

In 1924, Fuller leased the pharmacy to George
F. Stier, so that he could travel for a wholesale
drug company. Stier, who lived at 1 Claremont
Crescent, died less than two years later, and
the pharmacy was then turned over to Louis J.

Fischl. By this time Fuller owned the building.

He may have purchased the property soon after
Caroline Litsch died in 1922. In 1935, Fuller
commissioned architect Harvey Slocombe to
modernize the building. Gone were the cor -
nice and decorative pilasters. The upper half of
the Ashby and College façades were stuccoed
over with a smooth finish, replacing the siding
which was similar in style to that of the Koer -
ber Building. In December 1938, Rolla Dane
Fuller died at his summer home at Castella. Es-
telle Fuller continued to own the building un -
til her death in 1958. It was sold the following
year to Elsie and Wallace Granberg. Wallace,
a pharmacist, ran the College Avenue Pharma-
cy for sixteen years. The pharmacy was then
owned and run by pharmacist Charles Carter
from 1975 until 1982.

With the large pharmacy space free, the Car -
vansary coffee shop, which had been in the
Bischoff Building since about 1970, expanded
into the space in 1984. The Caravansary was
gone by the time fire destroyed the corner and
severely damaged the rest of the building on
December 15, 1988. Elmwood Espresso had
taken over the corner space. The western three
fifths of the building were restored, but the cor-
ner needed to be rebuilt.

For Espresso Roma (an offshoot of the popu-
lar Cafe Strada at College and Bancroft) the
architectural firm of Edgar+Thieme (Mark
Edgar and Mark Thieme) designed what was,
in effect, a new building in 1989. Out of the
ashes rose one of the handful of Post Modern
buildings in Berkeley. Espresso Roma was Post
Modern with an Italian bent. The corner was
cut away to create an entrance courtyard with
places to sit. Rising above, was a stepped clock
tower which contained the main entrance. The
exterior stucco was washed with a peach tint
and the base of the building was faced in dark
brown tile. It became—at the invitation of the
operators—a place frequented by customers
and their laptops lingering over a cup of coffee.

In 2022, Espresso Roma was replaced by an -
other local cafe business, Cafenated. Before
moving in, the architectural firm of HolderPar-
lette was commissioned to bring the cafe into
the 21st Century. The clock tower was stream-
lined and the clock face removed, and the ex-
terior painted warm gray, minus the brown tile.

The interior was changed from a warm-colored
Italian cafe into a sleek and stylish coffeehouse.

16. Significance.

The Scott Building is significant in the Elm -
wood commercial district for the length of time
that its corner businesses remained: a pharma -
cy for seventy years and a cafe for forty-five
years. Both business types served the surround-
ing community well.

The Scott Building is significant as one of the
earliest Elmwood commercial buildings.

The Scott Building is also significant for the re-
modeling of the corner section of the building
in 1989. Espresso Roma, with their architects
Mark Thieme and Mark Edgar, created one of
Berkeley’s few Post Modern designs. In keep -
ing with the theme of the cafe, this Post Modern
building incorporated vernacular Italian imag -
ery, making it a business-specific rendition
of Post Modern. Even with the Italian flavor
gone, the building still has a bold Post Modern
presence on a strategic corner of the Elmwood
commercial district.

Features to Preserve.
• the tower, courtyard, entries, windows, fixed
awnings, and stucco exterior—of the corner
two fifths of the building

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
• traditional shopfronts with tile bulkheads, tile
paving, and transoms—of the three fifth along
Ashby
City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 535, 28 March 1910; as well as several other applications fo alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Pioneer Woman of Shasta Passes Away in San Francisco,” Redding Record Searchlight, 11 No- vember 1922
“Rolla D. Fuller Dies at Castella” Chico Enterprise, 5 December 1938. “Cafenated to Open in Espresso Roma’s Former College Ave. Space” by Eve Batey, Berkeleyside, 9 February 2022.
“Cafenated Transforms a 1980s-Era Berkeley Coffee Shop into an All-Day Cafe” by Brock Keel- ing, Berkeleyside, 4 May 2023.

Obituary for Carl F. Martens, San Francisco Examiner, 21 April 1938. “James Frank Gallardo (December 15, 1925 – November 21, 2020)” San Francisco Chronicle, 27 November 20.

19. Bibliography.

18. Is the property endangered? No

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
26 October 2025

Additional Photographs.

A portion of the College Avenue front-
age of the new part of the Scott Build-
ing. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The corner of the new part of the Scott
Building showing landscaped sitting
area. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Bottom left: The original undamaged
section of the Scott Building facing
Ashby Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

An original—or at least early—mosa -
ic tile shopfront entrance in the 1910
section of the Scott Building.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

The Scott Building, showing the mass of the 1910 structure intact before the 1988 fire.

Anthony Bruce, 1982,
The Scott Building, viewed from Ashby Avenue looking east to College.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.,

Additional Photographs.

The Scott Building, showing the College Avenue Pharmacy. Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society..

The Scott Building,
showing the inte-
rior of the College
Avenue Pharmacy.

Byron Bolfing,
1947, Berkeley
Historical Society..

Additional Photographs.

Espresso Roma in the
Scott Building.

From Mark Thieme
Architect, Inc. website.

Espresso Roma in the Scott Building. The forecourt and
clock tower.

From Mark Thieme Architect, Inc. website.

Espresso Roma in the Scott Building. Interior.

From Mark Thieme Architect, Inc. website.

Additional Photographs.

Espresso Roma in the Scott Building, after it had been unsuccessfully painted Tuscan Red and yellow. Stuart Luman, 2022.

Cafenated in the Scott Building. Interior. From Cafenated Coffee Co. website.

Additional Photographs.

Entrance to Cafenated. Anthony Bruce, 2025. Cafenated forecourt. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 535, 28 March 1910

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 11
Strand Theater
2966 College Avenue
City of Berkeley Landmark No. 58
The Strand Theater Building, 2966 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2966 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1573–00200
(Claremont Tract, Block E, Lot 2)
Dimensions: 50 feet x 103 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? Yes Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 12051

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: Yes
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Strand Theater; Elmwood Theater
Commonly Known Name: Rialto Cinemas Elmwood; “The Elmwood”

6. Date of Construction: 1914 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 3865, 20 June 1914; City of Berkeley Application for Alteration Permit No. 58738, 2 March 1946.

7. Architect: William Dufour, 2326 Santa Clara Avenue, Alameda

8. Builder: David M. Etter, 843 Laurel, Alameda

9. Style: Viennese Secession/Streamlined Moderne

10. Original Owners: Caroline Litch, Emma Klumpp, Elizabeth Etter; Beach & Krahn, lesee Original Use: commercial (motion picture theater)

11. Present Owner: Elmwood Theater Foundation
Present Occupant: Rialto Cinemas Elmwood

12. Present Use: commercial (motion picture theater)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

Built in 1914, this is a brick, two-story mo -
tion-picture theater with the street façade sur -
faced with cement plaster, painted light gray
and light blue. The façade was altered partly
from the original design when it was stream -
lined in 1947. The parapet rises in the center as
a shallow chevron; side sections are treated as
wide pilasters with raised geometric pendants
at the top and the three sets of entry doors set
back between them at the rear of the ground
level forecourt.

The building has a base of maroon glazed tile
which is repeated on the free-standing ticket
booth in the center of the forecourt. The upper
half of the booth is glass and it is topped by a
robust cornice. The forecourt is paved with sun
rays of alternating gold and maroon terrazzo
with radiates outward from the ticket both all
the way to the curb.

The inward-angled walls of the forecourt are
adorned with large, glass poster cases framed
in metal (two on each wall). Until recent years,
a horizontal band above each case gave the
name “Elmwood” proceeded by the the the -
ater’s long-time logo, a tilted crown. Service/
emergency doors are discreetly set at each side
of the façade.

The marquee is a curved, rounded streamlined
slab supporting two modern plastic signboards,
angled for wide visibility. Each is topped by
neon delineating “Elmwood” in late-Art Deco
lettering, a first-time visible identification
amenity added sometime after the 1994 re -
opening. There is a distinctive center prow.

15. History.

Elizabeth T. White, the niece of Mark Ash-
by whose property this all was, sold Lot 2 to
a mother-and-daughters investment team of
Carolyn Litsch, Emma Klumpp, and Elizabeth
Etter. Carolyn and her husband Frank were
California pioneers who opened a general store
in Shasta City. They did so well that they re-
tired early to San Francisco, having “amassed
a comfortable fortune.” The women built the
Strand Theater in 1914 on Lot 2.

The Strand Theater opened in December 1914,
a near-pioneer business in the Elmwood Dis -
trict where the other buildings on the block
were three houses and a wooden corner drug -
store. This was one of three neighborhood the-
aters operated by the Beach & Krahn Amuse-
ment Company in South Berkeley and North
Oakland, beginning with the storefront Lorin
Theater on Adeline Street in 1908
By 1914, movie audiences—and building
codes—had outgrown storefront theaters and
even in a new neighborhood like the Elmwood,
Beach & Krahn went straight to a large fireproof
movie palace. This was the same year that the
California Theater (T&D) was built downtown.

The Strand is the least altered of these two old-
est surviving Berkeley movie theaters.

The Strand and the T&D had both architects
and opening dates in common. Alameda archi-
tect Albert W. Cornelius designed the T&D.
and, although builder William Dufour is shown
as the designer on the Strand’s building permit,
Cornelius had already designed a movie theater
in Alameda that was identical, albeit larger.

The heavy stucco detailing of the Strand sug -
gests the Viennese Secession style that John
Hudson Thomas was working in locally at the
time. That is what gives the stripped-down
Strand something of a Zig-Zag Moderne look
today. The façade originally had a heavy, den -
tiled and bracketed cornice below the chevron,
a big rounded arch over the entrance, and or -
namental escutcheons supporting an arched,
carriage-entrance type marquee. The large en-
try arch was a trademark of movie theaters de-
signed in the 1910s.

Beach & Krahn believed that neighborhood
theaters had a responsibility to the community,

to provide clean, quality family entertainment:
“Every foot of film has had personal inspection
and censorship before being shown.” and “You
never hear a jazz tune played while real sen -
timent is being shown.” As the neighborhood
grew into greater Berkeley and Oakland, the
Beach-Krahn theaters were absorbed by the
Golden State chain.

The Strand closed during World War II, and
reopened in 1947 after a major streamlining
remodel and refurbishment by architect Alex-
ander A. Cantin, who had designed the Orin-
da Theater in 1941. The theater was reborn as
the “Elmwood.” “Berkeley’s first postwar mo -
tion picture house,” the advertisements read,
“a show house for outstanding foreign films.”
Thus, it weathered the coming of television in
the 1950s, and helped set the present artistic
tone of the Elmwood district.

In December 1988, tragedy struck the Elm -
wood when it received $160,000 worth of dam-
age during the large fire at the next-door Scott
Building. The owner of the damaged theater
was tempted to sell the property to a develop -
er. Businesses in the district suffered loss of
customers without the draw of a thriving mov-
ie theater. Business owner Burl Willis rallied
merchants and neighbors, and the Save the El -
mwood Theatre Committee was formed about
two years after the fire, which gained the sup-
port of the City. The non-profit Elmwood The-
ater Foundation was then created and was able
to buy the property in 1992 with the help of a
loan from the City. The City Council created
a special assessment district around the theater
to enable the paying off of the loan. The Foun-
dation found an operator for the business, re -
ceived an additional loan from the City to help
cover rehabilitation costs, and the Elmwood
Theater held its grand opening on October 22,
1994. The Elmwood merchants breathed a sigh
of relief as their businesses returned to normal.

Today, the Elmwood is the only operating mo-
tion picture theater in Berkeley, a city that not
so long ago prided itself on its large number of
movie theaters,
Much of the history and description was taken from the
1981 landmark application written by Betty Marvin.

16. Significance.

The Strand/Elmwood motion picture theater is
significant both architecturally and culturally.

It was designed by movie theater architect, A.

W. Cornelius who designed theaters in Cal -
ifornia during the 1910s. This was the period
when storefront nickelodeons were giving way
to substantial, fireproof, and architecturally
significant theaters on par with the legitimate
theaters of the day.

Cornelius designed the Strand in a mix of Clas-
sical and Viennese Secession elements. With
the 1947 remodel, the theater emerged as a
successful fusion of Viennese Secession and
Streamline Moderne, unique in Berkeley.

Alexander A. Cantin, architect of the 1947 re-
model, has long been recognized as a master
of movie theater design in the era following
that in which Cornelius had worked. Locally,
he designed the much-beloved Orinda Theater
in 1941.

The Strand was built in the Elmwood District
during the first wave of development, becom-
ing an anchor for the business district when
construction resumed after World War I. When
the theater was closed for several years after
the 1988 fire damage, its importance as the an-
chor and as a major catalyst for business was
apparent. The theater remains today as an im-
portant anchor and as a component of the small
town “Main Street” atmosphere of the Elm -
wood Commercial District.

17. Historic Value— City: Yes Neighborhood: Yes
Architectural Value— City: Yes Neighborhood: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No

19. Bibliography.

Architect & Engineer, February 1915, pp 50–60.

Building Permit Application #3865, 20 June 1914; as well as alteration applications.

State Historic Resources Inventory, 1978
City of Berkeley Landmark Application, Betty Marvin, 28 September 1981.

City directories, 1900–1922.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Berkeley Courier (on Beach-Krahn), Feb. 24, Sept. 30, Oct. 7 and 14, 1922.

Berkeley Gazette, December 7 and 17, 1914; ads: Jan. 26, 1921; May 20 and June 25, 1947; Oct, 15, 1980: “The Elmwood’s Theater District.”
Oakland Tribune, 2 March 1990, “Reel Suspense;” 8 March 1990, “Elmwood Buyer;” 221 August 1991, “Curtain Going Up;” 9 August 1991, “Sequel for the Elmwood;”25 May 1993, “Theater Plan for Berkeley.”
Daily Californian, 1 May 1991, “Berkeley Building to Remain a Movie Theater, City Rules;” 18 Dec. 1991, “Elmwood Theater to Blossom Anew;” 23 July 1993, “Abandoned Elmwood Theater Soon to Open;” 25 Oct. 1994, “Grand Opening of Elmwood Theater.” Express, 30 Sept. 1994, “The Return of the Elmwood Theater.” San Francisco Chronicle, 21 August 1991, “Berkeley Landmark to be Restored.” Berkeley Gazette, 6 July 1914, “Building Record is Big Figure.”

20. Recorder Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705 September 2025
Features to Preserve.
• the façade with its Viennese Secession detail-
ing
• the maroon glazed tile.
• the free-standing ticket booth
• the marquee.
• the terrazzo paving
• the entrance doors to the theater
• the metal-framed poster holders

Additional Photographs.

The Strand (Elmwood). Anthony Bruce, 2025.The Strand (Elmwood). Anthony Bruce, 2020 The Strand (Elmwood). Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Strand (Elmwood).

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Strand (Elmwood). Jack Tilmany Collection.

Additional Photographs.

The Strand (Elmwood). Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

The Strand (Elmwood). Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley
Historical Society.

The Strand (Elmwood): ticket booth.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 3865, 20 June 1914

City of Berkeley Application for Alteration Permit No. 58738, 2 March 1946.

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 12
Elmwood Village
2974 College Avenue
Elmwood Village, 2974 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2974–2980 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1573–00300
(Dutard Property, Block A, Lot 6)
Dimensions: 50 feet x 144.6 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? Yes, 9 June 1978.

Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 12052

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: Yes
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Elmwood Village
Commonly Known Name: Elmwood Village

6. Date of Construction: 1983 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: newspaper articles

7. Architect: Peter Gray Scott (The Ratcliff Architects)

8. Builder: Steven Oliver & Co., Richmond

9. Style: Post-Modern or New England Seaside Village

10. Original Owners: Steven Oliver, John Millar, and -- Komes Original Use: commercial (offices and shops)

11. Present Owner: Kazerooni Homayoon & Shoji Audrey, 2924 Russell Street 94705 [11 condominiums]
Present Occupant: vacant; Elmwood Copy; Montclair Optical

12. Present Use: residential and commercial
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Excellent Has the property’s exterior been altered? Minimally

14. Description.

The Elmwood Village complex has the con -
struction date of 1982, but some of the fram-
ing dates from the original structures built in
1908 and 1916. Elmwood Village is a rambling
three-story wood-frame building, reminiscent
in style to a New England seaside village, al -
though it also could be considered Post-Mod -
ern. The building’s clapboard exterior has been
painted various shades of yellow since con -
struction was completed in 1983.

The street façade is mostly symmetrical with a
center entrance arch flanked by two shopfronts.

These shopfronts echo the two shopfronts that
were once in the same spots. They share the
footprints and may also share the structural
framing. Each has divided light windows; the
shop on the left has three, while that on the
right has only the larger center window. Each
is shielded by a narrow roof overhang, acting
a bit like an awning. Above the lefthand shop
is a broad expanse of parapet. On the right, the
front wall rises to two stories topped by a ga -
ble roof with the ridgeline parallel to the street.

The roof is punctuated by two gabled dormer
windows.

Beyond the entrance (to the depth of the two
shopfronts) is a three-story section with a
prominent gable-end facing the street. There
is a pair of windows within the gable. A cross
gable extends this section, directly behind the
dormered gable, to the north edge of the prop-
erty. It does not extend to the south edge.

The entrance arch leads to a high, square vesti-
bule with doors to the two shopfronts on either
side. A second arch leads into the rest of the
complex. A path paved with aggregate turns to
the left, and then to the right, and meanders far
into the complex. Immediately after the arch
there is, on the right, a stairway leading to the
second floor. Straight ahead is the largest store
in the complex. Windows on the south and west
walls of the shop look out onto the pathway
which is in the open at this point.

15. History.

In August 1906, Mrs. Elijah Dutard of San
Francisco sold her property at Webster and Col-
lege to Mrs. James B. (Lida) Hume, the “prom-
inent Berkeley clubwoman,” and Helen Wright
of Sacramento. City Engineer W. F. McClure
subdivided it into three blocks between Regent
and College on the north side of Webster. The
women engaged Fred E. Reed, local real estate
agent, to market the lots.

There were three building lots fronting on Col-
lege Avenue, and the first house to be built was
the Thomas H. Nevin House designed by Clar-
ence Casebolt Dakin in 1908. Nevin ran a meat
market on Bancroft Way. In 1916, after the
Strand Theater was built next door, Nevin had
the family home raised and a one-story shop
building with space for two shops construct -
ed underneath. The façade of the shop build -
ing was stucco with geometric ornamentation
in the loosely Viennese Secession style of the
1910s. Above, the house was set back from the
street with a large rooftop garden created with
plants in pots and tubs. An elaborate pergola
ran along the street side of the “garden.” The
Nevin property was the most unusual in the El-
mwood district! The Nevins lived in the house
and owned the property until 1949.

In 1965, a short-lived experimental theater
and performance art venue opened in the shop
space. The Open Theater is now noted as the
site of the first publicly advertised Big Brother
and The Holding Company show. The theater
closed in March 1966.

After sitting empty, Michael Liebert, who had
long thought that Berkeley needed a profes -
sional resident theater company, rented the

space in early 1968. The Berkeley Repertory
Theatre opened on April 24, 1968 with a pro -
duction of Woyzeck. The group slowly built a
following, eventually bought the building, and,
within ten years, outgrew the space. After mov-
ing to a new theater on Addison Street in 1980,
the building was again vacant.

Almost immediately, Steven Oliver, President
of Oliver & Company, became interested in
the property as a potential grouping of shops a
la Walnut Square. The architectural firm, The
Ratcliff Architects, was commissioned, and Pe-
ter Gray Scott of the firm was the designer of
the project, known as Elmwood Village. The
plan was to utilize what was on the site, at least
in terms of massing and footprint.

Using the outlines—and perhaps even the fram-
ing—of the original buildings, a New England
village emerged on College Avenue. It is the
only three-story structure in the Elmwood com-
mercial district, as it followed closely what was
there before: a two-story house atop a one-sto -
ry shops building.

In May 1983, when the Village project was on
the verge of completion, the Elmwood was in
the midst of a trend toward commercial con -
dominiums, with a number of tenants on Col -
lege Avenue buying their retail spaces from the
building owners. The owners of the almost-fin-
ished project applied to the Planning Commis-
sion and received approval to condominiumize
the eleven units of retail and office space.

Since the building opened, a copy shop has been
the central anchor tenant, although the own-
ership has changed. The first was Berkeley’s
own Copymat, which had started in downtown
about 1980. Currently, Elmwood Copy is in the
space, overseen by Amir Iqbal.

Developer Steven Oliver was pursuing other
abiding interests during the turmoil of creating
Elmwood Village. Having previously little in-
terest in art, Oliver found, on a visit to an art
museum, that Modern art suddenly resonated
with him. In the mid-1980s, in a bold move to
counteract the commercialism of the art world,
he and his wife opened their Sonoma county
ranch to site-specific art that they commis -
sioned: art that could not be bought or sold.

Steven Oliver is considered an arts philanthro -
pist and has served as chair of the board of the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the
California College of the Arts.

16. Significance.

The Elmwood Village has architectural signif -
icance. It is the most recent building built in
the Elmwood commercial district. Built during
the emergence of the Post-Modern style, the
Village is the most literal manifestation in
Berkeley. The complex is also the only one of
its kind in the Elmwood: a meandering path
leading to shops and offices in what had been
an older building, reworked for its new use.

The idea can be traced back to San Francisco’s
ground-breaking Ghirardelli Square of 1964.

The Elmwood Village is also significant as a
tangible manifestation of developer Steven Ol-
iver’s interest in art and architecture. Perhaps
more mundane than the work at his outdoor
art gallery at his Sonoma ranch, the Village
exhibits his creativity in commissioning the
right architect who could design a building that
would be a good fit in its location in the tradi -
tional-looking Elmwood commercial district.

Features to Preserve.
• the complex is pretty much intact after forty
years existence. Therefore, all features should
be called out: siding, shopfronts, vestibule,
arched entrance, paving, pathway, name over
the arched entrance, windows, and dormers.

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Contract notice for the Nevin House, Daily Pacific Builder, 29 September 1908.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
Correspondence with Carrol T. Nevin, 1981 and 1982.
“Main Street, Continued” by Betty Marvin, Berkeley Gazette, 17 September 1981. “Moratorium Stalls College Ave. Project” by Liz Everette, The Press, 30 September 1981. “Dismantling of Old Rep Building Draws Protest” by Frances Starn, Berkeley Gazette, 5 March 1982.
“Encore, Encore!” by Heidi Seney, The Press, 28 July 1982. “Elmwood is Going Commercial Condo” by Miranda Ewell, Montclarion, 25 May 1983.

19. Bibliography.

18. Is the property endangered? No

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
27 October 2025

Additional Photographs.

Elmwood Village. Anthony Bruce, 2025. The Thomas Nevin House (Clarence Casebolt Dakin, 1908). The framing of the house may have survived with- in Elmwood Village. Courtesy of Carroll T. Nevin.

The vacant Nevin House and Nevin shopfronts after the
Berkeley Repertory Theater had moved out.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Nevin House and Nevin shopfronts in 1949.

Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

The Nevin House and Nevin shopfronts, showing the
pergola in the Nevins’ front “yard.”Ormsby Donogh,
1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Construction, or deconstruction, beginning.

Betty Marvin, 1982.

Additional Photographs.

Elmwood Village, entrance, looking southwest.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Elmwood Village, entrance, looking northwest.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.
left: Dick inside the Reliable Fruit Market, 2976
College Avenue. Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley His-
torical Society
Elmwood Village developer Steve Oliver at the
Berkeley Repertory Theatre site in 1981. Bob
Doty photo, The Press, 30 September 1981.
left bottom: Elmwood Village seen from above.

Found online.

Additional Photographs.

Interior vistas of Elmwood Village, 2980 College Avenue.

Anthony Bruce, 2025

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 13
Sparhawk Building
2982 College Avenue
The Sparhawk Building, 2982 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2982, 2984, 2986, 2988 College Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1573–00401
(Dutard Property, Block A, northern portion of Lots 4 and 5) Dimensions: 70 feet x 100 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 12053

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Sparhawk Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1928 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 30981, 8 August 1928

7. Architect: A. J. Yerrick, 5255 College Avenue, Oakland

8. Builder: A. J. Yerrick

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Dr. Edward Ernest Sparhawk, Lafayette Original Use: commercial (4 stores)

11. Present Owner: Trust Wu Shu Tr Bypass Trust
Present Occupant: House of Curries, 2984 College; vacant, 2986 College; A&A Mini Mart, 2988 College

12. Present Use: commercial (3 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E-

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Good Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

Two houses dating from 1909 and 1910 were
demolished in 1928 to make way for this
one-story Class C building of brick construc-
tion finished in cement plaster. The façade orig-
inally featured four large Moorish arches, each
defining a storefront. They contained tradition-
al entrances, display windows, and curved tran-
soms. All the arches were either removed, cov-
ered, or filled in during various remodelings. In
recent years, the second-from-the-right arch—
complete with transom—has been uncovered.

An architecturally significant remodeling of the
lower two thirds of the building took place in
stages between 1950 and 1957, first for Thos
Tenney: Music on Records. The architect was
Roger Lee. Ribbed aluminum decking was ap -
plied vertcally to the shopfronts. The interior
of the Thos Tenney record store was as beauti-
fully designed as a Mid-Century Modern resi -
dence. Not much remains of Lee’s exceptional
commercial design. The southernmost shop-
front (which was the sophisticated Roger Lee
entrance to the Inside Inn) was redone tepidly
with traditional tiles. The center storefront—
now vacant—retains some of the minimalist
1950s styling, as does the restaurant façade
next to it.

The elaborate original 1928 frieze beneath the
cornice remains intact with all its bas-relief
vines and shields. Today, the Sparhawk Build-
ing is a mixture of different styles and alter -
ations.

15. History.

In 1909, the second house facing College Av-
enue was built in the Dutard Property, next to
the Nevin House. The owners were Anna Ni-
vison Force, widow of Dr. Levi P. Force and
herself a Berkeley clubwoman, and her son Dr.

John N. Force, who joined the University staff
in 1910 and became Chair of the Department
of Hygiene. Anna Force died on her birthday
in 1917 and the house was sold to Dr. Edward
Ernest Sparhawk.

Dr. Sparhawk graduated in dentistry from Stan-
ford in 1899. Prior to the move to Berkeley, he
practiced in Mexico and Ketchikan, Alaska.

He married Martha Ann Brockhurst, and their
son Alvin was born in 1904. The family moved
into the roomy brown-shingle house, where Dr.

Sparhawk set up his dental practice.

In 1927 the Sparhawks moved to Lafayette and
the same year they had their College Avenue
home demolished—as well as the 1910 Hard -
ing House next door—in preparation for a com-
mercial building to be built on the property. Dr.

Sparhawk continued his practice in Oakland,
and returned to Berkeley to live (3030 Ben-
venue) three years before his death in 1959.

Dr. Sparhawk’s obituary stated, “During World
War II he was affiliated with the top-secret
Manhattan Project and received a certificate of
merit from the Secretary of War for his contri-
butions to atomic bomb research.”
The Sparhawk Building was begun in August
of 1928. Its lively Mediterranean-inspired de-
sign was the work of Oakland architect Allen
James Yerrick. The longest lasting business
in the Sparhawk Building was the Inside Inn,
which was in business by 1931, and continued
to serve lunch and dinner in genteel surround -
ings until 1968. The next year, the site became
the first location on College Avenue of the ev-
er-popular King Yen restaurant. Two years later
King Yen moved to 2984 College in the same
building, and in 1990, across the street to 2995
College into a building the restaurant owners
had meticulously restored.

During World War II, besides his work on the
Manhattan Project, Dr. Sparhawk aided the war

effort by converting the two northernmost shop
spaces into living quarters. At least three other
building owners in the Elmwood did the same
thing with their buildings.

Probably the most well-known business in the
Sparhawk Building was Thos Tenney: Music
on Records. Thomas W. Tenney and his wife
Margaret and their two sons tired of the harsh
winters in New England and came to California
to open a phonograph record store in a college
town. Berkeley was their first stop. Richard M.

Hunter’s record shop at 2984 College was for
sale and they bought it in August 1950. Be -
ginning with a $4,800 remodel that October,
and several more alterations and expansions
over the years, Tenney created a state-of-the-
art record shop that exuded the good taste of
its Mid-Century Modern design. The Tenneys’
designer, “the brilliant young architect Roger
Lee,” as described by the Berkeley Gazette in
relation to the new record store, is better known
as the architect of countless livable Modern
houses, but proved with the record store that he
could design a commercial business with the
same skill and creativity. Not only did he de -
sign the warm, wood paneled interior, but the
eye-catching exterior as well. Eventually Lee
redesigned all the storefronts in the building.

The 1952 article in the Gazette went on to say
that the store “has drawn comment from many
parts of the nation.” The Thos Tenney store re-
mained in business until 1963 when the Ten -
neys left to pursue their other mutual interest:
photography. Thos Tenney shared his architec-
tural photos with the fledgling Berkeley Ar -
chitectural Heritage Association, which were
published in the organization’s first calendar,
Heritage Houses, in 1971.

One of the first businesses in the Sparhawk
Building—in the southernmost shop which
seemed to have been designed for restaurant
use—was the Augusta Inn. It opened in 1929
and the proprietor was Robert A. Hawkins. At
the time, the Dixie Inn in Richmond, Virginia,
was owned by the fourth generation of the Haw-
kins family. The Augusta Inn was advertised as
serving “Genuine Southern cooking prepared
by experienced negro chefs who learned the art
of cooking in the South. Our customers come
back—that is our recommendation.” Unfortu-
nately, the Augusta Inn did not last long; it was
replaced by the Inside Inn after less than two
years.

The Sparhawk Building stayed in the Spar -
hawk family until early 1970. Over the years
since the superb Modern remodeling of the
shopfronts by Roger Lee, the building has suf -
fered from lack of coordination in subsequent
piecemeal alterations. At this point a resto-
ration is due, but to which period? The original
freize remains and the Moorish arches seem to
remain under the stucco. But a few pieces of
the Roger Lee design remain as well.

14. Significance.

The Sparhawk Building is significant as the last
original building built in the Elmwood com -
mercial district. With its completion in early
1929, the commercialization of the two blocks
was complete.

The building is significant for its original ro-
mantic design, combining historical elements
from different parts of Europe. The Sparhawk
Building and the Wilson Building next door
come closest— of all the Elmwood buildings—
to evoking illustrations from storybooks, the
goal of many architects of the time.

The Sparhawk Building is significant as the
site of an early commercial design of renowned
Mid-Century Modern architect Roger Lee.

The Sparhawk Building relates well to the oth-
er Elmwood commercial buildings in its scale.

Features to Preserve.
• the elaborate frieze and cornice
• the Moorish arches, both hidden and uncov -
ered

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
• all remnants of the Roger Lee alterations from
the 1950s
City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 30981, 8 August 1928; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Try Berkeley First—It’s Home!: The Augusta Inn,” The Courier, 1 February 1930.

Obituary for Anna Nivison Force, San Francisco Examiner, 31 July 1917. “Dr. Force, U. C. Expert, Dies After Illness,” Berkeley Gazette, 23 June 1938.

Obituary for Dr. Edward Ernest Sparhawk, Berkeley Gazette, 10 November 1959. “Elmwood District Concentrates Varied Service in Small Area,” Berkeley Gazette, 21 May 1952.

In Memoriam: Thomas Walker Tenney (1920_2012) and Margaret Whitney Klaw Tenney (1922– 2011) by Will Tenney.

19. Bibliography.

18. Is the property endangered? No

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
29 October 2025

Additional Photographs.
above left: Sparhawk Building.

Anthony Bruce, 2025
above: entrance to Thos Ten-
ney Music on Records (Roger
Lee, 1950).
from the Internet.
left: Sparhawk Building, show-
ing the Roger Lee entryways
still intact.

Anthony Bruce, 1982
The Sparhawk Building showing intact 1928 design. Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

The interior of Richard M. Hunter’ s record shop that existed in the same space that Thos Ten- ney Music on Records moved into in 1950. Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Partial interior view of Thos Tenney Music
on Records, most likely showing the north-
ernmost shop. Found on-line.

Robert A. Hawkins, owner of the Augusta
Inn, 2988 College Avenue.

The Courier, 1 February 1930.

Thomas W. Tenney on the right, with
John T. Moon, service manager.

Berkeley Gazette, 18 November 1954.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 30981, 8 August 1928

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 14
Wilson-Tulanian Building
2992 College Avenue
The Wilson-Tulanian Building, 2992 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2992, 2996, 2998 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1573–00600
(Dutard Property, Block A, southern portion of Lot 5)
Dimensions: 53 feet x 55 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 12054

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Wilson-Tulanian Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1923 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 13745, 27 March 1923

7. Architect: Hutchison & Mills, Oakland

8. Builder: Leslie R. Wilson

9. Style: Shopfront

10. Original Owners: Leslie R. Wilson, 2216 Blake Street Original Use: commercial (3 stores)

11. Present Owner: Rose Oriental Rugs Inc.

Present Occupant: vacant, 2992 College; Rose Oriental Rugs, 2998 College,

12. Present Use: commercial (2 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E, R-1

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? No

14. Description.

Built in 1923, this is a one-story reinforced
concrete Class “C” building, constructed to
contain three stores. Currently, the building is
divided into two stores, but all three tradition-
al storefronts remain. The storefronts are con -
tained within three large, round arches facing
College Avenue. There is an additional arch on
the south side of the building facing Webster
Street and serving as a window. Below the par-
apet is a running frieze in a circle motif. This
is repeated at the tops of the piers between the
arches, and at the same height as the base of the
transoms. There are spiral columns embedded
in the corners of each pier, and medallions set
in the wall above and between each arch.

The building is basically unaltered, including
the arched transoms divided into tall, narrow
panes, and the polychrome tiles at the base of
the display windows. About forty-five years
ago, the building was painted in brilliant, jew-
el-like colors in keeping with the exotic appear-
ance of the building and the nature of the busi-
ness within. The northernmost shop features an
elaborately designed back wall with a fireplace,
paneling, and mezzanine above with railings,
dating from 1924. Tulanian Rug Company add-
ed a similar back wall to the southernmost store
in 1928, designed by A. J. Yerrick.

A billboard is attached to the Webster Street
side of the building.

15. History.

The Oakland architectural firm of Hutchison
& Mills (Robert A. Hutchison and Reginald
L. Mills) specialized in quality store designs.

An article of theirs about “the ideal shop build-
ing” appeared in the March 1924 issue of Ar-
chitect and Engineer, illustrated with photos
of their latest buildings. Berkeley is fortunate
to have several of their one-story shop build -
ings; their Wilson-Tulanian Building has long
been a popular favorite. The outer walls of a
slightly smaller version of this building stand
at Bancroft and Ellsworth where they will be-
come the ground floor exterior of a new large
housing building. Leslie R. Wilson and Fred-
erick E. Romie, both builders, were the usual
investors for the Hutchison & Mills buildings
in both Berkeley and Oakland. Two were built
in the Elmwood commercial district.

The first tenants in the building were The Old
World Shop (2998) and Downings Grocery
(2996). A latecomer, in 1924, was Mrs. Doris
Conner of North Berkeley who opened an in -
terior decorating business at 2992 College. She
added an attractively designed open mezzanine
at the rear of her shop with a fireplace as its
central feature. Soon after Hachadoor Tulanian
purchased the building in 1927 and moved his
Oriental rug business into 2998 College, he may
have been inspired by Mrs. Conner’s treatment
of her space and commissioned architect A. J.

Yerrick to design a similar mezzanine-fireplace
combination for his store.

The following history is taken from the Berke-
ley History Plaque affixed to the side of the
building for its centennial by the Berkeley His-
torical Society in 2024:
“In 1922, Armenian genocide survivor Hacha-
door Tulanian (1894–1965) arrived in Berke -
ley and opened an Oriental rug shop at 2938
College Avenue [in Bischoff Building No. 2].

In 1927 he bought the Wilson Building, which
contained three small shops, and moved the rug
business to the corner location, where he added
a concrete floor and drain for rug washing and
wooden pallets on the roof for drying. Living
nearby at 6536 Benvenue Avenue, he would
leave a ‘back after lunch’ sign on an unlocked
shop door. He could regularly be seen trans -
porting rugs tied to the running boards of his
car. In 1950 Hachadoor’s two sons joined the

business and it expanded into the entire build -
ing, His two grandchildren and great-grand -
daughter took over ownership in 1997, proudly
continuing one of the Elmwood district’s lon -
gest family-owned businesses.
“The building’s distinctive design features
oversized arched clerestory windows. It was
one of the locations used in the 1993 Whoopi
Goldberg film Made in America.”
In 1943, as did other Elmwood building own -
ers, Mr. Tulanian turned the center store into
wartime housing. After his death on New Year’s
Eve in 1965, his wife Zabel continued coming
to the shop each morning to mend rugs.

Many Berkeleyans remember that the build-
ing had been painted a shade of hospital green.

That all changed in 1973, according to Heidi
Seney in an article written for the Berkeley Ga-
zette, when “an imaginative young painter was
given free rein and the result was a carefully
rendered combination of colors: yellow-ochre
complemented by a bright blue for the arches
over each of the entryways, and an outline of
the arches in orchid.
“The colors are repeated in the running frieze
with a circle motif, below the parapet, in the
spiral columns between the arches, and in the
tiles that form the base of the building. The
building stands out in a graceful manner.”
At the ceremony where the plaque was placed
on the building in March 2024, the entire Tu -
lanian family gathered for the ceremony cele -
brating both the building and the 100-year-old
family-run business. Sadly, the third and fourth
generation family members announced their
retirement. The building has since been sold,
and a new chapter has begun with another Ori-
ental rug business replacing the old.

16. Significance.

The Wilson-Tulanian Building is architectural-
ly significant for its eclectic and elaborate de-
sign and ornamentation. It is the most roman-
tic and intriguing of all Hutchison and Mills’
one-story shop building designs. It is one of
the most memorable buildings in the Elmwood
commercial district.

The building is significant for its commercial
history. Tulanian Bros. Oriental Rugs opened in
1922 at 2938 College Avenue, owned by broth-
ers Avedez and Hachadoor Tulanian. In 1927
Hachadoor purchased the Wilson Building and
moved the business to that location, honoring
the building with more than 95 years of a single
family-owned business.

Features to Preserve.
• the elaborate frieze and other ornamentation
• the Moorish arches
• the tile bulkheads

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
• the traditional shopfronts
• the arched transoms

18. Is the property endangered? No

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 13745, 27 March 1923; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Improved Store Building Design” by R. L. Mills, Architect and Engineer, March 1924. “A 60-Year Enterprise in Elmwood” by Heidi Seney for Berkeley Architectural Heritage Associa- tion, Berkeley Gazette, 18 April 1982.

Berkeley History Plaque, Berkeley Historical Society Plaque Committee, 2024. “Historical Society Honors Tulanian Building & Family” by Burl Willes, Berkeley Times, 2024.

19. Bibliography.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
30 October 2025

Additional Photographs.

The Wilson-Tulanian Build -
ing. Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Wilson-Tulanian Build-
ing. Ormsby Donogh, 1939,
Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.

The Wilson-Tulanian Build-
ing, 2992 College Avenue,
when almost new.

Architect & Engineer. March
1924.

Additional Photographs.

Fred Jacobs in his appliance store
at 2992 College Avenue, showing
the fireplace and paneled over-man-
tel from 1924. Byron Bolfing, 1947,
Berkeley Historical Society.
left and below: Wilson-Tulanian
Building and detail of tiled bulkhead.

Anthony Bruce, 2025
At the plaque unveiling, the exe-
tended Tulanian family poses with
Berkeley Historical Society leaders
and local officials.

Robert Kehlmann, 2024.

Additional Photographs.

Wilson-Tulanian Building in 1969, showing the light green paint job that it sported for many years. BAHA Archives.

Wilson-Tulanian Building in 2020, showing the polychrome paint job that it has sported since 1973.

Anthony Bruce, 2020.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 13745, 27 March 1923

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 31809, 1 November 1928, showing a sketch for the gas fireplace and mezzanine.

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 15
United States Post Office, Elmwood Station
2705 Webster Street
United States Post Office, Elmwood Station, 2705 Webster Street. Anthony Bruce, 2023.

1. Street Address: 2705 Webster Street
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–00400
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block C, Lot 23)
Dimensions: about 55 feet x 120 feet
Cross Streets: College Avenue and Piedmont Avenue

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11912

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: Yes
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: United States Post Office, Elmwood Station Commonly Known Name: Elmwood Post Office

6. Date of Construction: 1948; 1977 Factual: yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 62610, 21 January 1948; City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. B-011977291, 8 December 1976.

7. Architect: James W. Plachek, 2131 University Avenue; Bart Jones, 264 Arlington Avenue, Kensington

8. Builder: W. H. Livingston, 1152 Euclid Avenue; R. W. Poole, 240 Hegenberger Road, Oakland

9. Style: Moderne; Brutalist/Sea Ranch Rustic

10. Original Owners: Bernard W. White; W. R. White
Original Use: institutional (post office)

11. Present Owner: White, Catherine Y Trust etal
Present Occupant: United States Post Office

12. Present Use: institutional (post office)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E, R-2

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: fine Grounds: fine
Has the property’s exterior been altered? yes and no

14. Description.

The present appearance of the Elmwood Post
Office dates from 1976–77. In 1974, the ser -
vice station on the corner was demolished and
a major addition was built onto the existing
1948 post office building, behind to the east,
that faced Webster Street. The older post office
is now a rectangular two-story box of a build -
ing. Existing windows have been filled in, but
an entrance remains where the original public
entrance was located. The locked plain, metal
door is recessed a few feet from the outer wall.

The surface of the walls on either side are cov-
ered with diagonal pieces of redwood; the wall
above the door slopes up and outward to meet
the outer wall and is also covered with lengths
of redwood.

Facing College Avenue behind a parking lot en-
tered from Webster Street and containing eight
spaces, is the 1977 addition, designed to appear
as a new post office building. The older build-
ing was opened up on the west side and the in-
teriors of the two structures are now combined.

The 1977 structure is cream-painted rough ce -
ment plaster. It consists of two blocky wings
that are bridged by an expanse of glass topped
with a wide section of diagonally placed pieces
of redwood. At the left, a few feet away from
the northern blocky wing, a stucco “fin” pierces
both the diagonal redwood strips as well as the
glass wall below. The redwood pieces beyond
the fin are angled in the opposite direction from
the rest. There are ten areas of glass, eleven
counting the one beyond the fin.

There is a tall, narrow window in the west wall
of the north wing. The south wing juts out at
an angle similar to a ship’s prow. There is no
window. Instead a small plaque featuring the
Post Office’s logo of that era (which also ap-
peared on a postage stamp) is attached high on
the wall. Around the corner, a narrow window
has been placed in a recessed slit in the wing’s
Webster Street façade.

There is a combination ramp and stairway lead-
ing to the raised entrance in the glass section
facing the parking lot. The ramp begins at the
Webster Street sidewalk and the stairway is
reached from the parking lot.

The sign for the building is made from bronzed
letters that are affixed to the long redwood-slat
panel. Beginning in the center and leading off
to the right, it reads, in three lines, “United
States Post Office, Elmwood Station, Berkeley,
California 94705.” The lettering is difficult to
see, as it is camouflaged against the weathered
redwood.

The interior is exceedingly plain for a post of -
fice. The off-white walls and unfinished red-
wood trim are reminiscent of the interiors at
Sea Ranch.

15. History.

This southeast corner of the Elmwood com -
mercial district has seen major changes over
the years. In 1909, architect Walter Ratcliff and
his business partner Charles L. MacFarland
built two speculative houses on the deep lot,
fronting both houses on Webster Street with the
addresses of 2701 and 2703 Webster. The two
blocks of the district were almost completely
built up with commercial buildings when the
Standard Oil Company built a service station
on the site of 2701 Webster in 1926. Two years
later a service garage was added at the north
edge of the property. The Ratcliff house sur -
vived all of this by having been moved out of
the way in June, 1925. It landed on the south
side of Ashby near Regent. Threatened again
in 1971, the house and two others were moved,
this time to an empty lot at 2929 Benvenue Av-
enue.

The station became an Elmwood institution.

As Joe Moore’s Chevron Station in the 1950s
and 1960s, a number of neighborhood kids had
their first job there.

The Elmwood Station of the United States Post
Office was established in 1909 as Station 8 in
Rolla D. Fuller’s drugstore on Ashby at Col -
lege. When the post office moved into its own
space on the Russell Street side of the Dondero
Building in 1927, it became Elmwood Station.

After twenty years it was time for a dedicat -
ed stand-alone post office building. The lot at
2703 Webster Street was leased from Bernard
W. White (owner of the Topside Market who
also owned several properties in the Elmwood).

James W. Plachek was selected as the architect
for the new building. Plachek was known for
his many civic buildings, including the nearby
Claremont Branch Library at Benvenue and
Ashby and John Muir School at Claremont and
Ashby. This post office was one of Plachek’s
last designs, as he died in December 1948. A
building permit was taken out in January 1948
and the completed $50,000 building was ded -
icated on September 30, 1948. On hand were
Mayor Laurence L. Cross and Postmaster
Frank M. Whiting, who remarked that the El -
mwood building was “the perfect station.” The
dedication was Whiting’s last official act as he
was to retire the next day.

Once again, a Ratcliff house was moved out
of harm’s way. To make way for the new post
office, the house at 2703 Webster was moved
next door to the back yard of the house at 2713
Webster. However, at a later date, both houses
at 2713 Webster were demolished for more em-
ployee parking.

Sometime in the early 1970s the post office
moved to the corner shop space in the Dondero
Building, which had been vacated by Curtis &
Gray men’s clothing. The golden oak cabinetry
and counters were set up in the shop space and
a new, albeit temporary, post office was creat -
ed. In July 1974 the Chevron station was de-
molished. The Post Office was planning a ma -
jor expansion of Elmwood Station. A building
permit was applied for in December 1976 and
construction was begun in January 1977.

The Kensington firm Bart Jones Architects,
which was established in 1973, designed the
addition, which, when finished, appeared to be
a completely new building. In fact, the 1948
post office is still standing. However, it was
gutted, windows were closed off, what little or-
nament it had was removed, and the west wall
was demolished to connect it with the planned
addition. Customer services were moved to the
addition upon completion.

The new wing looks very much of its era. It
is an intriguing combination of Sea Ranch-in-
spired natural, weathered redwood, and blocky
Brutalist forms done in stucco rather than con-
crete. At the same time a parking lot was con -
structed fronting on College Avenue, with its
entrance on Webster. Short, stocky bollards
of rough stucco (matching the finish on the
building) along the College Avenue side of
the lot were connected by wooden fence rails.

Pedestrians, looking for a short-cut, continu -
ally walked over the low fence, damaging it.

Finally, a high, black wrought iron fence was
installed in its place.

The customer parking lot was designed for nine
parking spaces, but that number was reduced to
eight when a handicapped ramp entrance was
introduced in 1995. The new entrance com -
bines a ramp and steps in an eye-catching com-

16. Significance.

The Elmwood Post Office building is signif -
icant as the best example of the architectural
aesthetics of the 1970s to be found in the El -
mwood commercial district. It is intriguing to
find the influence of the rustic Sea Ranch style
used on an institutional building. The faux Bru-
talist style of the building proper gives it a sub-
stantial quality, complementing the lightness of

the weathered wood and the bank of windows
in the center.

The Elmwood Post Office is significant in the
way it helps to impart the quality of a small
town “Main Street” to these two blocks of Col-
lege Avenue. It serves as a place for neighbors
to gather—on business—and meet for a visit:
an important way to maintain a sense of com -
munity.

City of Berkeley Applications for Building Permits.

Block books and Sanborn maps
City directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Berkeley Mail Receipts Grow,” San Francisco Chronicle, 10 July 1927. “Elmwood PO to be Dedicated,” Berkeley Gazette, 28 September 1948.

19. Bibliography.

Features to Preserve.
• the weathered, unpainted redwood strips
• the stucco form of the 1977 addition
• the bank of windows across the front

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No

18. Is the property endangered? No
• the metal lettering forming the name
• the design of the steps/ramp entrance
• the emblem with the Post Office logo

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
31 October 2025

Additional Photographs.

A view of main façade of the
Elmwood Station, showing
the expanses of glass and an-
gled redwood strips. Viewed
across the parking lot.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The earlier post office building on the site, now
stripped, and subordinated to the 1977 addition. A
photo of the building before the alterations has not
been found. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The service station that was on the corner site. The
Walter Ratcliff-designed house behind was moved to
build the 1940s post office and later demolished.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Views of the Elmwood Station Post Office.
left: customer service area.
below: signage over the entrance.
below left: the entrance ramp and steps.
bottom: general view from Webster Street.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. B-011977291, 8 December 1976.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 62610, 21 January 1948

City of Berkeley Application for Building
Permit No. 164, 1 September 1909.

City of Berkeley Application for Building
Permit No. 163, 1 September 1909.

The Midgley Building, 2999 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 16
Midgley Building
2999 College Avenue

1. Street Address: 2999 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–06301
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block C, Lot 24)
Dimensions: 45 feet x 120 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11913

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Midgley Building, Elmwood Camera
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1926 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 24124, 17 February 1926

7. Architect: Van V . Midgley

8. Builder: Van V . Midgley

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Van V . Midgley, 2999 College Avenue Original Use: commercial (2 stores)

11. Present Owner: JCJ9 Property Management LLC & March Earl J Tr Present Occupant: Picture Framing CP50 (2997 College); Cheap Pete’s (2999 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (2 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

A one-story brick Class “C” building designed
for two stores. Similar, but not identical to the
Midgley-Jennings Building next door to the
north. In 1964, the original brick façade was
covered with ribbed, galvanized Robertson
decking installed vertically. At the same time,
the shopfronts were replaced with aluminum
and glass, flush with the plane of the façade.

The three brick piers were resurfaced with mo-
saic tile in various shades of brown. The tile
has been painted over with dark charcoal gray
paint and the decking with a light gray. A bit of
the original brick can be seen at the south edge
of the building.

15. History.

Van Vissing Midgley was from Salt Lake City.

He attended the University of Utah, married
Deane Adler in 1913, and then headed to Oak -
land in 1915 to help his father run the American
Theater at 17th and San Pablo. It was the larg-
est movie theater on the West Coast. In 1923,
the three Midgley sons were involved in a big
real estate transaction in downtown Oakland.

Out of it came the Midgley Building, long a
landmark at 15th Street and San Pablo near
City Hall.

In 1924, Van Midgley left the running of the
theater to his brothers Rex and Charles, and
entered the real estate business as a salesman
for Joseph E. Caine, a commercial real es-
tate agent. He and Deane bought a brand-new
house that year at 2950 Claremont Avenue, one
of the John Hudson Thomas-designed cottages
that were part of the Claremont Crescent de -
velopment. Soon, he used his new expertise to
invest in property on College Avenue, buying
Lots 24 and 25 in Block C of Elmwood Park.

Midgley and Harold P. Jennings, a colleague at
the Caine office, first improved Lot 25 in 1925.

Midgley, on his own, built on Lot 24 the next
year, and for a short time had his own real estate
office at 2999 College Avenue. In 1929 he left
real estate to enter the field of stock brokering.

Despite the Crash and subsequent depression,
he made a success of it. In 1946, the Midg-
leys moved to Piedmont. They became patrons
of the arts as supporters of the San Francisco
Symphony and Opera.

The new Midgley Building was similar in style
to the first building next door. Both were red-
dish-brown pressed brick with terra cotta de-
tailing, but arranged in a different way.

In 1932, the two stores were combined and the
storefronts changed to have only one entrance.

This was to accommodate August Machunze
and his California Food Shop, which adver -
tised “free delivery.” He had been born in Ger-
many and came to America with his family as
a child. In 1939 he married Loretta Erskine and
they built a house on West View Drive, high
above Tunnel Road, where they raised three
children. August Machunze died in 1952 at
age forty-nine. He had run his grocery store for
about ten years.

In early 1943, Bernard W. and Frances A.

White, proprietors of the Topside Market, pur-
chased the Midgley Building. The first thing
they did with it was not surprising, considering
that it was the middle of World War II. The en-
tire shop space was converted to living quarters
for a family.

After the war, a long tradition of a camera shop
in the space began with Alpha Photo Products,
which remained until about 1952. In early
1954, the space was taken by Hiram Rosenk -
ranz, who was a photographer and had grown
up in Berkeley. He later added a photograph
gallery to the shop. In the early 1980s the space
changed hands and became Alpha Photo Cam-
era Shop, and in 1988, the one large shop be -
came two again when Alpha opened a frame
shop at the north end of the building. Soon, the
entire camera shop had moved into the smaller

16. Significance.

The Midgley Building is significant as a con-
tributing building in the Elmwood commercial
district. Its significance would be much more
than merely a contributor to the scale of the dis-
trict if the 1964 façade were to be removed.

Even the 1964 remodeling, which is now six-
ty-one years old, would have an aesthetic sig -
nificance, if it too had not been compromised.

The long-term businesses—the market, the
photography shops, and the framing store—
offer a cultural significance of well-regarded
businesses that served the needs of the sur -
rounding neighborhood.

Features to Preserve.
• the 1926 brick and terra cotta façade that is hidden behind a 1964 false façade.

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No
City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 24124, 17 February 1926; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
ancestry.com
“Van Midgley Joins Blyth & Co.,” Oakland Tribune, 21 May 1929. “Van V . Midgley (obituary),” Oakland Tribune, 17 January 1978. “In the Venerable Elmwood, Change is Now the Only Sure Thing” by Andy Whipple, The Voice, 25 August 1988.

Photo and caption regarding Hiram Rosenkranz, Berkeley Gazette, 12 May 1953.

19. Bibliography.
space, and a framing shop opened in the oth-
er space. Cheap Pete’s Framing Shop remains

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
2 November 2025
in the Midgley Building today, making use of
both of the two shops.

Additional Photographs.

The Midgley Building, showing the mosaic tile piers and bulkhead. Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Midgley Building, showing the original brick façade. Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHAHA/

Additional Photographs.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/994401709/
The Berkeley Gazette (Berkeley, California) · Tue, May 12, 1953 · Page 4 Downloaded on Nov 1, 2025

Copyright © 2025 Newspapers.com. All Rights Reserved.

The Midgley Building in downtown Oakland (since demolished). 1924 City Directory, page 176.

Hiram Rosenkranz, Elmwood Camera Shop own-
er a few months before he opened the store.

Berkeley Gazette, 12 May 1953.

Berkeley Gazette,
13 December 1972.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 24124, 17 February 1926

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 17
Midgley-Jennings Building
2995 College Avenue
Midgley-Jennings Building, 2995 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2995 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–06401
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block C, Lot 25)
Dimensions: 50 feet x 120 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11914

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Midgley-Jennings Building
Commonly Known Name: King Yen

6. Date of Construction: 1925 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 21600, 22 July 1925

7. Architect: Van V . Midgley (designer), 2950 Claremont Avenue

8. Builder: Dunnie Construction Co., 3151 Broadway, Oakland

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Van V . Midgley and Harold P. Jennings, First National Building, Oak- land
Original Use: commercial (3 stores)

11. Present Owner: JLTsou LLC
Present Occupant: King Yen (2995 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (1 store)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E-

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: Excellent Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

Built in 1925, this is a Class “C” one-story brick
building designed to have three shops. It has
been altered to one large store for at least sixty
years. A 1964 remodel for Benson’s Sporting
Goods covered the upper half in ribbed, gal-
vanized Robertson decking, installed vertically
and painted blue. The four brick piers and the
bulkheads were surfaced with blue and white
mosaic tile. The shopfronts were all modern -
ized.

An award-winning restoration for King Yen in
1989 revealed all the original brickwork, even
on the piers. Today, the building looks much
as it did when new, except for the storefronts,
which were created new to accommodate
restaurant use. The center entrance bay is re -
cessed with room for a few tables for outdoor
seating, The flanking bays have high bulkheads
faced with glossy, celadon green square tiles.

Above, four pairs of wood-frame windows can
be opened in warm weather.

The façade is of warm-brown pressed brick in
different shades. Bricks laid on end create rect-
angular panels above each shopfront bay. There
is sand-colored terra cotta ornamentation, such
as the building’s cornice and an elaborate frieze
above the transom windows. Square terra cotta
tiles with an oak-leaf design in relief accentu -
ate the piers, both in their being set between
the rectangular panels above each pier and by
being grouped together in threes to create pen-
dants at the top of each pier.

The distinctive transom windows survived the
1964 remodel. Each of the three sets of tran -
soms consists of a horizontal window in the
center, divided horizontally. The center win-
dows are flanked by two pairs of vertical win-
dows divided artistically into small panes.

15. History.

Van Vissing Midgley was from Salt Lake City.

He attended the University of Utah, married
Deane Adler in 1913, and then headed to Oak-
land in 1915 to help his father run the Ameri -
can Theater at 17th and San Pablo. It was the
largest movie theater on the West Coast. In
1923, the three Midgley sons were involved in
a big real estate transaction in downtown Oak-
land. Out of it grew the Midgley Building, long
a landmark at 15th Street and San Pablo near
City Hall.

In 1924, Van Midgley left the running of the
theater to Rex and Charles, and entered the
real estate business as a salesman for Joseph E.

Caine, a commercial real estate agent. He and
his wife bought a brand-new house that year at
2950 Claremont Avenue, one of the John Hud-
son Thomas-designed cottages that were part
of the Claremont Crescent development. Soon,
he used his new expertise to invest in property
on College Avenue, buying Lots 24 and 25 in
Block C of Elmwood Park. Midgley and Har -
old P. Jennings, a colleague at the Caine office,
first improved Lot 25 in 1925 with an attrac -
tive pressed brick shop building. Midgley, on
his own, built on Lot 24 the next year, and for
a short time had his own real estate office at
2999 College Avenue. In 1929 he left real es -
tate to enter the field of stock brokering. De-
spite the Crash and subsequent depression, he
made a success. In 1946, the Midgleys moved
to Piedmont. They became patrons of the arts
as supporters of the San Francisco Symphony
and Opera.

The College Avenue buildings were sold soon
after they were built. Over the years, the Midg-
ley-Jennings Building has been home to two
long-lived and beloved Elmwood businesses.

In November 1947, V olney Benson opened
Benson’s Sporting Goods at 2995 College Ave-

nue, which specialized in ski, tennis, and action
wear, as well as all types of sporting equipment.

Mrs. Benson, “Jonsie,” was buyer for the store
for most of its existence. After commercial rent
control (which began in the Elmwood) was
abolished by the State, rents began to rise on
College Avenue. Several Elmwood businesses
could not afford a rent increase; Benson’s was
one of them. After forty-one years, Benson’s
Sporting Goods closed in September 1988.

The other long-time business is King Yen
restaurant, which opened in the Sparhawk
Building about 1969. After twenty years in that
location and after Benson’s had moved out, the
restaurant owners took on the ambitious project
of restoring the façade of the Midgley Building
as the new setting for the restaurant. Fog City
Architects was chosen to oversee the work. The
restaurant was settled into its handsome new
building by 1990. In 1991 the Berkeley Archi-
tectural Heritage Association gave King Yen
a preservation award. The citation reads, “An
award was given for restoring the façade by
removing aluminum siding and uncovering the
elaborate clerestory windows. In addition, blue
‘bathroom’ tile was removed, revealing the
brick piers. Although the original shopfronts
had been removed, new shopfronts were de -
signed which are sensitive to the overall design
of the building. The owners are also commend-
ed for the installation of quiet, unobtrusive, and
well-designed signage.”
In 1993, King Yen was given an award for
Historic Commercial Renovation by Berkeley
Design Advocates, as part of the group’s first
awards presentation. King Yen continues to
thrive after fifty-six years.

16. Significance.

The Midgley-Jennings Building is primarily
significant as an excellent example of historic
preservation. Exposing the richly colored and
textured façade of reddish-brown pressed brick
and ornamental terra cotta that had been hid-
den from view for so many years added much
to the traditional appearance of the Elmwood
commercial district. The building continues to
delight all who see it.

The Midgley-Jennings Building is significant
as one of only three brick buildings in the dis -
trict and one of the most distinctive designs. It
was built during the second wave of construc -
tion which began in 1920, after WWI. This
block of College (east side, between Ashby
and Webster) was not built until then. The two
Midgley buildings, along with the service sta-
tion, were the last ones built on the block.

Features to Preserve.
• the terra cotta ornamentation
• the unpainted pressed-brick façade

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
• the four brick piers
• the transoms

18. Is the property endangered? No

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 21600, 22 July 1925; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories. Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Van Midgley Joins Blyth & Co.,” Oakland Tribune, 21 May 1929.

Advertisement for opening of Benson’s Sporting Goods, Berkeley Gazette, 7 November 1947. “Van V . Midgley (obituary),” Oakland Tribune, 17 January 1978. “Cook of the Week: Jonsie Benson” by Pauline Metza, Berkeley Gazette, 12 October 1982. “In the Venerable Elmwood, Change is Now the Only Sure Thing” by Andy Whipple, The Voice, 25 August 1988.
“Changing Times on College Ave.” by William Brand, Oakland Tribune, 6 September 1988. “Elmwood Renovation Delights Merchants,” by Charles Bucher, Jr., Berkeley Voice, 16 November 1989.
“1991 BAHA Preservation Awards,” BAHA Newsletter, No. 74, Summer-Fall 1991.

Berkeley Design Advocates awards announcement, Oakland Tribune, 9 December 1993.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
1 November 2025

19. Bibliography.

Additional Photographs.

Midgley-Jennings Building, 2995 College
Avenue, as it looks today.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Midgley-Jennings Building, 2995
College Avenue, soon after resto-
ration. The doors on the right were
for the short-lived Elmwood Fish
Market.

Anthony Bruce, 1990.

Midgley-Jennings Building, 2995
College Avenue, showing its 1964
Benson’ s Sporting Goods remodel.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Additional Photographs.

Midgley-Jennings Building, 2995 College
Avenue. A bit of the Midgley Building
shows at the right.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh
Real Estate File, BAHA..

Midgley-Jennings Building, 2995 Col -
lege Avenue.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real
Estate File, BAHA..

Closeup of detail of the Midgley-Jen-
nings Building. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Interior of the newly opened Benson’ s Sporting
Goods at 2997 College Avenue.

Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley His-
torical Society.

Van Vissing Midgley in 1955.

Oakland Tribune, 17 January 1978.

Volney Benson at Benson’ s Sporting Goods.

Berkeley Gazette, 24 July 1956.

The Midgley Building in downtown Oakland
(demolished). 1924 City Directory, page 176.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 21600, 22 July 1925

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 18
Morris Building
2993 College Avenue
The Morris Building, 2993 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2985, 2987, 2989, 2991, 2993 College Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–06500
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block C, Lot 26 and 5 feet of Lot 27) Dimensions: 60 feet x 120 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11915

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Morris Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1922 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permits No. 11964, 6 June1922 and No. 12785, 9 October 1922.

7. Architect: Solomon Morris

8. Builder: Solomon Morris

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Solomon Morris, 1424 Jefferson Street, Oakland Original Use: commercial (5 stores)

11. Present Owner: Di Napoli William & Harris Marc; Barrett William S & Thatcher Ellen etal; Di Napoli William W; Nishimura Jodi; Di Napoli William W [5 condominiums] Present Occupant: State Flour Pizza Company (2985 College); Gordo Tacos (2987 College); Crosscountry Mortgage (2989 College); vacant (2991 College); Kaokao (2993 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (5 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Minimally

14. Description.

Built in 1922, this is the second of two almost
identical side-by-side shop buildings. The
Morris Building is a one-story wood-frame
structure with a concrete-veneered front wall,
designed for five shops. The northernmost shop
is slightly narrower than the others; it was an
addition as the building was nearing comple -
tion. The building is almost entirely intact with
all five shopfronts unaltered. It features a lavish
display of tile work, identical to that on the ear-
lier Sager Building.

Each shop is framed in polychrome glazed ter-
ra cotta sections in a relief motif of flowers and
vines. The three large rectangular panels above
the transoms are also framed in the same tile;
and it is repeated from sidewalk to cornice at
each end of the building. The panels are filled
with tan stucco. Originally, they featured del -
icate stucco relief work of an elaborate floral
motif. These reliefs were still intact into the
1950s. The cornice is also made of sections of
glazed terra cotta, and it projects slightly at the
top of the four piers, which rest on high bases.

Large transoms contain a combination of
arched, circular, square, and rectangular panes.

All are intact except for the north shop’s which
are plan glass panes.

Each shopfront has a central recessed entry
with traditional door with glass center panel.

Each entry is almost a miniature arcade en -
trance with large plate glass display windows
set in copper Kawneer framing. The bulkheads
are surfaced with square tiles and mosaic tile
borders. There is also mosaic tile paving in the
entries. Doors are replacements. Awning boxes
have been covered over.

15. History.

In April 1922, contractor Solomon Morris took
out a permit to build 2979 College next door
for Olive Sager. In June, he took out a permit
for this building—his own—at 2993 College.

In October, he took out a third permit. This
was for a single shopfront addition to his build-
ing that was still under construction. The sto -
ry passed down through the years was that a
driveway had originally been intended for the
space between the two buildings. This last
shopfront is slightly narrower than the others.

When construction was complete, the effect
that this was one long structure instead of three
was seamless.

Contractor Solomon Morris (originally, Schid-
kavar) was born in 1866 in either Poland or
Russia. Through a circuitous route, he and
his wife Anna (Annie) arrived by ship in San
Francisco in 1904 with their children. They
had lived in England for many years (most of
their children born there) and South Africa for
a few years before their arrival. They settled at
first in Bakersfield where Solomon worked as a
contractor. After twenty-two years of marriage,
Anna and Solomon were divorced in 1910. A
few years later, Solomon moved to Oakland,
receiving favorable mention in the real estate
pages of the Oakland Tribune in 1918. Son
Albert was also a contractor in Oakland, and
the home base in the 1920s was a house on
Quigley. After the move north, Solomon early
on took up residence at the respectable Hotel
Savoy, 1424 Jefferson Street at 15th. In 1928,
Solomon married Mrs. Rebecca Pearce of San
Francisco, whom he had known for quite some
time. Solomon Morris was living alone at the
Hotel Commando on O’Farrell when he died in
1944 at age seventy-eight.

Solomon Morris seems to have had a lively
career in Oakland, but designed and built only
seven buildings in Berkeley. The College Ave-
nue shop buildings have the most architectural
distinction. Although he also built two rather
intriguing “blocky” apartment houses.

With five shops in the Morris Building—and
with at times, rapid turnover—one would be
hard-pressed to determine the types of busi -
nesses that had been in the building over the
years. The first businesses included A. K. Felk’s
Premier Cleaners & Dyers, Hilda Lindstrom’s
hat shop, S. Sasaki’s Merritt Embroidery Shop,
and a Marinello beauty shop.

A long-time business in the building was Mar -
tha Ann’s Candies (sometimes known as Mar -
tha Ann’s Nuts or Martha Ann’s Nuts and Can-
dy). It opened in 1930 by Samuel and Anna
Martha Zierke, most likely with the “Martha
Ann” name. By 1933 it was run by Mrs. Clau -
dia Borklund, and she did call it “Martha Ann’s
Nut Shop.” She soon opened a branch shop on
Oakland’s Grand Avenue. Claudia and her hus-
band John, a carpenter, took up residence in the
back of the College Avenue shop. They were
not the first Elmwood merchants to live where
they worked. During the 1950s and 1960s, the
shop is best remembered as a quiet, elegant, and
rather prim establishment. Light gray walls set
off the large glass jars filled with colorful penny
candy. But this was not a store for children; the
older woman who emerged through the curtain
from the back was anything but effusive. This
was the saleslady; the owner herself remained
in the back of the shop making fresh batches of
candy. As Burl Willes writes in Tales from the
Elmwood, “In 1970 Claudia Borklund, owner
of Martha Ann Candies, decided it was time to
retire. She had made all the candy herself be-
hind a curtain in the back of the store, stirring
the ingredients over a gas stove, then drying
and cutting the sweets on marble-topped tables.

Two of her customers in the 1930s were John
Hadsell and his friend Jay T. Ward, who used to
buy taffy and lemon drops on their way to the
Saturday matinee.”
In 1971 the shop changed hands. Mrs. Bork-
lund “passed the keys” to Burl Willes who had
opened his travel shop in the Dondero Build -
ing the year before. He set up Trips Out Travel
in the former candy shop, creating a relaxed
environment with the waiting area set up as
a cozy living room with old-fashioned furni-
ture. His knowledgeable staff had the use of an
intimate garden in the back which customers
could glimpse through French doors. The ev-
er-changing display windows were memora -
ble. From vintage movie and travel posters to
antique toy trains, passersby always paused in
front of Trips Out Travel. Times changed, and
the popular and successful business gave way
to an on-line world in 2010.

16. Significance.

The Morris Building—along with its identical
neighbor the Sager Building—is significant as
a unique shop building in the Elmwood com -
mercial district. Its glazed polychrome terra
cotta ornamentation is non-pareil along Col -
lege Avenue, or in Berkeley for that matter.

The Morris Building is also significant for its
high degree of integrity. All shopfronts are in -
tact with original tile bulkheads. Missing are
the intricate stucco relief designs that were
once in the upper panels.

The building is significant for two memorable
long-term businesses that served the needs of
the community.

Features to Preserve.
• the terra cotta ornamentation including the
glazed flower vines, the cornice, the bases of
the piers
• the unpainted terra cotta façade
• the unpainted stucco upper panels

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
• the transoms
• the original door at 2927 College
• the mosaic tile entrance paving
• the exceptional tile bulkheads

18. Is the property endangered? No
City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12785, 9 October 1922; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories. Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
The World of Women, No. 28, 11 February 1934.
“Beauty in the Midst of Practicality” by Susan Dinkelspiel Stern for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, Berkeley Gazette, 13 May 1982.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
5 November 2025

19. Bibliography.

Additional Photographs.

Floral glazed terra cotta, high
pier base, and tile bulkhead:

Morris Building.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Closeup of the floral glazed
terra cotta: Morris Building.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Morris Building, southernmost shopfront.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Morris Building, 2985–93 College Avenue. Note the plain stucco panels, once filled with floral relief work. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

The Morris Building; Martha Ann’ s Nuts & Candy at
2987 College Avenue.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.
left and below:

The Morris Building (at the right),
with Martha Ann’ s Candies at 2987
College Avenue in the 1950s. Show-
ing relief panels. Donogh Real Es -
tate File, BAHA.

Ad for Martha Ann’ s
Nuts Shop at 2987
College Avenue. The
World of Women, No.
28, 11 February 1934.

Additional Photographs.

Mrs. Claudia Borklund of Martha Ann’ s Candies in front of her shop at 2987 College Avenue in the Morris Building.

Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

The shopfront at 2987 College Ave-
nue in the Morris Building when it
was home to Trips Out Travel.

Anthony Bruce, 1979.

Close view of the terra cotta vines on
the Morris Building.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Apartment building, 2716 Haste Street, designed and built by Solomon Morris in 1921.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

The five intact shopfronts in the Morris Building. Left: 2985; right: 2987. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The five intact shopfronts in the Morris Building. Left: 2989; center: 2991; right: 2993. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11964, 6 June 1922

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12785, 9 October 1922

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 19
Sager Building
2979 College Avenue
The Sager Building at 2979 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2979, 2981, 2983 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–06600
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block C, Lot 27)
Dimensions: 40 feet x 120 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11916

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Sager Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1922 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit #11631. 12 April 1922

7. Architect: none shown on application

8. Builder: Solomon Morris, 1424 Jefferson Street, Oakland

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Olive Sager, 604-14th Street, Oakland Original Use: commercial (3 stores)

11. Present Owner: Hibbard Lisbeth A Trust
Present Occupant: Palm (2979 College); Pretty Penny Clothing (2981 College); 100% Pure (2983 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (3 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Minimally

14. Description.

Built in 1922, this is the first of two almost
identical side-by-side shop buildings. The Sag-
er Building is a one-story wood-frame struc -
ture with a concrete-veneered front wall, de -
signed for three shops. The building is almost
entirely intact except for alterations to the three
shopfronts, and it features a lavish display of
tile work.

Each shop is framed in polychrome glazed ter-
ra cotta sections in a relief motif of flowers and
vines. The three large rectangular panels above
the transoms are also framed in the same tile;
and it is repeated from sidewalk to cornice at
each end of the building. The panels are filled
with golden-brown square tiles The cornice is
also made of sections of glazed terra cotta, and
it projects slightly at the top of the four piers,
which rest on high bases.

Large transoms contain a combination of
arched, circular, square, and rectangular panes.

The shopfronts have been changed, but appear
somewhat traditional. The northernmost was
redesigned in 1930 to move the entrance to the
left, but it retains the original door. The two
south shopfronts have white-painted grillwork
to cover the entries when needed. All bulkheads
have either been rebuilt or resurfaced. Awning
boxes have been covered over.

15. History.

The Sager Building and the Morris Building
next door are two of the most architecturally
significant buildings in the Elmwood commer -
cial district. The use of glazed polychrome ter-
ra cotta on the façades is exceptional. Sadly, the
story of how these two sublime shop buildings
came into being has proven somewhat elusive.

Olive May Faulkner was born in 1884 and grew
up in a large family in Forbestown in the Sacra-
mento Valley. She had always had an adventur-
ous streak, as shown by the time, as a teenager,
she and a girlfriend ran off to San Francisco
to see the sights, leaving her mother frantically
wondering where she was. After her father died
in 1904, Olive (also known as “Ollie”) struck
out to seek her fortune. By the time that she
reached Butte, Montana, she may or may not
have been married several times. In Butte, she
had a fresh start, marrying George Peris, a sa -
loonkeeper, originally from Austria. In October
1914, Olive returned to California for an ex -
tended stay. In June the next year, George mar-
ried, which he may have assumed he could do
as his marriage with Olive was a common-law
marriage. Neither the law nor Olive took kindly
to his re-marriage. Olive returned to Butte to
discuss the situation with George; a tragic ac -
cident involving a revolver left Olive seriously
injured and George dead. There was an inquest
and a legal matter, complete with courtroom
trial, to determine which widow was the legal
widow. Olive was victorious, but as a compro-
mise the estate was divided. Olive was benefi-
ciary of two life insurance policies, and began
running the saloon which was then hers, but
which she soon found was illegal for her to en-
ter during business hours as she was a woman.

In 1917 she and her bartender Rudolph Charles
Sagar, also of Austrian background, were mar-
ried. By 1920 they were settled in the Hotel
Savoy at 14th and Jefferson in Oakland, where
Olive was the manager and Rudolph was the
clerk. Two years later she built one of the pret-
tiest commercial buildings on College Avenue.

It is hard to imagine Olive so suddenly decid -
ing to invest her money (her inheritance from
George Peris?) in property in Berkeley. Part
of the answer may lie in the fact that Solomon
Morris, the designer-builder, who built the two
tiled buildings, was living at the Hotel Savoy
during the time the Sagers were there. Perhaps
it was his suggestion.

The handful of other buildings that Morris built
in Berkeley are somewhat prosaic, and even
though the Sager Building is a basic shop-
front building, the way the exterior was treated
shows real artistry. The materials used were of
the finest quality. It may be that Olive Sager
had something to say about the appearance of
her investment, or Solomon Morris may have
wanted to impress this exciting new client.

It would be nice to know whether Morris had
already purchased the two lots on College be -
fore he met Olive, or did they buy them togeth-
er? It appears that she was quite involved with
the project and most likely visited the site often
during construction. Her preference for tenants
for the completed building was a “delicatessen
or gent’s furnishings.” These would be in ad -
dition to her first tenant, Take Tory’s College
Florist.

Within a few months of the start of Olive’s
three-shop building in April 1922, Morris be-
gan the construction of his own building next
door, with four shops. He intended to leave
space for a driveway between the two, but in
October 1922 he took out a third permit to fill
the space in with a fifth shop. The eight shops
are actually in three separate buildings, but
they appear to the passerby as one long struc-
ture. There are only subtle differences between
them. The Sager Building has large panels over
the shopfronts that are filled with mottled brick-
like tile. The Morris Building has stucco panels
instead, that were originally filled with elab -
orate stucco reliefs of garlands and festoons.

Also, the Sager Building is framed at each end
by a sidewalk-to-cornice edging of the floral
terra cotta. By 1923, the completed Sager and
Morris buildings added an extra richness of de-
sign and color to the already attractive street.

Olive Sager divorced her husband in 1924 and
left Oakland. She married again in 1928 and
three years later was left a widow. She died
in a hospital near Stockton in 1937 at age fif-
ty-three.

Contractor Solomon Morris (originally, Schid-
kavar) was born in 1866 in either Poland or
Russia. Through a circuitous route, he and his
wife Anna (Annie) arrived by ship in San Fran-
cisco in 1904 with their children. They settled
at first in Bakersfield where Solomon was al-
ready a contractor. After their divorce, Solo-
mon moved to Oakland, receiving favorable
mention in the real estate pages of the Oakland
Tribune in 1918. Son Albert was also a contrac-
tor in Oakland, and the home base in the 1920s
was a house on Quigley. After the move north,
Solomon early on took up residence at the re -
spectable Hotel Savoy, 1424 Jefferson Street at
15th. In 1928, Solomon married Mrs. Rebecca
Pearce of San Francisco, whom he had known
for quite some time. Solomon Morris was liv -
ing alone at the Hotel Commando on O’Farrell
when he died in 1944 at age seventy-eight.

The Sager Building remains as a lasting legacy
to both Olive Sager and Solomon Morris’ fore-
sight to create a shop building that would still
be a visual delight 100 years later.

16. Significance.

The Sager Building is significant for its lavish
use of glazed polychrome terra cotta and tile
applied in a most artistic manner. Framing the
building, the upper panels, and the shopfronts
themselves with a stylized flowering vine of
green leaves and large yellow flowers with
blue centers created a building both beautiful
and fanciful.

The Sager Building is significant as one of the
most creative buildings by Oakland design-
er-builder Solomon Morris; a design that has
most certainly stood the test of time.

As with several of the shops in the Elmwood
district, the Sager Building was affected by
World War II. The shop at 2979 was changed to
living quarters by then-owner Gwynn Officer,
architect and real estate agent.

Features to Preserve.
• the terra cotta ornamentation including the
glazed flower vines, the cornice, the bases of
the piers
• the unpainted terra cotta façade
• the tiles set in the upper panels

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
• the transoms
• the original door at 2927 College
• the mosaic tile entrance to 2927 College dat -
ing from 1930

18. Is the property endangered? No
City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11631. 12 April 1922; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories. Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
“Located the Missing Girls,” Sacramento Bee, 6 May 1902. “A Tragic Ending of Long Romance,” The Butte Miner, 18 July 1915. “Peris Inquest Looms up in a Lurid Manner.” The Butte Miner, 20 July 1915. “Injured Woman Gets Peris’ Insurance,” The Butte Miner, 21 July 1915. “Woman Owner of Saloon is Fined,” The Butte Miner, 30 March 1916. “Wow! Look!—HOMES,” Oakland Tribune, 5 May 1918.
“Beauty in the Midst of Practicality” by Susan Dinkelspiel Stern for the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, Berkeley Gazette, 13 May 1982.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
4 November 2025

19. Bibliography.

Additional Photographs.
above and right: The Sager Building, showing that the two lefthand shopfronts had already been altered.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.
left and below:

The three shopfronts of the
Sager Building (at the left),
2979 College Avenue, taken
in the 1950s.

Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Olive May Faulkner Peris Sager at about age
eighteen. Found online.

George Peris, Olive’ s hus-
band, whose estate may have
provided financing for the
Sager Building. Butte Miner,
18 July 1915.

Mosaic tile entry paving at 2979 College Avenue in the Sag- er Building. It dates from a 1930 alteration to the shopfront.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Apartment building, 2716 Haste Street, designed and
built by Solomon Morris in 1921.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.

Sager Building, detail. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11631. 12 April 1922

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 20
Dray Building
2973 College Avenue
The Dray Building, 2973 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2973, 2975, 2977 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–06700
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block C, approximately the southern third of Lots 1 and 2) Dimensions: 45 feet x 120 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11917

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Dray Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1922 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12006, 12 June 1922

7. Architect: none listed on the application

8. Builder: H. C. Pfrang, 5659 Ocean View Drive, Oakland

9. Style: storefront

10. Original Owners: Lester R. Dray, 545-53rd Street, Oakland Original Use: commercial (2 stores)

11. Present Owner: College Avenue Building LLC
Present Occupant: Versailles (2973 College); Humbowl (2975 College); Manpuku (2977 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (3 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

A one-story building with cement plaster ex -
terior. The decorative tile-roof overhang be-
neath the parapet wall with its narrow cornice
and the cast-concrete medallions (removed)
on the piers suggest the Spanish Colonial Re -
vival style of the 1920s. Storefronts and tran -
soms (except for the southernmost) have been
altered. 1940s tile bulkheads were damaged in
the 1970s when rough wooden lath was nailed
into them, in a purposely uneven way, to evoke
the Hippie rustic aesthetic. All bulkheads now
have the same celadon-green traditonal tile.

The two lefthand shopfronts have black alu -
minum doors. In 1938, the righthand shopfront
was altered from a center entrance to a side en-
trance.

The building is divided into three storefronts.

The 1939 photograph shows only two. The
building permit application does not specify
whether two or three stores were intended.

15. History.

The Dray Building’s real claim to fame is that
it was the site of the legendary Botts Ice Cream
for fifty years and that it housed an early West
Coast Piggly Wiggly groceteria.

The Dray Building was built in 1922 by Les -
ter Robert Dray of Oakland. Dray had a var -
ied career. When he was eighteen in 1906, he
worked for the Denison News Company, locat-
ed at the Oakland Pier. The company published
postcards and souvenir items. Their employees
worked at news stands and sold items on the lo-
cal trains. While still in the employ of Denison,
he married Dorothea Amorsen in about 1912.

They lived on 53rd Street, raised two children,
and owned a Chevrolet by 1919. When he built
the College Avenue building, Dray was the
manager of a grocery store. He seems to have
also been involved in real estate ventures. He
didn’t own the building for more than a few
years after building it.

A first tenant in the Dray Building was a Pig-
gly Wiggly store at 2973. The company had
been on the West Coast only since 1921. Piggly
Wiggly was “invented” in 1916 by Clarence
Saunders in Memphis, Tennessee, as the first
self-service grocery store. Saunders patented
his idea in 1917 and began issuing franchises.

The Piggly Wiggly in the Dray Building was
opened in the first year of the company’s ex -
pansion to the West Coast. The company has
had many slogans over the years: the one on
this store was “All Over the World.” In order
to accommodate a large grocery store, the two
northern spaces were combined into one (or
perhaps built that way for the tenant).

In May 1938, Mrs. Kimi Tory remodeled the
shop at 2977, moving the center entrance to
the left. She then moved the College Florist
(“Fresh Cut Flowers, Potted Plants”), that the
Tory family had started, to that location. It had
been in the Sager Building since 1922. After
February 1942 the florist had new ownership.

A bridal shop opened in the space at 2977
College around 1947, but closed soon after.

In May 1948, John M. and Margaret Turner
Botts spent $2000 on alterations to the bridal
shop in preparation for the opening of Botts
Ice Cream. Margaret Botts was a San Francis -
co native and “Jack” Botts was from Fremont.

He was a stock broker as well as a bond spe -
cialist for the U. S. Treasury Department. In
1946, he decided to retire from that way of life
and start his own business. Little did the Botts’
know that their shop would become one of the
most iconic businesses in the history of the El-
mwood district. A purist and traditionalist, Mr.

Botts wanted to make ice cream the best possi-
ble way, using real fruit instead of syrups and
starting with a higher than required butterfat
base. In a newspaper interview he stated that
“ice cream making was a skill that benefited
from close attention.” Botts Ice Cream opened
in 1948 and remained under the Botts’ owner -
ship until 1970. John Miner Botts died in 1979.

In about 1977, Scott Whidden, a high school
student, got a part-time job at Botts making ice
cream. He soon became as intrigued with mak-
ing the finest ice cream as Mr. Botts had been,
and in May 1979 he was given the position as
manager by the absentee owner. In 1981, the
young Whidden, with two partners, purchased
the business, and ran it successfully through
good times and bad. Sadly, about fifty years
since it first opened, Botts closed. Scott Whid -
den remains the owner of Fenton’s Creamery
in Oakland.

16. Significance.

The Dray Building is significant as a contribut-
ing building in the Elmwood commercial dis -
trict. Its one-story height and its three tradition-
al shopfronts help create the overall character
of the street. With its tile-roof overhang, it is
also one of the few 1920s buildings with a nod
to the popular Spanish Colonial Revival style
of the period.

The Dray Building is significant for its connec-
tion with the beginning of self-service grocery
stores on the West Coast. One of the earliest
Piggly Wiggly stores (created in Tennessee in
1916) on the West Coast and the second one in
Berkeley, opened in the Dray Building on Sep-
tember 23, 1922.

The Dray Building is most significant as the
location of one of the most popular ice cream
shops in the East Bay. Botts Ice Cream opened
in 1948 and remained in business for about fif-
ty years. During its peak, the store had eight
branches and 600 wholesale customers. Both
the original owner, John Botts, and the last
owner, Scott Whidden, felt compelled to make
the very finest ice cream to offer the public. The
response was overwhelming, and Botts lives on
in the collective memory all its past customers.

Features to Preserve.
• the tile roof overhang (below the parapet)

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No
• the transoms at 2977 College

18. Is the property endangered? No

19. Bibliography.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12006, 12 June 1922; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
10 November 2025
District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
Wikipedia.

Piggly Wiggly advertisement, Oakland Tribune, 22 September 1922. “Week’s Permits Total $21,347,” Berkeley Gazette, 18 May 1948. “Elmwood District Expands,” Berkeley Gazette, 11 May 1949.

Lester R. Dray obituary, Oakland Tribune, 13 July 1960.

John Botts obituary, Berkeley Gazette, 11 April 1979.
“Pure Botts: Young Man Keeps Tradition Alive” by Don McCormack, Independent & Gazette, 16 April 1981.
“Botts’ 21-Year-Old Owner: Just a Kid with Good Taste” by Andrew Ross, San Francisco Exam- iner, 6 October 1982.
“Ice Cream Parlor Whips up Rent Control Controversy” by Kathy O’Toole, Oakland Tribune, 17 November 1985.
“Elmwood Residents Battle Botts’ Owner over Zoning Law” by Roya Camp, The Voice, 22 Octo- ber 1987.
“Rent Rise Endangers Elmwood Ice Cream” by Marc Breindel, 23 November 1995. “Bott’s in Limbo; New Applicant Misses ZAB Hearing” by Sheila Holderness, 1 February 1996 “Botts Ice Cream to Serve Kids” by Marc Abbott, 12 March 1998.

Additional Photographs.

The Dray Building.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Dray Building, showing
the Botts Ice Cream sign.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Dray Building, showing only
two shopfronts: the double space for
lease and the College Florist.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real
Estate File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Superior Fabrics at 2973 College Avenue.

Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Interior of Botts Ice Cream at
2977 College A
venue, show-
ing the iconic wallpaper and
rubber plant. The wallpaper
was installed about 1953 and
is remember
ed by customers
along with the ice cream.

Betty Marvin, 1983.

Scott Whidden serving custom-
ers at Botts Ice Cream, 2977
College Avenue.

Michael Russell, 1981,
Independent & Gazette.

Additional Photographs.

Grand opening advertisement for Piggly Wiggly at
2973 College Avenue.

Oakland Tribune, 22 September 1922.

Margar
et Turner (Botts), on the left, and her two
sisters. 1926.

Margaret Turner Botts.

Berkeley Daily Gazette, 28 September
1956.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12006, 12 June 1922

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 21
Romie Building
2961 College Avenue
The Romie Building, 2961 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2961, 2963, 2965, 2967, 2969 College Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–06800
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block C, Lot 1)
Dimensions: 75 feet x 75 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11918

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Romie Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1921–22 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11027, 7 December, 1921

7. Architect: Hutchison & Mills, Oakland

8. Builder: Leslie R. Wilson, 2216 Blake Street

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Frederick E. Romie, 418 Newton Avenue, Oakland Original Use: commercial (5 stores)

11. Present Owner: Kidson Jeremy M etal
Present Occupant: Golden Gate Sotheby’s (2961 College); Miharu Ice Cream (2965 College); vacant (2967 College); J. Brooker Studio (2669 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (4 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

A one-story, wood-frame structure with cement
plaster exterior containing five shopfronts. It
was originally designed in ornate Gothic style
with a row of finials atop the parapet, engaged
Gothic columns between the shops, and a
frieze above the transoms of applied columns
and Gothic arches. The ornamentation was re-
moved in 1951. The engaged columns remain,
but without their capitals, and the outline of the
frieze is visible in the stucco. The many-paned
transoms with colored glass have also survived.

Each transom was divided into three sections
by turned wood pieces until a recent alteration
replaced them with flat wood dividers.

The northernmost shopfront has been altered
most extensively. Its bulkhead had been re -
surfaced with exceptional black-and-white tile
which survived until 1977. At that time, for a
new bank tenant, the shopfront below transom
level was pushed back into the building, creat -
ing a covered entry plaza. This configuration
has survived through subsequent tenants. The
building is currently painted dark charcoal gray.

15. History.

In 1922, the Berkeley Bank of Savings and
Trust Company and the First National Bank
of Berkeley were purchased by the Mercantile
Trust Company. One of the first moves of the
new company was to establish two addition -
al branch banks besides the already existing
South Berkeley and Telegraph branches.

For their fourth location, the just-completed
Romie Building in the rapidly growing Elm -
wood district in the heart of “a thickly popu -
lated residential area” was chosen for the new
bank. Here, a new concept in banking was un -
dertaken: that of a “residential bank.” Residents
who worked in San Francisco were able to
make deposits in that city and have the amounts
transferred to the Elmwood branch where they
could be drawn for household needs.

Much attention was focused on the decor,
which was intended to appeal to the artistic
sense of the customers. Walls were “finished
in soft tones of green, with the woodwork in
ivory.” The bank also included features “which
will prove of interest to women,” especially
the lounge, which would be a “rest-room and
meeting place for the women of the district,
which the bank plans to serve.” Already, with
the opening of the branch bank, officials were
contemplating a building solely for banking
purposes. In 1922 the corner of Webster was
under consideration (where the Tulanian build-
ing now stands). By 1923, the bank had pur -
chased instead the northeast corner of College
and Ashby for the new building.

This attractively appointed bank was housed
in a double shopfront in the Romie Building.

The Gothic-inspired structure was built by
Berkeley plumber-turned-contractor Leslie R.

Wilson and Oakland real estate developer and
contractor Frederick E. Romie, who were re-
sponsible for a number of small-scale commer-
cial buildings in outlying business districts. For
this building (and their others), they commis-
sioned the Oakland architectural firm of (Rob-
ert A.) Hutchison and (Reginald L.) Mills.

The Romie Building, begun in late 1921, is
a good example of the architects’ use of his-
torical detail; to create a distinctive building,
which contributes to the character of the sur -
roundings. The Gothic flavor was achieved
through such surface ornamentation as a frieze
of Gothic arches running along the top third of
the building, and polygonal columns dividing
the building into five shopfronts. The row of
finials of uneven height rising above the cor -
nice gave the building an especially “spikey”
Gothic silhouette against the sky. Tile-covered
bulkheads and multi-paned transoms above the
awning box were standard at the time.

Over the years the individual shopfronts in the
Romie Building have been remodeled, and, in
1951, the Gothic ornamentation was removed
and transoms covered with signs or awnings.

All that remains to suggest the architectural
style of the original design are the Gothic col -
umns (with their capitals removed) and a rough
outline in the stucco of the frieze of applied
arches.

Frederick Ernest Romie was often involved in
building ventures with contractor Leslie Ram -
sey Wilson and architects Hutchison & Mills.

Romie was also a building contractor and was
in the real estate investment business as well,
although he started out as a draftsman and
designer. The Romie family had been in Cal-
ifornia since about 1840, having come from
Germany by way of Mexico, and settling in
Monterey. Frederick’s uncle had owned the
Paraiso Springs resort near Soledad, which he
left to Frederick and his brother Karl. Being yet
minors, their father sold the resort soon after.

After a problematic first marriage, Romie mar-
ried Doris Rose Wilson, sister of Leslie Wilson.

They had one son, Frederick, Jr., and they set -
tled in North Berkeley in 1926.

Before the ivory paint was even dry on the
bank’s woodwork, F. E. Romie sold the prop -
erty to Charles C. Dorsch, owner of the Dorsch
Glove House in downtown Oakland and a real
estate investor. Dorsch was ecstatic about his
purchase, saying, “I bought this property be-
cause I see a tremendous future for the east bay.

It happens that this particular district where this
property is located is one of the fastest growing
districts in Berkeley. The stores are occupied
and bring a good return on the investment.”
The original stores included the Quality Bakery
in the corner space. It was run by Maud Lach -
mund and Paul McLaughlin, who was manager
of the Hotel Harrison in Oakland. Maud was the
wife of sculptor Otto Lachmund. At the time of
the bakery, the Lachmunds lived at 2646 Rus-
sell, one of the apartment buildings built by
John Bischoff in 1921. The Quality Bakery had
a short lifespan of only a year or two.

The other original business that Charles Dorsch
got with the purchase of the Romie Building
was the Pon Honor Groceteria, which, like the
bank, had two shopfronts. C. A. McAllister and
George E. Archambeault were friends since
they attended school together in Modesto.

They opened a successful small grocery in
Ceres and two years later arrived in Oakland
to repeat their success. With World War I, the
partners sensed a need for economy on the part
of customers and so changed the business mod-
el of their grocery. It became a “cash and carry”
store, meaning neither credit nor deliver ser -
vice was offered. They were able to keep prices
down. The store was an instant success and by
1922 there were fifteen Pon Honors in the East
Bay. The store in the Romie Building was No.

12. Archambeault explained the philosophy,
“We selected the name of ‘Pon Honor’ because
it would describe our way of doing business,
namely, strictly on an honor basis. We stand on
our honor to give the best goods for the least
money. We also put our customers on their hon-
or by letting them wait on themselves.” It was
said that merchants always welcomed a Pon
Honor store because it meant better business
for the district as a whole. The Elmwood dis -
trict had a Piggly Wiggly and a Pon Honor right
next door to each, two pioneering businesses
that paved the way for modern supermarkets.

Other businesses of note that were located in
the Romie Building included a Safeway su -
permarket, which used the two spaces that had
originally been taken up by the bank. Safeway
was in that space beginning in 1939. Strangely,
the large building at Russell and College that
had been a Piggly Wiggly when built in 1932
was also a functioning Safeway at the same
time as this smaller store.

In 1929, the corner space was remodeled into
one of seven Margaret Burnham’s Cottage
Candies shops in Oakland and Berkeley. The

stand-alone shop at 4632 Telegraph in Oakland
was later home to Hooper’s Chocolates. The
distinctive, vertically set, black and white tile
bulkheads were a Margaret Burnham signature;
the tiles remained in place until 1977.

In 1932, the former bank space was remodeled
by Charles Dorsch to accommodate the chain
store, Public Food Stores. The exterior was al-
tered to create one central entrance and the very
colorful orange and black tile bulkheads (seen
in the 1947 photo) were probably created at that
time. Orange and black tile had been used by
Pon Honor to distinguish their stores; in 1928
Pon Honor was sold to Public Food Stores, Inc.
of San Francisco.

In 1944, Frank Gallardo’s upholstery business
took over the supermarket space. The business
later moved to 2642 Ashby in 1950 and was run
by Frank’s son Jim Gallardo until 1997.

In 1977, a branch of City Federal Savings
moved into the Romie Building in the corner
space, and once again a banking institution was
established in the building. City Federal Sav-
ings was established in Oakland in 1980 as a
minority savings and loan. Architect Ted Moul-
ton proposed a remodeling for the branch that
uncovered the amber-hued transoms, accentu -
ated the columns through a new paint scheme,
and created a plaza-like entrance, thus return-
ing to College Avenue some of its old elegance.

Two other businesses of note were La Floreria,
a florist that was in the corner shop for many
years, and Jeremy Kidson’s innovative “hori -
zontal department store” that was planned to
fill the five shopfronts but ran afoul of the Elm-
wood’s quota system.

The Romie Building was the first built on this
block of College, and naturally the corner lot
was chosen for this venture. With the Romie
Building, this central intersection of the Elm -
wood district was anchored on three corners.

It would be four more years before the present
Wells Fargo building would complete the job of
creating a prosperous-looking “four corners.”
End note: In 1915 architect Walter Parker ap -
plied for a permit for a $35,000 three-story
apartment building with stores on the ground
floor for this corner, which was not built.

Features to Preserve.
• the engaged columns between the shopfronts
• the small-paned transoms

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No
• the traditional shopfronts

16. Significance.

The Romie Building is significant as an exam -
ple of the quality shop buildings built in Oak -
land and Berkeley by architects Hutchison &
Mills and builder Leslie R. Wilson. Much of
its ornament has been lost, but enough of the
design remains to give the building distinction.

The one-story building is significant as a con-
tributer to the scale of the Elmwood commer -
cial district.

The Romie Building is significant for the early
local chain stores that were located here: Mar -
garet Burnham Cottage Candies (founded in
1922), Pon Honor (founded in 1918), and Pub-
lic Food Stores, Inc. (founded in 1920).

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
12 November 2025

19. Bibliography.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11027, 7 December, 1921; as well as several other applications for alterations.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
Wikipedia.
“Wife’s Kisses Not V oluntary: Frederick Romie, Seeking Divorce, Tells of Spouse’s Indifference,” Oakland Tribune, 28 October 1913.

Pon Honor opening of store no. 12 advertisement, Oakland Tribune, 10 March 1922. “Dorsch Proves Faith in City,” Oakland Post Enquirer, 25 March 1922. “Mercantile Trust Co. Branch Opened,” The Courier, 29 April 1922. “Grocers Prove Honesty Pays in Business,” Oakland Post Enquirer, 11 August 1922. “Improved Store Building Design” by R. L. Mills, Architect & Engineer, March 1924. “Dorsch on Staff of E. B. Field Co,” Oakland Tribune, 13 May 1924. “Curious Path to Success by Minority S&L” by Roger Rapoport, San Francisco Chronicle , 28 April 1978.
“An Old Building that Introduced a New Concept” by Anthony Bruce for the Berkeley Architec - tural Heritage Association, Berkeley Gazette, 11 February 1982.

18. Is the property endangered? No

Additional Photographs.

The Romie Building when new, showing extensive Gothic ornamentation. Original shops were the Quality Bakery, Pon Honor Market, and the new Elmwood Branch of the Mercantile Trust Company. From Architect & Engineer, March 1924.

The Romie Building. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Romie Building. Anthony Bruce, 2025.The Romie Building. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Romie Building. Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Additional Photographs.

The Romie Building, showing corner shopfront in the
1940s/1950s with its “Margaret Burnham” tile bulkhead.

Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

The Romie Building. Paul Cornelius of Paul’ s Coif -
feurs, showing closeup of the “Burnham” tile.

Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society..

The Romie Building, showing Safeway as the tenant
in the southernmost three shopfronts. Ormsby
Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.
below: The Romie Building and Frank Gallardo of Frank
N. Gallardo Upholstering Co., 2967 College, showing
colorful tile likely installed by Public Food Stores. Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society..

Additional Photographs.

Sketch of the Mercantile
Trust Company branch
in the Romie Building.

The Courier, 29 April
1922.

Leslie R. Wilson, con-
tractor for the Romie
Building. Found online.

Charles C. Dorsch,
second owner of the
Romie Building. Oakland
Post Enquirer, 25 March
1922.

George Archambeault,
co-founder of the Pon Honor
chain. Oakland Post Enquirer,
11 August 1922.

C. A. McAllister, co-founder
of the Pon Honor chain.

Oakland Post Enquirer, 11
August 1922.

Leonor Godinez-Cas-
tillo, manager of City
Federal Savings in the
Romie Building. San
Francisco Chronicle, 28
April 1978.

Additional Photographs.

Architect Ted Moulton’ s rendering of the proposed remodeling for City Federal Savings, June 1977. BAHA archives.

Pon Honor and Margaret Burnham advertisements an-
nouncing the opening of their stores in the Romie Building.

Oakland Tribune, 10 March 1922 and 2 February 1928.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 11027, 7 December, 1921

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 22
two small parkways and two stone pillars
adjoining 2959 & 2961 College Avenue
“Elmwood Park entrance” the north parkway, NE corner College and Ashby avenues. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: NE and SE corners College and Ashby avenues County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A southern 15 feet of Lots 1 and 2 and Block C, northern 15 feet of Lots 1 and 2 )
Dimensions:15 feet x 113 feet; 15 feet x about 85 feet
Cross Streets: Russell Street and Webster Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: Ø

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): No Garden: Yes Other Feature(s): stone pillars and remaining stone base of third pillar
b. Landscape or Open Space: Yes
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Elmwood Park entrance; Elmwood Parkways Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1905–06 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: date of Elmwood Park subdivision map

7. Architect: unknown

8. Builder: unknown

9. Style: rustic

10. Original Owners: Breed & Bancroft, Inc. (a corporation) Original Use: advertising and enticement (for Elmwood Park subdivision)

11. Present Owner: City of Berkeley
Present Occupant: Ø

12. Present Use: park (“planted median”)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E-

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Ø Interior: Ø Grounds: Excellent
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Ø

1. Description.

The North Park.

The small, parked area south of the bank build-
ing has been owned by the City of Berkeley
since at least 1927. It is maintained as a pub -
lic landscaped enhancement. On either side of
Ashby were the four sandstone entry pillars to
the new (1905) Elmwood Park subdivision.

This park contains the base of one of the two
smaller secondary pillars. The pillar itself dis-
appeared sometime after 1950. One of the large
pillars survives in the sidewalk next to the park.
“Elmwood Park” is carved in the stone.

Due to the re-subdivision of the original lots on
the north side of Ashby, this park extends far -
ther east than the south park, and the landscap-
ing is somewhat different as this area receives
sun all day. The landscaped area is separated
from the sidewalk by a high, narrow concrete
curb, The space is mostly taken up with a lush,
green lawn. There is a flower bed at the east
(mostly agapanthus) and a low-growing flow-
ering plant and fortnight lilies at the west end.

Low shrubs are planted along the wall of the
bank, with four roof-high evergreen trees set
between the bank’s windows. There was at
least one more evergreen, but some have been
removed). This lawn contains a caged utility
access.

The South Park.

The small, parked area north of the Romie
Building has been owned by the City of Berke-
ley since at least 1927. It is maintained as a
public landscaped enhancement. This park con-
tains one of the two smaller secondary pillars.

It is set on a flat concrete base in a gravel cov-
ered section. To the east is a lawn. A curving
and angled curb-like concrete edging defines
the lawn and gravel area.

A line of small plants define the south edge
of the park in front of the side window of the
Romie Building at College Avenue. A hedge
continues this line to the eastern edge of the
park. There is one break in the hedge where an
emergency mezzanine stairway exit impinges
on the park.

A tree, growing behind the hedge, shades the
eastern section of park. There are two utility ac-
cess points in the lawn near the sidewalk; one is
contained in a wire cage.

15. History.

That the two parklike amenities at College
and Ashby exist in the Elmwood commercial
district today is due to the real estate devel -
opment firm of Breed & Bancroft, Inc. 1060
Broadway (Arthur H. Breed, President; Harlow
P. Bancroft, Secretary) which bought the Mac-
donough Estate in November 1905, and to the
foresight of the City of Berkeley, which pre-
served these two narrow strips of land as public
open space.

The Elmwood Park tract, which originally
comprised the two blocks on the east side of
College Avenue between Russell and Webster,
and eastward to just beyond Piedmont Avenue,
was laid out by Town Engineer Wilbur F. Mc -
Clure in 1905; the Town Trustees approved the
streets on December 11, 1905; and the subdivi-
sion map for Elmwood Park was filed with the
county the same day. An advertising brochure
states, “Elmwood Park, comprising the proper-
ty formerly owned by the Macdonough Estate.

The cream of Berkeley residence property, now
placed on the market by the owners Breed &
Bancroft.” It was noted that a branch real estate
office was on the property. The owners of El-
mwood Park placed a deed restriction on sold
lots that prohibited saloons, but they did not
prohibit commercial buildings in this supposed
residential subdivision. Thus, the way was
paved for the Elmwood commercial district, at

least on the east side of College Avenue.

As is often the case with subdivisions, espe-
cially if they are in the middle of open land, as
was Elmwood Park, in order to give the tract
visibility and to make it more enticing to pro-
spective buyers, a monumental entrance was
erected. Sandstone pillars were constructed on
either side of Ashby (then Elmwood Avenue).

They consisted of two large pillars with the
name of the subdivision carved into the stone
and two smaller auxiliary pillars, placed so as
to form an arc,
At some point, as was customary, the devel -
opers would have deeded the narrow strips of
land with the pillars to the City, however, in this
case it seems not to have happened. In 1922
the City attempted to zone a fifteen-foot width
along Ashby as park zones. Property owners on
the north sued the City and won. The land on
the north changed hands the next year, the bank
building was competed in 1926, and in 1927 the
City at last acquired the land, both on the north
and south sides of Ashby. Fred Romie must
have accepted the park zoning on the north fif-
teen feet of his property, as his building, begun
in 1921, preserved that width as open space.

It is not known when the City first thought of
these two strips as possible parks. Even before
the City owned these two parks, the 1924–25
Annual Report mentions that the “Elmwood
Court parkways,” along with other listed parks
and parkways, had “all received their usual care
and maintenance.” Over the years, the City has
continued to maintain the land as parked areas
for the enjoyment of all.

Today, two intact pillars remain. The southern-
most of the two large ones is missing and only
the base remains of the northernmost small pil-
lar (still there in a 1950 photo). By the end of the
20th Century, the two remaining pillars were in
sad shape, especially the southernmost. Mortar
was missing, stones had fallen away, the stone
sphere on top was broken, and graffiti had been
sprayed on the pillar. In 1996, with a sugges-
tion by Councilmember Polly Armstrong to
neighbor Doris Nassiry, a group was formed—
Pillars of Our Community—to restore the pil -
lars. The group received a $3,500 grant from
the City and raised the remaining funds from
neighbors and merchants. The south pillar was
disassembled, a secure foundation created, and
finally put back together under the guidance of
stonemason Ben Epperly. The north pillar also
received some care during the process. When
all was finished, a public dedication occurred
on December 10, 2002 where Doris Nassiry’s
dedication and perseverance was acknowl -
edged.

16. Significance.

The Elmwood Parkways and pillars are signif -
icant as a bit of landscaped open space in the
center of a bustling two-block commercial dis-
trict. The parkways add greenery and serenity
to this very urban center, as do the ginkgo trees
that were much later planted along the two
blocks of College Avenue. Each has received a
different landscape treatment based on their lo-
cation, the type of building adjoining the space,
and the different lengths of the two parkways.

The Elmwood Pillars are significant as a tangi-
ble piece of history, hearkening back to the time
when the district was open land and monumen-
tal pillars were needed to help define the area of
a new subdivision. Made of light-colored sand-
stone, the pillars are of architectural interest in
the rusticity of the stone that was chosen. The
chiseled spheres, and the incised lettering on
the larger pillar, add to their monumental ap-
pearance and the association with past times.

Different in style and materials from other sub-
division markers found throughout Berkeley,
they resemble most closely the pillars of Fair -
view Park, just over the line in Oakland.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
15 November 2025
Features to Preserve.
• the two sandstone columns and the base of
the third

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
• the curbing surrounding the north parkway
• the lawns

19. Bibliography.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Annual Report for 1924–1925, City of Berkeley.

Elmwood Park advertising brochure, Breed & Bancroft, Inc., 1905 Advertisement for Elm Terrace, Mason-McDuffie Co., Berkeley Gazette, 21 November 1905.

Advertisement for Elm Terrace, Mason-McDuffie Co., Berkeley Gazette, 23 November 1905. “Big Realty Transfer Recorded,” Oakland Enquirer, 7 December 1905. “Trustees Do Much Business,” Berkeley Gazette, 12 December 1905.

Advertisement for Elmwood Park, E. L. Coryell Co., Berkeley Gazette, 13 December 1905.

Advertisement for Elmwood Park, Breed & Bancroft, Berkeley Gazette, 12 June 1906. “Elmwood Park Map,” Berkeley Gazette, 9 October 1906.
“Doctor Wins Suit to Prevent Zoning,” Oakland Tribune, 22 September 1922.

Elmwood Park, tour guide, Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, 2015.

18. Is the property endangered? No

Additional Photographs.

The north park, College & Ashby. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The north parkway, viewed from College Avenue.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The north parkway, looking west toward College Ave-
nue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Base of the missing small pillar. Anthony Bruce, 2014.

The large pillar, with the parkway behind.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

The north parkway in about
1952, showing both pillars
still in place. Berkeley
Architectural Heritage
Association.

The newly built pillars at the
entrance to the Breed & Bancroft
development, Elmwood Park.

This view is of the future site of
the north parkway.

Louis L. Stein Collection,
Berkeley Historical Society.

The two parkways in relation to the College and Ashby intersection, looking east. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.
“Elmwood Park entrance,” south parkway, SE College and Ashby Avenues. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

The south parkway at Ashby and Col -
lege, looking west. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The south parkway at Ashby and Col -
lege, looking southeast from the corner.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The south parkway at Ashby and Col -
lege, showing the smaller of the two
stone pillars (and the only one remaining
of the two). Looking northwest.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

The south pillar before restoration was begun.

Newspaper advertisement for Elmwood Park,
then called Elm Terrace. Berkeley Gazette,
23 November 1905.

Doris Nassiry flanked by stonemasons at the dedication
ceremony. Virginia Abascal, 10 December 2002.
above and
below:

North
and south
pillars
undergoing
restoration.

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 23
Mercantile Trust Company Bank Building
2959 College Avenue
The Mercantile Trust Company Bank Building, 2959 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2020.

City of Berkeley Landmark No. 55

1. Street Address: 2959 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–01700
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot: southern portion of Lots 1 & 2) Dimensions: 70 feet x 115 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Russell Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? Yes, 1977 Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11870

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Mercantile Trust Company Building; American Trust Company Building Commonly Known Name: Wells Fargo

6. Date of Construction: 1925 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 21017, 8 June 1925

7. Architect: Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr., First National Bank Building, Berkeley

8. Builder: Carroll Reginald Collupy, 464 California Street, San Frncisco

9. Style: California Mission

10. Original Owners: Mercantile Trust Company of California, 464 California Street, San Francisco
Original Use: commercial (bank)

11. Present Owner: ATC Building Company
Present Occupant: Wells Fargo Bank

12. Present Use: commercial (bank)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: R-

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: good Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

Built in 1925, this is a rectangular one-and-one-
half story reinforced concrete bank building. It
was surfaced in Alhambra Mission Stucco by
plastering contractor Arthur Sayer, who gave it
a finish akin to the handwork seen on the mis-
sions. The entrance on the narrower College Av-
enue façade is in the center of three tall arches
which spring from two columns of polished
red Missouri granite with elaborate Corinthian
capitals. The two flanking arches contain the
last two of eight original exquisitely mullioned
windows, and these have been compromised by
the insertion of automatic teller machines. The
center arch is taller following the peak of the
red tile roof. The bank’s name is lettered in the
gable end with red plastic letters.

The Ashby Avenue side is 107 feet long, and
set back about fifteen feet from the sidewalk.

There are six tall arched windows on this side,
the same height as the two in front. There is one
arched window (slightly smaller) centered on
the rear wall. The bank’s windows were possi-
bly the most beautiful in Berkeley, but tragical-
ly they were replaced with bronzed anodized
aluminum because operable windows were de-
sired. The tragedy is, a number of years later,
air conditioning was thought to be better. So
the windows were no longer opened and large
ductwork was run through the banking hall,
hiding some of the ceiling beams and necessi-
tating the removal of one of three large Ansel
Adams photographs.

The arches, the tile roof, and the open,
“hand-crafted” ceiling make the building remi-
niscent of California missions, both inside and
out. This is a building of utmost simplicity and
integrity of design proportions.

The open, skylight-lit interior features a ceil -
ing of open trusswork. The beams, as well as
the entire dark wood ceiling, are stencilled with
designs that appear to be stylized California
poppies. A mezzanine at the back has a turned
wood railing. The polished tile floor has been
resurfaced, chandeliers long ago replaced with
fluorescent lights, and the original white pol-
ished marble and gilt teller cages were replaced
with pseudo-Victorian dark wood teller cages
in 1979.

There is an adobe-like chimney rising from the
roof near the rear of the building.

15. History.

The Mercantile Trust Company (merged with
the American Bank into the American Trust
Company the following year) built this branch
bank in 1925. It had been operating in the
neighborhood since 1923 under the manage -
ment of T. M. Robinson, Jr., The branch bank
was a typical development of the prosperous
1920s, as commercial attention began to shift
from older downtown centers to neighborhood
“strips” along transit routes. A bank building
historically gave the area an architectural focus
and stimulated commercial growth around it,
This bank remains the finest building in the El-
mwood shopping district, Berkeley’s best pre -
served neighborhood business district. It was
sited significantly next to the fine stone gate
posts of the Elmwood residential district and
next to an existing landscaped plot.

The Berkeley Daily Gazette described the
building on opening day, December 19, 1925.

Here are some excerpts: “Striking in its com -
bination of the utilitarian and the aesthetic, the
spacious banking room evoked many expres-
sions of admiration from the visitors. Modified
Spanish might be taken as the term best fitting
to describe the building. Adorning the rear wall
are two mounted buffalo heads, while another
one, said to be the largest in the country, looks
out from above the front wall, high above the
entrance. On the north side wall is an elk head

14. Description.

16. Significance.

The Mercantile Trust Company Bank Build -
ing remains the finest building in the Elmwood
shopping district, which is Berkeley’s best pre-
served neighborhood shopping district. The
bank is also one of the finest examples of Wal-
ter Ratcliff’s work in Berkeley.

Walter Ratcliff was an important and prolific
architect in Berkeley. He designed attractive,
livable residences throughout his long career
(1906–1949). As City Architect, beginning in
1913, he designed schools, fire stations, and
other City buildings. He also designed some of
the most significant commercial buildings in
Berkeley. Not only did he design the Elmwood
branch of the Mercantile Trust Company, but
also the bank’s main office within his Chamber
of Commerce Building at Shattuck and Center.

The bank was built in the Elmwood District
during the second wave of development, be -
coming a second anchor for the business dis -
trict, after the Strand Theater, when construc -
tion resumed after World War I. The bank
remains today as an important visual and com-
mercial anchor and as a component of the small
town “Main Street” atmosphere of the Elm -
wood Commercial District.
• the façade with its “jazz” plastering and ten
arched windows
• the tile roof
• the polished red Missouri granite columns
and their Corinthian capitals
• the entrance and the carved lintel
• the remaining turned mullions in the front
arched windows
• the small windows with their iron grilles.

Features to Preserve.

17. Historic Value— City: Yes Neighborhood: Yes
Architectural Value— City: Yes Neighborhood: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No
and a caribou head. These would all seem to
be an entirely new decorative feature for a
banking-room. The stencil painted ceiling with
carved wooden beams are also a departure from
the old customs in bank architecture.
“The floor of the lobby is of Italian tile of brick-
like texture fitting in well with the general
Spanish motif. The entire work [teller cages]
separating the lobby and the working space is
of light Tennessee marble [this work was re -
moved in 1979].”
One hundred years of unchanged ownership
and use are reflected in the excellent physical
condition of the building. It is a fine example
of the work of Walter Ratcliff, leader of Berke-
ley’s building boom in the 1920s, outstand -
ing exponent of the Spanish Colonial style,
City Architect from 1913, and founder of a
three-generation architectural firm in Berkeley.

Much of the history and description were taken from the 1982 landmark application written by Betty Marvin and
Brian Horrigan.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
September 2025
Building Permit Application #21017, 20 June 1927; as well as several alteration applications.

State Historic Resources Inventory, 1977 by Brian Horrigan.

City of Berkeley Landmark Application, Betty Marvin and Brian Horrigan, 8 January 1982.

Block books and Sanborn maps.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“Mercantile Bank Opens Handsome Elmwood Branch,” Berkeley Daily Gazette, 19 December 1925.

Architect & Engineer, April 1927, page 30.
“Elmwood: Flavor of 1920s Remains” by Brian Horrigan, Berkeley Gazette, May 25, 1977. “It’s Now Elmwood Landmark” by Heidi Seney, The Press, 26 May 1982.

19. Bibliography.

Additional Photographs.

Mercantile Trust Company. Anthony Bruce, 2021. Mercantile Trust Company. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Mercantile Trust Company. Anthony Bruce, 2025. Mercantile Trust Company, side view from Ashby Ave - nue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Mercantile Trust Company. in its setting on College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Mercantile Trust Company. Ormsby Donogh, 1939,
Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Mercantile Trust Company. Anthony Bruce, c. 2023.

Mercantile Trust Company, showing both College Avenue and Ashby Avenue frontages. Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Additional Photographs.

Mercantile Trust Company, rear of building showing chim- ney and solitary arched window.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Mercantile Trust Company, detail of granite column base.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Mercantile Trust Company, showing Corinthian capital, the carved lintel, and a bit of the turned and carved original mullions.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Mercantile Trust Company Building, Detail showing the ornate lintel over the entrance. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Mercantile Trust Company Building, Detail show-
ing an iron grille over a small window on the south
side of the building. Anthony Bruce, 2020..

Mercantile Trust Company Building, College Ave-
nue façade.

Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Histori -
cal Society.

Additional Photographs.

Two similar photos of the bank building, but taken a few years apart. This is the earlier view. The shrubs in the park are newly planted, and the name at the bottom of the blade sign is Mercantile Trust Company. Lettering incised into the stucco within the gable read, “Elmwood Branch, Mercantile Trust Company of California.” Architect & Engineer, April 1927..

This picture was taken a few years later when the bank was American Trust Company. The shrubs have grown, and the name at the bottom of the blade sign has already been scraped off. The lettering incised into the stucco was not plastered over until 1936.

Ratcliff Architect Archives.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 21017, 8 June 1925

Plot Plan, showing parked area, from City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 21017, 8 June 1925

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 24
Wells Fargo Bank Parking Lot
2959 College Avenue (2711 Ashby Avenue)
Wells Fargo Bank parking lot, Ashby Avenue at Ashby Place. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2959 College Avenue (formerly 2711 Ashby Avenue) County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–01600
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot 3)
Dimensions: approx. 35 feet x 100 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Place and College Avenue

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11868

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): No Garden: Yes Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: Yes
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Wells Fargo Bank Parking Lot
Commonly Known Name: Wells Fargo Bank Parking Lot

6. Date of Construction: 1964–65 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: dated photographs

7. Architect: unknown

8. Builder: unknown

9. Style: Parking Lot

10. Original Owners: Wells Fargo Bank
Original Use: private customer parking lot

11. Present Owner: ATC Building Company
Present Occupant: Wells Fargo Bank

12. Present Use: private customer parking lot

Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: R-2A

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Ø Interior: Ø Grounds: Excellent
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Minimally

14. Description.

Opened in 1965, the Wells Fargo Bank parking
lot includes ten private parking spots for bank
customers. An ivy-covered fence surrounds the
lot, except where there is automobile ingress
and egress. The driveway on Ashby Place is the
entrance. The driveway opening onto Ashby,
just behind the bank, is the exit. Both entrance
and exit also serve the merchants whose busi -
nesses back onto the alley that runs behind the
buildings on this side of College.

The Wells Fargo Bank determined that a ded -
icated parking lot for bank customers would
be a worthwhile addition to the bank. On July
1, 1964 the bank purchased the lot behind the
bank at 2711 Ashby Avenue. In order to cre -
ate a parking lot, the three-story, brown-shingle
Sarah Reamer House needed to be demolished.

Mrs. Reamer, a wealthy Oakland pioneer and
one of the most prominent clubwomen in Cal-
ifornia, commissioned San Francisco architect
Moses J. Lyon to design her house in 1908. She
died in 1910 and it was converted to six apart -
ments for a new owner by architect Clara Bur -
nett in 1915.

In the design of the new lot, thought went into
shielding the parked cars from passersby. A
redwood-slat fence surrounded the lot, except
where there was automobile ingress or egress,
and landscaping was designed to catch the eye.

The focal point was to be an Italian stone pine,
planted in 1965 as a seedling. It eventually
grew so big that it was cut down a few years
ago. Two tall trellises were designed for the
back wall of the bank upon which vines were
trained. The trellises have been removed. The
remaining landscaping still creates a parklike
There is lush landscaping fronting the lot along
Ashby. Included is a lawn, tortured junipers,
and a hedge rounding the corner to Ashby
Place. This area is the same width as the park
next to the bank and appears as an extension of
it, but this section is privately owned.

Since the opening of the parking lot, a ramp
has been installed that wends its way through
the landscaping, from Ashby to the parking lot.

15. History.
effect along Ashby and seems to blend with the
City park along the side of the bank.

After the parking lot opened in February 1965,
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph J. Gleason wrote a letter
to the Berkeley Gazette. Ralph Gleason was
the San Francisco Chronicle’s jazz critic; they
lived nearby at 2835 Ashby. They wrote:
“In this bleak era of pre-stressed concrete mon-
strosities and flimsy cracker-boxes, we feel any
sincere aesthetic attempt should be encouraged
and any successful one should be applauded.

We would like to commend the Wells Fargo
Bank for making their new parking lot at the
Elmwood Branch into an area of which the
neighborhood can be proud. The trees, shrubs,
and grass (brought in in rolls and laid down
like a carpet) are lovely and take up space that
might have been paved over and used for park-
ing—incredible! The redwood fence might
have been link-chain metal. Someone with a
sense of responsibility for good design must
have been consulted. How encouraging!”
With the enormous increase in traffic in the
past sixty years, the Wells Fargo parking lot is
even more of a convenience for bank custom -
ers today.

16. Significance.

The significance of the Wells Fargo Bank park-
ing lot is its landscaping. The redwood fence
and shrubbery hide the parked cars from the
street. The general impression of the landscap-
ing is that it is a continuation of the City park
next to the bank. It helps to create a lush en-
trance to the Elmwood commercial district for
anyone traveling from the east.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
13 November 2025
Features to Preserve.
• the lawn

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: No
• the amount of landscaped area

18. Is the property endangered? No

19. Bibliography.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.
“A Profile of the Elmwood: Trends and Counter-Trends in a Berkeley Neighborhood Commercial District” Joanna Callenbach, Geography 181 class paper, Spring 1978. ancestry.com
Wikipedia.

Photo and caption regarding new parking lot,” Berkeley Gazette, 26 February 1965.

Letters to the editor, Berkeley Gazette, 26 February 1965.

Additional Photographs.

Exit from parking lot onto Ashby Avenue. North park in foreground; parking lot landscap- ing beyond the driveway. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Parking lot at right and landscaping
at left. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Parking lot entrance on Ashby Place.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Landscaping on Ashby Avenue with the addition of a
wheelchair ramp to the parking lot. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

New parking lot and new landscaping, taken in
June 1965. Two vertical wooden screens were
attached to rear wall of the bank at that time.

Photo: BAHA Archives.

Another view of the parking lot and landscap-
ing. from June 1965 Oregon grape was plant-
ed along the fence and on the edge of the lawn
on Ashby Place side. The Italian stone pine in
the lawn grew large and was removed a few
years ago, Photo: BAHA Archives.

The Mrs. Sarah E. Reamer House (Moses J.

Lyon, 1908), 2711 Ashby Avenue.

Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate
File, BAHA.

Additional Photographs.

Grand opening of the Wells Fargo Bank Parking Lot in February 1965, with Jim Pappas, owner of the Star Gro- cery, poised to be the first customer with one of the red-orange Star delivery trucks. Left to right: John Pillsbury, manager of the bank, Byron Bolfing, owner of Elmwood Hardware, Gerald Farrell, president of the Elmwood Merchants Association, and Harry Pennell, vice-president and district manager for Wells Fargo Bank.

John Pillsbury Collection.

The version of the above photo that
was published in the Berkeley Gazette
on February 26, 1965.

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 25
Stover Building
2947 College Avenue
The Stover Building, 2947 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Landmark No. 288

1. Street Address: 2947, 2949, 2951, 2953 College Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–01800
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot: northern portion of Lots 1 & 2) Dimensions: 70 feet x 115 feet
Cross Streets: Ashby Avenue and Russell Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 11870

4. Application for Landmark Includes:
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: No Other Feature(s): No b. Landscape or Open Space: No
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: Yes
e. Other: Entire property

5. Historic Names: Stover Building; Bolfings
Commonly Known Name: unknown

6. Date of Construction: 1923 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 14598, 30 July 1923

7. Architect: William H. Weeks, 369 Pine Street, San Francisco

8. Builder: E. L. Younger, 328 Porter Building, Woodland

9. Style: Adamesque Storefront

10. Original Owners: Mrs. Annie E. Stover, San Luis Obispo Original Use: commercial (4 stores)

11. Present Owner: BEH Building LLC
Present Occupant: Elmwood Stationery (2947 College); Wine Shop (1949 College); Martial Arts (2951 College); Brows by the Bay (2953 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (4 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: C-E

13. Present Condition of Property:

Exterior: Excellent Interior: unknown Grounds: Ø
Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes

14. Description.

Built in 1923, this is a one-story reinforced
concrete structure with a cement plaster ex -
terior painted cream and tan with olive green
transom frames. Piers at each end of the build -
ing are in the form of pilasters with capitals.

The pilasters are decorated with Robert Adams
Georgian style bas relief ornamentation: urns,
festoons, cornucopia, and leaves and flowers.

A frieze runs the length of the building above
the transoms. The frieze consists of plain hori-
zontal panels separated by small vertical panels
of Robert Adams decoration. The cornice orig-
inally was topped with terra cotta or cast-con -
crete Classical cresting, which may have been
removed in the c. 1960 modernization of the
façade.

The building originally contained three full
shops and one shallow storefront at the south
end. In about 1960, the hardware store (which
had been there since the beginning) expanded
into two shop spaces and the new double shop-
front featured an aluminum-framed display
window at an angle and a recessed entry with
aluminum door. The full length of transoms
was covered with horizontal redwood slats,
and the bulkheads were resurfaced with mosaic
tile. The only intact shopfront to remain was
the southernmost, and it survives to this day
with original mottled green-and-brown bulk-
head tile, mosaic tile and marble entry paving,
copper Kawneer window frames, and the fin-
ished-wood door with vertical center window
panel and original hardware.

After the hardware store closed in 2007, the
three main storefronts were rebuilt to match
each other and to appear more as they would
in 1923. They now have recessed entries with
double doors of wood with vertical window
panels. A close match to the original bulkhead
tile was installed and the Adam decoration on
the end pilasters was uncovered by relocating
utilities that had hidden them for several years.

15. History.

Although the building permit for the Stover
Building gives Mrs. Stover’s address as San
Luis Obispo, she was living in Berkeley when
she purchased all of Lot 1, Block A of the El -
mwood Park Tract. Dr. William Miller Stover
and his wife, the former Anna E. Mitchell, did
live in San Luis Obispo, where Dr. Mitchell
ran the Stover Sanitarium, was mayor, and was
president of the Chamber of Commerce. How-
ever, when their two children, Ethel Virginia
and Raymen Beverly, were ready for college,
the family moved into a brand-new house (built
1919) at 2703 Stuart Street, corner of College
Avenue, so they could attend the University.

It is quite likely that Mrs. Stover saw the in -
vestment potential in the business district as
building began again after the war. She was not
a novice in building and she knew Berkeley. In
1912 she hired designer John Sullivan to design
a house at 2642 Dana Street for her sister and
brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel J. Kitz -
miller. (Also in 1912 John Sullivan designed
an Elmwood business block at 2901 College.)
In March 1923, there was a lot line readjust -
ment between Lots 1 and 2, with the Mercantile
Trust Company purchasing the southern half
of the two lots and Mrs. Stover receiving the
northern two lots. Mrs. Stover began construc-
tion of her shop building in July of that same
year.

California architect William Weeks designed
only five other buildings in Berkeley. Why did
Mrs. Stover choose Weeks for her new build -
ing? Annie Mitchell Stover was born in Wat -
sonville and family members continued to live
there. William Weeks is most closely associat-
ed with Watsonville, as his successful career
began there. Perhaps she chose him out of loy-

alty to her hometown. Coincidentally, while the
Stovers were living on Stuart, a new house was
under construction next door at 2751 College,
and it was designed by none other than Wil -
liam Weeks. Perhaps they met him at the job
site. But the most likely reason that Weeks was
chosen for the Stover project is that Weeks had
already worked for the Stover family: in 1911
he had designed Dr. Stover’s sanitarium in San
Luis Obispo.

In 1924, Annie Stover’s husband died. Their
daughter had married in 1920, but mother and
son remained in Berkeley, moving into one of
the new John Hudson Thomas-designed cottag-
es nearby at 2 Claremont Crescent. Mrs. Sto-
ver’s daughter and grandson later joined them
there. Mrs. Stover lived in the house until her
death in 1936.

When the completed building opened in 1924,
a first tenant was Elmwood Household Hard-
ware Co. at 2951 College run by Walter A.

Gompertz. The store had previously been at
2905 College in the Dondero Building. In 1932,
Gompertz sold the business to Charles Bolfing
of Fresno. He had been manager of a hardware
store in Porterville and later in Fresno before
learning of the opportunity to own his own
store in Berkeley. The Bolfing family arrived
in Berkeley in March 1932. With son Byron,
they moved into another of the John Hudson
Thomas-designed Claremont Crescent cottag -
es. Sometime before he died in 1937, Charles
Bolfing acquired the Stover Building. Byron
immediately took over the running of the busi-
ness, and in 1945 hired Bob Gilmore.

When Ye Olde Cradle Shoppe (clothes and toys
for small children) at 2949 College closed in
the late 1950s, Bolfings was able to expand into
that space, doubling the size of the store. This
is when the modernization of the shopfronts
occurred. Bob Gilmore and his wife Jeanette
bought the hardware store (and later the build -
ing) in the early 1970s. Tad Laird had worked
in the store during high school. In the 1990s,
Tad and his wife returned to the neighborhood
and he opened a locksmith business in the for -
mer jewelers at 2953. In 2002 the Lairds bought
the hardware business, as well as the building,
from Bob Gilmore. The hardware store, hav-
ing been owned by four families, finally closed
about 2007, making it one of the longest run -
ning businesses in the Elmwood, having first
opened at least by 1922 if not a bit earlier.

The small, shallow shop space at 2953 Col -
lege—the storefront that has evaded any re-
modeling over the years—began life as a jew -
eler or watch repair shop in 1924 run by Ernest
Clare. The space seems to have had a long suc-
cession of jewelers until the mid-1940s when
the Hunter Jewelry Company, proprietor Perry
Hunter, moved in. This business occupied the
space for many decades (at least into the 1990s
when the locksmith business moved in). It lat-
er was a shop specializing in toy robots and is
now an eyebrow salon.

The space at 2947 College has housed various
stationery shops since at least 1940 when An-
gie Fisher Gilbert purchased The Joy Shop, at
2983 College since 1931, and reopened it at
this location. The Joy Shop was more of a toy
shop, but it also sold stationery. Mrs. Gilbert
remodeled her space in 1954, but in 1956 The
Joy Shop closed. The Elmwood Stationers took
over the space and has remained through sev -
eral owners.

16. Significance.

The Stover Building is an important example
of small-scale store building design by a sig -
nificant California architect, William H. Weeks
(1864–1936). As quoted in Betty Lewis’ book,
W. H. Weeks, Architect , from an obituary,
“Weeks was a genuinely great architect, and all
over California cities there are monuments to
his skill.” Although probably best known for his

innovative school buildings, he also designed
hotels, commercial buildings, public libraries,
and residences. Weeks designed a total of five
buildings in Berkeley in addition to the Stover
Building: the Foss House (1896), the Campbell
Flats (1922), the Bishop Berkeley Apartments
(1928), and the Durant Hotel (1928). Weeks
succeeded in giving the small Stover Build -
ing a classical dignity and presence. He did so
through careful proportioning of its major ele -
ments and appropriate use of ornament.

The Stover Building is a strategically located
and vital element of the special townscape of
Berkeley’s unique and historic Elmwood com-
mercial district. The district’s special charm
owes much to its clearly bounded compact size
and to its pedestrian-friendly sidewalks with
many interesting façades along them. Particu -
larly with its location in the heart of the district,
the Stover Building contributes exceptionally
to the continuity and interest of the streetscape.

The impressive sweep of its entablature helps
to explain this. So does its intricate bas-relief
Adamsesque ornamentation that does much to
enliven the façade.

The Stover Building has significance for its as-
sociation with the development of Berkeley as
a city offering strong communities with locally
owned, neighborhood-oriented businesses. The
Elmwood commercial district in general has fit
that pattern quite well. With its healthy range
of locally oriented establishments and its loy -
al customers, the district seems rather like the
friendly downtown of some freestanding city.

The Stover Building has importantly contrib -
uted to this. Through many decades and right
down to the present, it has offered to local resi-
dents a convenient mix of retail shops.

The Stover Building was erected in 1923,
during a strong surge of post-war construc -
tion when the Elmwood commercial district
achieved its present basic form. It tangibly and
importantly recalls that dramatic period.

The Significance and some of the History were taken
from the 2006 landmark application written by John S.

English.

Building Permit Application #14598, 30 July 1923; as well as several alteration applications.

City of Berkeley Landmark Application, John S. English, 4 July 2006.

Block books and Sanborn maps
Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Features to Preserve.
• the entire shopfront at 2953 College: tile and
marble entrance paving, tile bulkhead, door,
copper window frames
• the façade with its Adamesque ornamentation
• the transom windows

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes

18. Is the property endangered? No

19. Bibliography.