Berkeley City Council
July 28, 2026

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
31 August 2025
ancestry.com
“The Circuitous Career of Berkeley’s Favorite Undertaker,” Daniella Thompson, 27 June 2016.

BAHA website.

Additional Photographs.

Stover Building, showing the Adamesque decoration at the south edge of the façade. as well as the original bulkhead tile at 2953 College. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Perry Hunter standing in the same spot as the previ-
ous photo in front of Hunter Jewelry at 2953 College.

Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Stover Building, showing
the surviving original shop-
front at 2953 College.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Stover Building, showing the redwood slats that hid the transoms for many years. Anthony Bruce, 1982.

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

Additional Photographs.

Mr. and Mrs. Perry Hunter inside the Hunter Jewelry Company, 2953 College Avenue, in the Stover Building. Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Mrs. Angie Fisher Gilbert, who ran The Joy Shop at 2747 College in the Stover Building since about 1940, selling toys and novelties as well as stationery. Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.
below: The Stover Building in 1950, showing the original cresting. [Byron Bolfing?] Berkeley Historical Society.

Additional Photographs.

Mrs. Annie E. Mitchell Stover, who
built the Stover Building in 1923. Photo
found online. The Stover Sanitarium in San Luis Obispo, designed by Wil- liam H. Weeks in 1911. Now used for offices. Found online.

Walter A. Gompertz, who opened
a hardware store in the Stover
Building in 1924. He served on
Berkeley’ s Board of Trustees in
1909. Oakland Tribune newspa-
per photo found online.

The Stover Building, showing a very old hardware sign painted on the transom.

Discovered during restoration about 2008. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 14598, 30 July 1923

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 26
Cianciarulo Building
2941 College Avenue
The Cianciarulo Building, 2941 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2941, 2943, 2945 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–01900
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot 28)
Dimensions: 50 feet x 120 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 #: 11871

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: Cianciarulo Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1923 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 13821, 7 April 1923

7. Architect: A. W. Smith, Oakland

8. Builder: John Perona, Builders Exchange, Oakland

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Battista Cianciarulo, 1016 Castro Street, Oakland Original Use: commercial (3 stores)

11. Present Owner: Gordon John K Tr, Mitchell Janis L Tr, Gordon Molly M Tr Present Occupant: La Tour Salon, (2941 College); Bill’s Trading Post (2943 College); Book Society (2945 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.

A one-story brick building with three traditional
shopfronts. Two retain original tile bulkheads,
deeply set entries, and mosaic tile paving. The
northernmost had the entrance brought for -
ward and has newer glazed black tile and and a
smaller paved area, The façade, faced in white,
glazed terra cotta “bricks,” resembles the Clas-
sical design of the slightly later Stover Build -
ing next door in a simplified, abstracted way.

Panels in the frieze and on the four piers are
suggested by an outline of colored tile on the
background of white tile. The cornice is sug -
gested in the same way. The tiles are set in a
rough sand mortar; the colored tiles set farther
apart so that the mortar is part of the design.

In recent years, plywood signs, which had
covered the transoms, have been removed.

The southernmost shopfront was completely
restored during the Pandemic, with tiled bulk -
head painted to resemble the original tile. Aw-
ning boxes have been covered over.

15. History.

The why and wherefore of the existence of the
Cianciarulo Building is unknown. We do know
that it was built for Battiste Cianciarulo, an
Oakland resident and a native of Italy. He and
his wife Teresa and other family members lived
on Castro Street around the corner from Gover-
nor Pardee’s residence on 11th Street. Battiste
and his brother Michael ran a wine and liquor
business on Clay Street.

It is unknown whether Battiste was already an
investor in real estate when he purchased Lot
28, likely in 1922 from the estate of Floyd C.

Curry, owner of both Lot 28 and Lot 27 to the
north. Construction began on the new building
in April 1923, just four months before Mrs Sto-
ver began work on her building next door.

Two types of business have been in the build -
ing for a very long time. Mrs. Evelyn Wilds
ran the Van Ess Beauty Shop at 493 10th
Street in Oakland, at least as early as 1922.

The Van Ess Beauty Shop was one of the first
businesses in the new Cianciarulo Building,
opening in 2941 College. Mrs. Wilds had been
located in the Cianciarulos’ neighborhood;
perhaps Mrs. Cianciarulo was a customer
and told her of the new building in Berkeley.

Mrs. Wilds lived in the back of her shop on
College. (In 1954, the business was adver -
tised as having a “room upstairs to live in.”)
The shop at 2941 College is now occupied by
La Tour Salon, reusing the sign from Van Ess.

The other longtime business in the Cianciarulo
Building is Bill’s Trading Post at 2943 College.

The shop began about 1940 as Bill’s Model
Shoe, although the shop had been leased since
1937 to James L. Brown as Brown’s Model
Shoe. By 1939 he had moved his shop to So -
lano Avenue. William C. Gulley moved to this
side of the bay from San Francisco with his
family and opened his own store in the space,
and, as with the Van Ess sign, most likely used
the same sign, changing “Brown’s” to “Bill’s.”
This was a busy and successful shoe repair
business even after William Gulley’s death in
1966, when his daughter Peggy Casey took
over the running of the shop.

To quote from Peggy Casey’s San Francisco
Chronicle obituary in 2017, “With the death of
her father in 1966, Peggy took over his Bill’s
Model Shoe Shop business in Berkeley’s Elm-
wood district and transformed it into The Trad-
ing Post and Gem Gallery. Here Peggy thrived
as a College Avenue icon, quickly becoming
president of the Elmwood Merchants Associa-
tion, and later president of the Zonta women’s
service organization, as well as President of the
Berkeley Women’s Chamber of Commerce.”
When the next-door gun store closed, the Trad-
ing Post had the opportunity to expand into that
shop space, with the Gem Gallery in one and

16. Significance.

The Cianciarulo Building is significant for its
architecture and for the amazing longevity of
its businesses.

This is one of the few commercial buildings
in Berkeley designed by prolific Oakland ar -
chitect, A. W. Smith, known for his many res -
idences in Oakland and Berkeley. In Berkeley
he also designed the India Block (1903) and
the Barker Block (1905), both City of Berkeley
Landmarks, as well as the Lucky’s at Telegraph
and Haste (1933), his last building.

The Cianciarulo Building exhibits an intact and
exceptional use of glazed tile, which covers the
entire façade. The overall façade tile is white
and it is accented by small square tiles in Arts
& Crafts colors (maroon, dark blue-green, light
blue, yellow-orange, tan, and gray) that delin -
eate a two-dimensional Classical treatment of
the façade. The piers have vertical panels sug -
gested; the frieze has the suggestion of both
horizontal and rectangular panels; and there is
the suggestion of a cornice made by a double
row of colored tiles flanked by rows of white
tiles stood on end. Two shopfronts remain in -
tact with transoms visible, recessed entries, and
original tile bulkheads. The northernmost shop-
front received a sympathetic remodel in 1939.

With its all-over use of tile, the Cianciarulo
Building is a colorful and unique shopfront
building in the Elmwood Commercial District.

It is unique in the City of Berkeley, as well.

The Cianciarulo Building is significant in the
cultural history of the Elmwood commercial
district with its two long-running businesses,
indicating the stability of the district and re-
flecting its enveloping sense of community.

Mrs. Evelyn Wilds opened a beauty salon in
the northernmost shopfront when the building
was completed 101 years ago. Even through
change of ownership—and recent change of
name—the beauty salon exists today in the
same location. Bill’s Trading Post can trace its
lineage back 85 years when William Gulley
opened Bill’s Model Shoe at 2945 College, and
even further back to Brown’s Model Shoe in
the late 1930s. Peggy Casey, William Gulley’s
daughter and later owner of the business, with
her abiding interest in Native American cul -
ture, transformed it into The Trading Post and
Gem Gallery, selling items that Indians brought
to the Trading Post. She was an important fig-
ure in Berkeley’s business world. During her
career, Peggy Casey served as President of the
Elmwood Merchants Association, President of
Zonta, and President of the Berkeley Women’s
Chamber of Commerce.
the Trading Post in the other. Since 2019, the
two have been consolidated in one space, 2943
College.

From March 1927 to the end of 1930, the Elm-
wood commercial district was given an interna-
tional flair with the Yama Yama Dining Room
at 2945 College. The proprietors, Irma and
Paul Berger, had long been in the restaurant
business. To quote from the Berkeley Gazette
on the occasion of the restaurant’s first anniver-
sary, “For more than 26 years, Berger served in
the kitchens of the Palace Hotel, the Fairmont
Hotel, and the University Club. Mrs. Berger, a
native of Hungary, was 15 years in New York
as head of the Sunshine Pastry Shops, and pri-
or to coming to Berkeley, was associated with
the Country Club of Menlo Park. She was one
of the first Hungarians to enter the restaurant
business in America.” The Yama Yama was es-
pecially popular with businessmen during the
lunch hour, and a frigidaire in the kitchen made
“possible a light lunch that is unusually cool
and refreshing.”

Building Permit Application No. 13821, 7 April 1923; as well as several alteration applications.

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.
“A. W. Smith . . . Architect Extraordinaire” by Betty Marvin, The Alameda Architectural Preser- vation Society [Newsletter], January 2006.

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
“Yama-Yama Dining Room Celebrates First Anniversary,” Berkeley Daily Gazette, 21 March 1928. “The ‘20s Boom on College Ave.” by Anthony Bruce, Berkeley Gazette, 5 May 1982. “Old Fashioned Trading Post on College Avenue” by Rebecca Poole, The Berkeley Voice, 1 Feb- ruary 1984.
“Snapp Shots: Casey was Pillar of Berkeley’s Elmwood District.” by Martin Snapp, East Bay Times, 22 May 2017.

Mary Jane “Peggy” Casey (1925–2017) obituary, San Francisco Chronicle, 2017.

19. Bibliography.

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

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

18. Is the property endangered? No
Features to Preserve.
• the entire shopfronts: mosaic tile entrance
paving, tile bulkheads, doors, copper window
frames
• the façade with all its tile facing
• the transom windows

Additional Photographs.

The Cianciarulo Building.

Anthony Bruce, 2020.

The Cianciarulo Building.

Van Ess Beauty Salon (2941);
Gun Store (2943); The Trad -
ing Post (2945).

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Cianciarulo Building.

Van Ess Beauty Shop (2941);
Manney’ s Men’ s Shop (2943)’
Brown’ s Model Shoe Shop.

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

Additional Photographs.

Cianciarulo Building:
southernmost shop-
front with mosaic tile
pavement.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Cianciarulo Building: northernmost shopfront with
mosaic tile pavement and newer tile bulkhead.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Cianciarulo Building: bulkhead tile restored by skill-
ful painting, southernmost shopfront.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Cianciarulo Building:
examples of colored
tile suggesting a verti-
cal panel in one of the
piers.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

William Gulley in front of Bill’ s
Model Shoe at 2945 College Av-
enue. Photo found online.

Additional Photographs.

Cianciarulo Building. The latest section of the Yama Yama Dining Room at 2945 College Avenue. This room was used for club luncheons and special occasions. Eventually, the restaurant expanded into two shopfronts: 2943 and 2945.

Berkeley Daily Gazette, 21 March 1928.

Irma and Paul Berger, proprietors of the Yama Yama Dining Room. Berkeley Daily Gazette, 21 March 1928.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 13821, 7 April 1923

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 27
Curry Building
2935 College Avenue
The Curry Building, 2935 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2935, 2937, 2939 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–02000
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot 27)
Dimensions: 54 feet x 120 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 #: 11872

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: Curry Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1916 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 6055, 5 December, 1916

7. Architect: Eugene K. Martin

8. Builder: day’s work

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Floyd C. Curry, 2745 Elmwood Avenue Original Use: commercial (4 stores)

11. Present Owner: Noble William F Tru
Present Occupant: Old Salt Merchants (2935 College); Elements (2937 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (2 stores)
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 1916, the Curry Building is one story
with wood frame and cement plaster surface on
the street façade. Typical of the 1910s, it was
designed in a slightly Prairie/Viennese Seces -
sion style. The frieze features raised geometric
shapes: squares, rectangles, and diamonds. This
ornamentation is continued on the piers at each
end of the building. Between the frieze and the
parapet there is a bit of original rustic siding
visible (three widths worth). The missing cor -
nice may have originally hid the wood siding.

There were four chevrons that extended across
the top of the parapet interspersed with box-
like shapes that were the extension of the piers
(of which there were originally five). The chev-
rons delineated the original four shopfronts.

The current shopfront configuration dates from
1937 when the Ivy Shoppe moved into the
larger space from its former location on the
west side of the block.

The larger shopfront at 2937 College has
a central recessed entry flanked by plate
glass displays set on a black tile base. The
smaller shopfront at 2935 College was
altered to create an off-center entry. The
bulkhead here is also surfaced in glossy
black tile. The entrances to both have con-
crete paving. At 2937 the paving slopes up
to the door due to the slope of the street.

Both shops have traditional wood doors
with a vertical window panel in the center.

Awning boxes across the two shops have
been covered over.

15. History.

Floyd Calvin Curry, native of Ohio, went to
Nevada to satisfy his interest in mining, where
he became active in gypsum mining. By 1907,
he and Governor Jewett Adams and anoth-
er colleague had formed the Nevada Gypsum
Company in Mound, a gypsum-rich location
near Carson City. The firm had an office in San
Francisco and Vice-President Curry was often
there. The company’s product, Empire Plaster,
which predated the new company, was said to
have rebuilt San Francisco after the 1906 di -
saster.

In 1909, Floyd Curry married Vera Davis Da -
vidson in San Francisco. She was from Car -
son City and they had met there. Vera had lost
her husband and had a young daughter named
Katherine. In 1912 the Nevada Gypsum Com-
pany was sold to the Pacific Portland Cement
Company, and with his windfall, Floyd Curry
decided to build a house in Berkeley in July
1913, a few months after their son John Tru -
man was born. The Currys’ house at 2745 El-
mwood Avenue was designed by John Sullivan
who had designed the 1912 Dondero Building
at College and Russell. And for good measure,
they built a second identical house next door
at 2743. Also in 1913, Floyd Curry invested in
property in Block A of Elmwood Park: two lots
on College Avenue.

But it was not until 1916 that Floyd Curry im -
proved the northernmost of his two lots with
a one-story commercial building designed for
four shops. The architect was Berkeleyan Eu-
gene K. Martin. Martin was raised in Germa -
ny and studied in Berlin. He did post graduate
work at the University of California, graduat -
ing in 1912. He lived in Berkeley until about
World War I when he moved to Southern Cal -
ifornia, marrying, and eventually settling in
Los Angeles. His most notable work from his
years in Berkeley is the First Baptist Church at
Dana and Haste, built in 1914. Of the only four
buildings Martin designed during his few years
in Berkeley only three remain: the church, the
Curry Building, and a small house on Santa Fe.

The earliest known tenants in the Curry Build-

ing were, in 1922, Fred C. Eike’s Standard
Meat Market (2935); John T. Hansen’s Fruit
Market (2937); and from 1924, U. C. Battery
and Electric Company (2939) and S. Sasaki’s
Art Goods (2933). One of the best-remembered
businesses in the Curry Building was The Ivy
Shoppe, which was the Elmwood district’s
old-fashioned dry goods store. It was opened at
2904 College Avenue in 1922 by Henry Knoth
in the newly completed Bischoff Building,
selling notions. The story passed down through
the years was that the shop was named for his
daughter. There were two more owners: Mau -
rice Rubenstein & Son in 1925 and Joseph Sir-
bu in 1927 before the business was purchased
by Antonio N. Ferrogiaro in 1928. The Ferro-
giaros lived nearby on Garber Street. It was un-
der his ownership that the Ivy Shoppe opened
in expanded quarters in the Curry Building in
about 1937. Three shops had been combined
into one large space, befitting a dry goods store.

The shop was run by Clara Ferrogiaro after her
husband died in 1939. By 1942 it was owned
by Felix Alexander Lenhart, who was born in
Prague and arrived in this country in 1939. He
made his home at the Claremont Hotel during
his proprietorship. He sold the Ivy Shoppe in
1957 to Pauline Pedrozzo, who ran the business
until it closed around 1988.

Another long-time business in the Curry Build-
ing was Eastell’s Barber Shop in the northern -
most shop (2935 College) since about 1934.

The shop dates back to 1923 when Quincy A.

Rose opened a barber shop at 2927 College in
the new Dye Building. This was quickly sold
to Nick Batsis who then sold it to Eastell Bros.
(Arthur T. and George A.) in 1924. After a few
years, Arthur became the sole owner of the
shop. The new shop in the Curry Building was
sleek and modern, with all the latest accoutre -
ments, as well as four large, comfortable ad -
justable barber chairs. Arthur and his brother
immigrated from England in 1921 and came to
Berkeley in 1923. Arthur settled in the neigh -
borhood, purchasing a John Hudson Thom-
as-designed house at 2937 Magnolia Street
where he lived with his wife Louise and their
two children. Three generations of the Eastell
family called the house home. The barber shop
stayed in business after Arthur’s retirement in
the 1950s and after his death in 1969. Eastell’s
Barber Shop finally closed about 1974 during a
time when men were turning away from tradi -
tional barber shops.

Floyd C. Curry, the owner of the building, died
in 1920 after a short illness. He was only 44
years old. Mrs. Curry remained in their Elm -
wood Avenue home until 1947, but the Curry
Building was sold. Harry Scott and Helen Ad-
ams Martin purchased it in 1925. He was the
son of Harry M. Martin who had built the Mar-
tin Building at 2905 College in 1916. The Cur-
ry Building continued to be owned by members
of the Martin family into the 1970s.

16. Significance.

The Curry Building is significant as one of the
ten remaining buildings built in the Elmwood
commercial district during the pre-World War I
phase of development from 1907 to 1916. With
its stucco façade and geometric decoration, the
Curry Building reflects the architectural style
for small commercial buildings of that era: a
rather loose amalgam of Prairie style and Vien-
nese Secession.

The building is also significant for housing
two of the longest-running businesses in the
Elmwood: Eastell’s Barber Shop and The Ivy
Shoppe dry goods store. These businesses were
a vital part of the commercial district and the
surrounding neighborhoods. They offered nec-
essary goods and services for everyday life and
helped to make the Elmwood commercial dis-
trict the bustling “Main Street” for this section
of the city.

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

18. Is the property endangered? No
Building Permit Application No. 6055, 5 December 1916; as well as several alteration applica - tions.

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.
ancestry.com
Various Elmwood directory folders, published between 1974 and 2002. “Shops in the Elmwood: An Urbane Heritage” by Denise Parker Differding, Berkeley Gazette, 28 July 1983.
“Expansion Approval May Split Merchants” by Kay Hwangbo, The Berkeley Voice, 1980s.

19. Bibliography.

20. Recorder.

Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association,
c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705 9 September 2025
Features to Preserve.
• the entire shopfronts: glossy black tile bulk-
heads, doors, display windows
• the geometric ornamentation
• the transom windows

Additional Photographs.

The Curry and Cianciarulo buildings. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Curry Building, showing
the space once filled by The
Ivy Shoppe. The current shop,
Elements, has now been there
about thirty years.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Curry Building. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Longtime owners of the Curry Building:

Helen Adams and Harry Scott Martin.

Found online.

Additional Photographs.

The Curry Building, with
Ethnic Arts in the former Ivy
Shoppe space. The business
received a BAHA Preserva-
tion Award in 1991 for its
colorful paint job. Van Ess
Beauty Shop at the right.

Anthony Bruce, 1990.

The Curry Building: the bar-
ber shop is gone; Ivy Shoppe
still there.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The Curry Building with
the decorative parapet still
intact.

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

Additional Photographs.

Felix Lenhart, fifth owner, in the Ivy Shoppe. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Arthur T, Eastell seen through the window of Eastell’ s Barber Shop.

Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Floyd C. Curry with his son John on the front steps of the Curry home at 2745 Elmwood Avenue. Found online.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 6055, 5 December, 1916

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 28
Dye Building
2921 College Avenue
The Dye Building, 2921 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2921, 2923, 2925, 2927 College Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–02100
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot 26)
Dimensions: 50 feet x 120 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 #: 11873

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: Dye Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1922 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12953, 1 November, 1922

7. Architect: Roy O. Long Co.

8. Builder: Roy O. Long Co., 2114 Shattuck Avenue

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: Mildred M. Dye & James S. Dye, 2915 College Avenue Original Use: commercial (4 stores & 1 dwelling: the Dyes lived in the building)

11. Present Owner: The Herbert Michael Jorgensen and Jean M. Jorgensen Revocable Living Trust-1996
Present Occupant: ImagiKnit (2921 College); Organic Greens/Elmwood (2925 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, wood-frame structure with cement
plaster exterior, originally containing four
shops and a dwelling for the building owners.

Now there are two shops.

Detailing consists of a cornice and frieze of
rectangles, squares, and diamonds. Below the
frieze, four panels delineate the original four
shops. Five small shields fill the spaces be-
tween the panels, and a circular motif high-
lights the upper corners of the shopfront dis -
play windows.

In 1944, the building was streamlined by Bruce
Evander for his new business, Furs by Bruce,
and it was converted into one large retail space.

A large black panel for the sign completely
covered the upper half of the façade, and tan
Vitrolite structural glass panels covered the
piers and bulkheads. The new façade remained
in place into the 1970s. When the panels were
removed, the original detailing was revealed.

The northernmost pier retains its Carrera glass
surface, serving as a piece of building history.

Quoins enliven the two restored piers.

The traditional lines of the single north shop -
front have existed since the streamlining, in-
cluding its slightly recessed entry. The south
shopfront was reconfigured and redone in rough
wood in the 1970s. It has since been remodeled
again with a similar recessed entry but also
with a more closed-up appearance. Instead of
display windows, higher, smaller, divided-lite
windows have been installed to better function
for its current restaurant use.

15. History.

James Southworth Dye was born in New Mexico
in 1893. Starting with a shoe store in Winslow,
Arizona, that he operated with his business
partner, Mayor J. A. Greaves, Dye’s life’s work
was in the shoe repair business. In 1917, he
married Mildred Mabel Seidel in Winslow. The
next year found the Dyes living in Berkeley
on College Avenue. They rented space at 2915
College in the McCullough Building for their
shoe repair shop and they lived in the back of
the shop. Mildred was James’ business part -
ner as well as wife; their business investment
was mostly her money (she also owned a Paige
automobile). In early 1921 Mildred purchased
Lot 26, adjacent to their shop/residence to the
south, from Oscar Barber who had once had a
brown-shingle house on the property. Did she
plan to build on the vacant lot? The next year
Mildred sued her husband. She claimed that
while she was away on a trip, James sold her
interest in the business to Thomas Whittle who
worked with him. Apparently they were recon-
ciled, as in November, construction was begun
on the Dye Building next door.

The new building had four stores and one
dwelling space. James Dye ran his shoe repair
business from 2925 College, and husband and
wife resided in the rear. This arrangement only
lasted a few years: by 1926 Mildred and James
were in San Francisco, living separately. The
new owner of the Dye Building was Martha E.

Hebard.

Martha Elizabeth Schroth Hebard was a widow
from a pioneer family who lived in Berkeley.

She died soon after buying the property, and it
went to her two sisters Florence Schroth Wil -
liams and Ellen Schroth Mauzy, whose hus-
band Byron Mauzy was a University of Cali -
fornia Regent. Ellen died in 1946 and around
1954 Florence sold the property to the late
Charles Dorsch’s wife Louise, and his son and
daughter-in-law Graydon and Helen. Charles
had owned the Romie Building. They in turn
put the building up for sale in late 1959 and
it was purchased in 1960 by William H. Mc -
Nab, longtime proprietor of McNab’s Market
at 2051 University Avenue. He died the follow-
ing year, but his son Bill McNab took over and
poured his heart into improving the building
with a retrofit and a conservatory at the rear of

2925 College. McNab descendents have con -
tinued to own the Dye Building.

Several businesses made an impression on both
the building and the district. In 1944, Bruce
Morton Evander opened Furs by Bruce. From
Seattle, he had earned a master’s degree at the
Chicago Institute of Art and owned a fur busi -
ness in his hometown. He arrived in Berkeley
in 1939 and in early 1944 took over all the
shopfronts in the Dye Building to return to the
fur business. He refaced the lower half of the
façade with tan Vitrolite and installed a smooth,
black backdrop across the upper half for the
large free-standing script lettering that read
“Furs by Bruce.” When the business opened in
December, it offered a touch of high-style so -
phistication, not only with the wares that were
offered, but in its new architectural presence on
College Avenue.

In 1947, Bruce Evander leased the northern -
most section to Pam and Dewey Watts for the
equally sophisticated Pam’s Flowers, also with
a sign of free-standing lettering. Pam’s re -
mained in the building until at least 1960, but
Furs by Bruce, although said to have existed
here for more than twenty years, appears to
have closed by the mid-1950s, with Evander
going into the graphics business in Oakland.

However, the tan Vitrolite and black backdrop
remained for many years.

Bill McNab later uncovered the original orna -
mented façade and removed the Vitrolite except
for five sections of this now extinct building
material that remain on the northernmost pier.

In 1973, Gary Gendel, who had opened Sweet
Dreams candy shop in the Dondero Building
two years before, established the Sweet Dreams
Toy Store in the space that had been Pam’s
Flowers. The freshly uncovered upper part of
the building was painted white, with the fanci -
ful ornamentation in color. The store became a
fixture in the Elmwood district, as did Gendel
himself, who would be seen striding along the
sidewalk, going from one of his three stores to
the other. Gary Gendel closed the toy store in
June 2023 and he died that August.

Long before the Dye Building was built, there
had been a shingled bungalow on the proper -
ty. It was built in 1909 for newlyweds Ava and
Oscar Barber on a lot purchased by her father
from the Elmwood Park developers Breed &
Bancroft. The Barbers played an important role
in the implementation of the nation’s first zon-
ing ordinance.

Ava Earle Barber recalled that they built in the
new Elmwood Park tract on a College Avenue
lot, and that within a few years after moving
into their home, a commercial building was
built on their block, from lot line to lot line.

They were taken aback. By 1915, another com-
mercial building had been built two doors away
from the Barbers
The nearby Claremont subdivision, developed
simultaneously with Elmwood Park, had deed
restrictions limiting what could be built there:
only single-family residences. Elmwood Park
did not have deed restrictions. Mrs. Barber felt
that purchasers should have been told by the
developers when they bought property in El-
mwood that there was no guarantee that only
houses would be built on the adjoining lots. As
it happened, only two other houses were built
on the Elmwood Park College Avenue lots.

Before zoning, cities, as they grew, naturally
created informal districts —residential, com-
mercial, industrial, but there was nothing to
prevent the stray shop building or factory from
being built in a residential neighborhood, or
houses built beside factories. The concept of
city planning was in the air in Berkeley around
the time the Barber House was built. In 1913,
city planner Dr. Werner Hegemann was en-
gaged to make a report on the City of Berkeley.
(The report was expanded and ultimately pub -
lished by both Berkeley and Oakland.) This led
to the City establishing a City Planning Com-
mittee in July 1914, and a full-fledged commis-
sion in June 1915. Duncan McDuffie, devel -

oper of the Claremont district, whose abiding
interest, other than nature conservation, was
city planning, was appointed president of the
commission. McDuffie had introduced build -
ing restrictions in Claremont, knowing that this
was the only way to ensure a neighborhood of
homogeneous use. Walter Ratcliff, as City Ar -
chitect, also served on the first commission.

In the Commission’s report to the City in June
1916, it was stated that its most important ac -
complishment during its first year was securing
a zoning ordinance for Berkeley. The zoning
ordinance was established by the City Council
on March 28, 1916, several months before New
York City (considered the first city in the Unit-
ed States to have a a zoning ordinance) adopted
theirs in July 1916.

As Berkeley has long been considered a city of
homes, the first ordinance defined only differ -
ent types of residential districts, with commer -
cial and industrial to follow. Another feature of
the original ordinance was that zoning districts
were to be granted by the City in response to
petition by interested property owners. The
Commission wrote that the purpose of such an
ordinance was to “further the natural grouping
of like activities by preventing sporadic inva -
sions [of a different type of use], and thus to
bring about the orderly and economic devel -
opment of the city, to stabilize values, pro-
tect property owners, and conserve the public
health and welfare.”
It is of interest that Petition No. 1 was from
the residents of Elmwood Park, and this first
petition was noted in the report. The Commis -
sion recommended a district of single-fami -
ly dwellings only, except for the first 100 feet
east of College Avenue and the 100 feet west
of Claremont Avenue. The neighborhood final-
ly received the assurance that it would remain
a neighborhood of family homes. It may very
well be that the unhappy position of the Barber
house on College Avenue aroused the neigh-
borhood to petition for zoning.

The Barbers, however, were left out in the cold
by the City Council’s decision. Soon after the
Council’s ruling another commercial building
was constructed on the lot adjoining the Bar -
ber property, and more would follow. At the
end of 1916 the Barbers had their house phys -
ically moved to the lot at 2523 Webster Street,
where it stands today. They lived there for a
few years and then bought a bigger house on
Russell Street near Pine (zoned single-family)
that would accommodate their family of six, as
well as Ava Barber’s parents.

When the City’s city planning duties were
moved from the Civic Art Commission to a
newly created City Planning Commission, Os-
car Barber was appointed chair. Probably not a
coincidence, when the Barber House on Col -
lege Avenue likely had been the impetus for
Berkeley’s first zoning decision in 1916.

15. Significance.

The Dye Building has architectural significance
for the Elmwood commercial district. Not only
is it compatible in scale and proportion, but the
treatment of its façade is unique. Although its
decorative elements are related to those of the
buildings constructed in the 1910s, here they
are combined to give the building a fanciful and
cheerful countenance. The blocky quoins, the
circular elements, the diamonds and squares,
and the shields impart a fairytale quality, espe-
cially the way the building is now painted. This
light-hearted commercial building was a most
appropriate long-term home for a toy store.

The building has been an important part of the
cultural heritage of the district. It housed two
popular businesses of up-to-the-minute Mod-
ern design that added a touch of downtown
sophistication to the district. It also housed a

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

18. Is the property endangered? No
Features to Preserve.
• the stucco façade with its ornamentation of
shields, diamonds, squares, circular motifs, and
quoin -like blocks
• the five remaining pieces of tan Vitrolite (not
necessarily to be preserved on the building)
• the transom windows
Building Permit Application No. 12953, 1 November, 1922; as well as several alteration applica - tions.

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.
ancestry.com
“Sweet Dreams Owner Dies Shortly after Closing 50-year-old Elmwood Toy Store” by Joanne Furio, Berkeleyside, 15 September 2023.

Interview with Ava Earle Barber, conducted by Anthony Bruce, 1970s.

19. Bibliography.

20. Recorder.

Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association,
c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705 13 September 2025
beloved toy store for almost fifty years, a store
that continuously drew shoppers to the district.

The property is also significant for the role its
location played in the implementation of Berke-
ley’s (and the nation’s) first zoning ordinance.

Additional Photographs.

The Dye Building.

Tenants: Sweet Dreams,
(2921 College); Mug
Shop (2925 College)
Anthony Bruce, 1982.
below: The Dye Build -
ing, newly modernized for
Furs by Bruce, 1944.

Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.

The Dye Building in 1959. Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

The Dye Building.

Tenants: a grocery
(2921 College); Bess
Riner Beauty Salon (2923
College); Ha Wah Wang
Laundry (2925 College);
Bob’ s Flower Shop (2927
College).

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

Additional Photographs.

The Dye Building. Pam Watts of Pam’ s Flowers. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

The Dye Building. Bruce Evander of Furs by Bruce in his workroom. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Additional Photographs.

The Ava and Oscar Barber House at 2915 College Avenue. It was designed and built by the Baldwin Building & Investment Company in 1909. The house was moved to Webster Street in late 1916. The newly built McCullough Building can be seen at the left. Courtesy of Ava Barber, BAHA.

The Barber House at 2523 Webster Street, its
location since 1916. Anthony Bruce, 2021.

Envelope from Pam’ s Flowers; card from
Furs by Bruce. Courtesy of Anthony Bruce.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 12953, 1 November, 1922

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 29
McCullough Building
2917 College Avenue
The McCullough Building, 2917 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2913, 2915, 2917 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–02200
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot 25)
Dimensions: 41.5 feet x 120 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 #: 11874

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: McCullough Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1916 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 5540, 5 June 1916

7. Architect: Edward Wilkins Larmer (designer), 470 Boulevard Way, Oakland

8. Builder: Edward Wilkins Larmer

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: David McCullough, Magnolia Street Original Use: commercial (3 stores)

11. Present Owner: Bennett Susan L Tr
Present Occupant: Elmwood Village Shoes (2915 College); LaFoot (2917 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.

Built in 1916, this is a one-story, wood-frame
structure, originally housing three shops, and
now two. No early photos of the building have
been found to show how the area above the
transoms may have looked. The 1939 photo
shows an absolutely plain, flat exterior.

In 1980, both shopfronts were given rustic
makeovers using rough wood and rough rocks.

All transoms were covered and the area above
the south shopfront was turned into an expanse
of purposely unevenly laid wood shingles. The
north shop had its transoms hidden behind ver-
tical rough wooden boards. The bulkheads for
both shops were faced with rock.

Today, the building has been returned more to
its 1939 appearance. Gone are the shingles and
the rough rocks. Above the south shop, the area
has been returned to its smooth, painted cement
plaster. Traditional tile has replaced the rock on
the bulkhead. This shop has a squared fixed-in-
place electric-blue awning hiding the transoms.

The redwood boards still hide the transoms on
the north shopfront, but they have been painted
to match the rest of the façade. This shopfront
still retains one of the few retractable awnings
remaining in the Elmwood District.

15. History.

David and Elsie McCullough and their four
daughters, Norah, Molly, Elsie, and Mabel, ar -
rived in Berkeley about 1915 from South Africa
where they had made their home in Durban. They
stayed in Berkeley less than two years, but they
made an impression on all they met, and they
made a lasting impression on the Elmwood com-
mercial district. Mr. McCullough built the last of
the pre-War buildings on College Avenue, with
construction begun in June 1916.

The McCullough family lived nearby on Mag-
nolia Street (between Ashby and Webster). They
were active members of the Congregational
Church, and Norah was the youngest member of
the December 1916 graduating class at Berkeley
High School where she joined the Camera Club.

Once the McCullough Building was completed
on College Avenue, the McCulloughs sold it,
most likely in preparation for the McCulloughs’
departure for South Africa in February 1917. Be-
fore they left, they were guests of honor at a fare-
well dinner given by Mr. and Mrs. A. O. Donogh,
owners of the downtown dry goods store that was
competition for Hink’s. They were also the par -
ents of real estate agent Ormsby Donogh who
took the 1939 photo used in this application.

This was to be a temporary stay in South Afri -
ca so that Mr. McCullough could look after his
“extensive business interests.” They planned to
return to Berkeley in two years. Of their new
California home town, the McCulloughs had
said that they were delighted wih Berkeley,
declaring it the most congenial and attractive
place they have ever made their home. Sadly,
they did not return to Berkeley.

The McCulloughs sold the property to Eliza -
beth E. Smith in November 1916. Sometime in
the 1920s, Mrs. Evelyn A. Ratcliff, mother of
the architect Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr., purchased
the McCullough Building, which she owned
until 1944. At that time Frank and Queene Lib-
by bought the building and immediately con-
structed a warehouse in the rear for their elec-
tric business.

The McCullough Building is noted for two
long-time commercial activities: shoes and
electrical. The building has housed a shoe and/
or a shoe repair shop since the time it was built.

Thomas and James Gilchrist were the first, of-
fering shoe repair at 2915 College, the center
store. They lived in the back of the store. With-
in a year, by 1918, James S. Dye and his wife
Mildred moved into 2915 College, where they
lived and operated their own shoe repair busi -
ness. They built the Dye Building next door
in 1922 and moved the shop to 2925 College.

Simultaneously, Francis A. Coles opened his
shoe repair business in the Dyes’ former space
at 2915 College, where he most likely had been
an employee since as early as 1919. (His son
remembered being in the store then and notic -
ing the many vacant lots.) Mr. Coles was born
in England, immigrated to this country in 1891,
and worked for a shoe company in San Fran-
cisco. He married Katherine Brändlein there in
1900. After a few years in Seattle, the Coles,
with their four sons, were living in north Oak -
land by 1919. Coles Shoes remained in the Mc-
Cullough Building for over fifty years, at first
in a single store, and later expanding into the
two northern spaces. In 1941 architect Walter
H. Ratcliff, Jr., redesigned the shopfront, giv-
ing the shoe store one central entrance. Mr.

Coles died in 1954, living nearby at 2731 Ash-
by Place. Two of his sons, George and Robert,
continued to run the business. Under the name
Francis A. Coles Shoes, Inc., branch stores
were opened on Solano Avenue, Lakeshore in
Oakland, and, later, in Orinda and San Fran -
cisco. The last remaining store, which was also
the first, closed in early 1977.

Almost immediately the shoe store reopened as
Paris Shoes under new owners Stan and Son -
ya Paris. In 1991 the next owners renamed the
shop Elmwood Village Shoes. And, to come
full circle, Village Shoes also offers shoe repair.

The other long-time business was an electric
shop, first run by Fred Cole Porter in the north-
ernmost store, 2913 College, after the building
was completed in late 1916. Called the College
Avenue Electric Shop, it was claimed by Por -
ter to have been the “oldest established elec -
tric shop” on College Avenue. Born in Wat -
sonville, Porter had long been an electrician
before opening his own store on College Av -
enue. He and his family lived nearby at 2732
Stuart Street, being the first owners of this 1909
Leola Hall-designed speculative house. In the
early 1920s the Porters moved to a new house
in North Berkeley while retaining the store
on College Avenue. Fred Porter died in May,
1927, but it seems that the store had already
closed sometime in 1926.

Oakland electrician Frank C. Libby, Sr. moved
into the McCullough Building later that year,
opening his own College Avenue Electric Shop
two doors south at 2917 College, where it re -
mained until it closed in the 1990s. Right from
the beginning his son, Frank, Jr., helped at the
store. Later, Frank, Jr., took over the business
and was owner of the building by 1944. He was
a friendly and engaging businessman, offering
useful and intriguing advice to customers.

The construction of the McCullough Building
was the last straw for Ava and Oscar Barber
who lived next door to the south. They had
built their house in 1909 on what they thought
was a residential block in Elmwood Park.

Slowly, commercial buildings began encroach-
ing. The City’s first decision under a new zon-
ing ordinance in early 1916 zoned the Elm -
wood neighborhood for single-family homes,
but College Avenue was zoned commercial.

The McCullough Building was built soon after
and in December of 1916 the Barbers had their
house moved to Webster Street.

The Barbers were not the only ones uprooted
by the construction of commercial buildings.

Banker Orville H. Root lived in a two-story
house at 2909 College on the site of the future
McCullough Building. Designed by William
Mooser & Edward G. Bolles in 1906, it was the
fourth house Mr. Root had built on College Av-
enue, but the first in the 2900 block. Construc-
tion began on the Dondero Building at 2901
College in December 1912, one lot away from
Mr. Root’s home. He moved his house to 2737
Ashby Place in 1913.

16. Significance.

The McCullough Building is significant as a
contributing building in the Elmwood Com-
mercial District. Its one-story height and its
traditional shopfronts (even with the transoms
covered) are entirely compatible with most of
the buildings in the district. The northern shop
front even has a traditional awning.

The building is also significant for being one
of the buildings constructed during the early
phase of development (1907–1916), and for
being the last building constructed during the
this phase.

The building is significant for the part it played
during the events centered around the adoption
and enactment of the nation’s first zoning or -
dinance. The McCullough Building was con -
structed directly after the first zoning ruling
by the City Council when the first 100 feet of
Elmwood Park fronting on College were zoned
commercial (instead of residential as was the
rest of the neighborhood). The owners of the
house next door, who were the most adversely
affected by the commercial growth of College
Avenue, moved their house to another street in
response to the construction of the McCullough
Building.

Lastly, the McCullough Building is signifi-
cant for the continuity of its businesses over
the years. A shoe repair/retail store has been a
tenant in the building for the past 108 years,
since the building was completed in late 1916.

An electric shop was in the building for more
than seventy years, also opening when the
building was completed in late 1916. These
were (are) the types of businesses that made
the Elmwood commercial district so successful
through the years.

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

18. Is the property endangered? No
Features to Preserve.
• the traditional shopfronts
• the tile paving at 2917 College
• the transom windows
Building Permit Application No. 5540, 5 June 1916; as well as several alteration applications.

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.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
ancestry.com

19. Bibliography.

Contract notices, Oakland Tribune, 11 June 1916.

Deeds, Berkeley Daily Gazette, 22 November 1916.
“Family Leaves for Visit in Africa,” Berkeley Daily Gazette, 2 February 1917. “Coles’ Shoes Goes to Paris: Stan Paris, that is,” by Heidi Seney, The Press, 1 June 1977.

Olla Podrida, December 1916.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
27 September 2025
Additional Photographs.
top and bottom: McCullough
Building, College Avenue Elec -
tric, 2917 College Avenue. Frank
C. Libby, Jr., proprietor. Byron
Bolfing, November 1947, Berke -
ley Historical Society.

Additional Photographs.

The McCullough Building. Paris Shoes (2915 College) and College Avenue Electric Co. (2917 College).

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

The McCullough Building. Coles Shoes (2915 College) and College Avenue Electric (2917 College).

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

Additional Photographs.

The McCullough Building: Coles Shoes, 2915 College Avenue. Francis A. Coles, proprietor, on the left.

Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

McCullough Building. Tile paving at 2917 College Avenue.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

High School
senior, Norah McCullough, standing in for her parents
Elsie and David McCullough. December 1916 Olla Podrida.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 5540, 5 June 1916

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 30
Martin Building
2905 College Avenue
The Martin Building, 2905 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2905, 2907, 2909, 2911 College Avenue County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–02300
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot 24 and portion of Lot 25) Dimensions: 62.5 feet x 120 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 #: 11875

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: Martin Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1915, 1921 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Applications for Building Permit No. 4301, No. 5344, No. 9614; 5 January 1915, 28 March 1916, 7 February 1921

7. Architect: none listed on applications

8. Builder: Jacob Kollmer, 2753 Piedmont Avenue

9. Style: Pioneer Storefront

10. Original Owners: Harry M. Martin, 2715 Hillegass Avenue Original Use: commercial (4 stores)

11. Present Owner: Bennett Susan L Tr
Present Occupant: The Italian Homemade Company (2905 College); Cotton Basics (2909 College); Freshly Rooted Tribe (2911 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.

Built in 1915, the Martin Building is a one-sto-
ry, wood-frame structure with a cement plaster
exterior. The building was added to in 1916 and
1921 to create more shops at the south. This
accounts for the asymmetrical façade, with a
slightly higher parapet over what had been once
the center shopfront. The stepped parapet gives
the building a bit of an “Old West” character.

Traditional shopfronts feature glossy black
tile bulkheads, and wood doors with center li-
tes. Transoms are exposed, although they are
obscured by fixed-in-place awnings. The two
spaces in the north half of the building are used
by the present delicatessen, with one elongat -
ed shopfront and one entrance. This alteration
occurred in 1935. The entry door is a pair of
swinging doors, likely left from the many years
this large space served as a market. The south-
ern two shopfronts are their original size. all
three shopfronts have concrete paving leading
to the entrances.

The space above the transoms is plain, flat
stucco, with flashing serving as a cornice. No
photographs have been found prior to 1939, so
it is not known whether the building had been
decorated in any way originally.

15. History.

Jennie and Harry Martin arrived in Berkeley
from Pomona in 1904. For many years, Mr.

Martin had been in the real estate business there,
and upon arrival, he opened his own office in
downtown Berkeley. His son Scott soon joined
him in the business venture and remained with
the company. In 1906, Harry Martin became
a charter member of the newly incorporated
Berkeley Real Estate Exchange.

The Martins built a house for the family (in -
cluding son Scott and daughter Maude) at 2715
Hillegass Avenue in 1905. It is not known why
the Martins moved to Berkeley. The usual rea-
son was so that the children could attend the
University, but neither Scott nor Maude appear
to have attended.

In 1911, Harry Martin bought Lot 24 in Block
A of Elmwood Park. In 1915, he built a shop
building next to the completed Dondero Build-
ing of 1912-13. Most of the early investors in
what was becoming the neighborhood shop-
ping street lived nearby, but for Mr. Martin, he
was investing also in his future and that of his
son. The H. M. Martin Company opened in the
northernmost shop of the completed building in
1915. Twice (in 1916 and 1921) the building
was expanded to the south to create space for
more shops. The 1921 expansion gave the Mar-
tin Company a new home. This was to be the
conveniently located place of business for Mr.

Martin for the rest of his life.

The Martins were well-enough known in town
that the celebration of their 65th wedding anni-
versary was captured by the Berkeley Gazette
in story and picture in 1946. Sadly, Jennie died
in early 1948, and Scott died soon after. Harry
Martin continued to run the business until ear -
ly 1949. He died the following year. Daughter
Maude received revenue from the building un-
til her death in about 1969. In 1970, the Martin
Building was purchased by Queene and Frank
C. Libby, Jr., owners of the McCullough Build-
ing next door and of College Avenue Electric in
that building.

The Martin Building was only the second com-
mercial building at this end of the district. There
was a grocery store in the building at least from
1921 when a store room was built behind 2907
College for the use of the grocery store run by
Joseph Gelber. Beginning in 1923, James S.

Hay ran the Ideal Groceteria in the space. He
in turn sold the business to Roderick D. Goode
in 1925. Goode was a neighbor, living at 2813
Stuart Street. In the early 1930s, Bernard W.

White opened the long-running Topside Mar -
ket. In 1935, Mr. Martin expanded the store
space for the market by removing the partition
between 2905 and 2907 and creating a single,
centered entrance. The Topside lasted about
twenty years, closing in 1952 with a storewide
sale. The next owners were George Farray &
Son. Mr. Farray had come to this country from
Aleppo, Syria, and owned a small grocery store
at 3024 Ashby Avenue between Domingo and
Claremont Avenue. Mr. Farray died in October
1953 and the business gave way to the New
Claremont Market, which remained open un -
til about 1970, ending the history of grocery
stores in this location. Soon after, Albert Brav-
er, who had owned a popular shop on Bancroft
across from the Student Union selling records
and tobacco, opened, with his wife, Magnum
Opus, an imported wicker basket emporium in
the space. After about twenty years, AG Fer -
rari’s Ultra Lucca moved into the space and
remained for twenty-seven years. The Italian
Homemade Company delicatessen is currently
in this large space.

16. Significance.

The Martin Building is significant as a contrib-
uting building in the Elmwood Commercial
District. Its one-story height and its traditional
shopfronts (even with the transoms covered)
are entirely compatible with most of the build -
ings in the district.

The building is also significant for being one
of the buildings constructed during the pre-war
phase of development (1907–1916).

Lastly, the Martin Building is significant for the
continuity of its businesses over the years. A
grocery store has been an important part of the
business history of the building. After a hiatus
between 1970 and 1990, food-oriented busi -
nesses have continued to use the large double
space.

The Martin Building’s eponymous business,
the H. M. Martin Company, a successful real
estate company, was in the building from 1915
to 1949. These were, and are, the types of busi-
nesses that made the Elmwood commercial
district so successful as a self-contained “Main
Street” through the years.

Features to Preserve.
• the traditional shopfronts
• the transom windows

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

18. Is the property endangered? No

19. Bibliography.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 4301, 5 January 1915; as well as several alteration applications.

Block books and Sanborn maps
City directories.

Urban Conservation Survey (block files), BAHA.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
4 October 2025
Ormsby Donogh Real Estate File (1939–1977), BAHA.

Tales of the Elmwood, Burl Willes, 2000.

Berkeley Tourist and Business Survey, 1924.
ancestry.com
“Strong Exchange of Berkeley Men,” Oakland Enquirer, 13 October 1906 Deeds, Berkeley Gazette, 16 May 1911.

Contract notice, Oakland Tribune, 17 January 1915.
“H. M. Martins Celebrate Their 65th Wedding Day” by Edna Strachan, Berkeley Daily Gazette, 7 November 1946.
“Albert Elijah Braver” SFGATE, 7 November 2003.
“AG Ferrari, a Fixture on College Avenue for 27 Years, has Closed” by Frances Dinkelspiel, Berkeleyside, 6 February 2017.

Additional Photos.

Scott Martin with Byron Bolfing inside the H. M. Martin Co. real estate office in 1947. Bolfing Collection, Berkeley Histor- ical Society.

H. M.

Martin Co. display ad in the 1922 Polk-Husted
Oakland-Berkeley City Directory.

Jennie and Harry Martin in their home at 2715
Hillegass Avenue.

Gazette photo, Berkeley Gazette , 7 Novem-
ber1946.

Additional Photographs.

The Martin Building, 2905
College Avenue.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Martin Building, 2905
College Avenue.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Martin Building, 2905
College Avenue. Magnum
Opus, 2905 College; Forget
Me Not, 2909 College; The
Body Shop, 2911 College.

Anthony Bruce, 1982.

Additional Photographs.

The Martin Building,
double-door entrance
to 2905 College Avenue.

This shopfront configu-
ration dates from 1935.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Martin Building,
2905 College Avenue
in 1968. Both the New
Claremont Market and
Northgate Radio had
moved here from loca -
tions on Claremont Av-
enue.

Real estate listing
(“owner retiring”),
Donogh Real Estate
File, BAHA.

Martin Building. Topside Market, 2907 College; unknown, 2909 College; H. M. Martin Co., 2911 College Avenue. Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Display ad for The
Body Shop from a 1980
issue of The Berkeley
Monthly.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 4301, 5 January 1915

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 31
Dondero Building
2901 College Avenue
The Dondero Building, 2901 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2901, 2901 1/2, 2903. 2903 1/2 College Avenue; 2706 Russell Street County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 052–1567–02401
(Elmwood Park Tract, Block A, Lot 23)
Dimensions: 60 feet x 120 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 #: 11876

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: Dondero Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1912–13 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 2517, 12 December 1912

7. Architect: John Sullivan, 6452 Harmon Court, Oakland

8. Builder: F. Walter Thaxter, 2820 Kelsey Street

9. Style: Storefront

10. Original Owners: John Faust Dondero, 2838 Derby Street Original Use: commercial (5 stores)

11. Present Owner: JCJ9 Property Management LLC
Present Occupant: Nabolom (2706 Russell); Five Little Monkeys (2901 College); Methok Pema Antique Handcraft (2903 College); Tibetan Gem Shop; Methok Pema Comfort Clothing (2903 1/2 College)

12. Present Use: commercial (4 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: R-2

13. Present Condition of Property:

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

14. Description.

Built in 1912–13, this is a one-story and base -
ment wood-frame structure with cement plas-
ter exterior. The Dondero Building has been
stripped of its Prairie/Viennese Secession or -
namentation of applied geometric shapes. Its
present smooth façade is capped with a nar -
row cornice, and framed by slightly projecting
piers.

The building is angled at the corner with a cor-
ner entrance to the store (5 Little Monkeys) at
2901 College. Transoms are gone from the cor-
ner store, but probably still exist at the three
stores along College, hidden behind signage.

The southernmost two storefronts have been
reconfigured. The very small shopfront on Col-
lege appears as it did in the 1939 photo. Imag -
inative painting of the exterior of the corner
store gives the illusion of arched windows.

Today there is one shopfront on the Russell
Street frontage. Earlier photos show possibly
as many as three. Fluted piers mark what had
once been a separate shop, but it is now a part
of the corner store. The shopfront at the far end
is traditional with plate glass and a slightly re -
cessed entrance but dates from 1937 alterations
by architect Edwin Lewis Snyder for a post of-
fice remodel. The alteration permit states, “Re-
model storefront and remove ornaments from
front of building.” The narrow transoms would
date from this remodel.

A fantasy mural of toys and monkeys has been
painted in a recessed panel on the Russell Street
side of the corner store.

15. History.

In early December 1912, John Faust Dondero
was having his newly purchased property at
the corner of College and Russell cleared in
preparation for construction of a commercial
building that was to begin later that month. His
real estate venture may have been the bright
spot in a December that was especially hard on
Dondero. He had been the chief complainant in
charges against the running of the State Home
for the Adult Blind on Telegraph Avenue in
Oakland. His complaints led to an investiga -
tion, and, in December, a lengthy hearing be -
fore the State Board of Charities. John Donde -
ro was the star witness, but his testimony was
torn to shreds by the Board as being hearsay.

He responded that his complaints rose from his
continuing purpose of “solving the problems of
the blind in California.”
Dondero was a lifelong advocate for the blind
and the institutions that provided for them. He
was Supervisor of Boys at the Deaf and Blind
School in Berkeley, where he was one of the in-
vestigators into the conduct of director Doug-
las Keith, who was later removed by the Gov -
ernor. John Dondero was himself blind—since
age 16—but he gave up his work at the school
to enter the real estate business in 1912. At the
December 1912 hearing, he said publicly that
he was independently wealthy, owned proper -
ty, was building in Berkeley, and engaged in
a real estate office. His grandfather, Giovanni
Dondero, arrived in San Francisco in 1860 and
made his fortune in real estate. John may have
been following in his footsteps. After the Mar-
tin Building was constructed next door, Don -
dero worked at the H. M. Martin Co. in the fire
insurance division.

Backed by former Governor George Pardee,
John Dondero ran—unsuccessfully—for the
State Board of Equalization several times in the
1920s and 1930s, campaigning in small towns
in his district.

John Dondero married Arlington “Arlie” Mc-
Cormick in July 1913. Arlie was part of a pio-
neer Napa family living in St. Helena on Spring
Mountain at the McCormick Ranch where she
was born. She came to Berkeley on Thanksgiv-
ing in 1911 to join the faculty of the Deaf and

Blind school where she met John. While they
were engaged, his new College Avenue build -
ing was put in her name. The Donderos lived
at 2726 Garber Street, near College, in a house
built for them to lease in 1915 by the owner
of the land who lived next door. In December
1919, after an illness of three months, Arlie
Dondero died at Merritt Hospital in Oakland.
.John Dondero married Edith Margaret Rogers
in 1922. Their son was named John Arlington
Dondero.

The Dondero Building had a major impact on
its surroundings, both negative and positive.

When the Dondero Building was built, it was
the first commercial encroachment on the east
side of College Avenue in the Elmwood Park
tract, which had been assumed by homebuild -
ers to be a residential tract. It was also the first
commercial building at the north end of the two
blocks of College between Webster and Rus -
sell. Prior to 1912, all businesses were on the
west side of the street, clustered around Ash-
by Avenue (except for a tiny real estate office
built at Russell in early 1912). Three houses
stood on the east side of the street by 1912, two
being very close to the Dondero Building. Its
construction was an offensive shock to these
two homeowners. Orville Root moved his
house to Ashby Place in 1913. The Barbers,
next door to the Roots to the south, waited un-
til the McCullough Building was built next to
their property before moving their house away.

The Dondero Building had a negative impact
on the neighborhood and was the first impact
to later trigger Berkeley’s first zoning decision.

Conversely, the Dondero Building paved the
way for commercial infill on the vacant lots on
College between Ashby and Russell, helping to
create today’s beloved and thriving Elmwood
commercial district.

The strategically positioned corner shop in the
Dondero Building, with its angled façade and
large windows, seems to have been sought af-
ter for grocery stores and restaurants during the
first thirty-five years. The first business in that
space was a grocery store owned by Wilford
Nichols and Sidney Chown. Nichols had oper-
ated a grocery previously at 2711 Russell Street
between College and Cherry. (Harvey Hasel-
tine, who had purchased the Kelsey Ranch
from the Kelsey family years before, built his
own grocery and real estate office next to his
house on Russell in 1909; after a few years
Nichols took over the store, which ceased to
exist after the Dondero Building was complet -
ed.) When the Danbert and adjoining commer-
cial building were built at Derby and College in
1915, Wilford Nichols opened the Derby Mar-
ket at 2707 College, and Sidney Chown be -
came the sole proprietor. Chown consolidated
his business in his Broadway grocery store in
1923, and the first of many restaurants opened
in the corner space: Helen Montgomery’s Ye
Old Homestead Cider Company, with a new -
ly installed brick fireplace and a wood paneled
dining room. Various eateries were in the space
before it returned to being a grocery store in the
1940s: Millward’s Market.

In 1948, the type of business changed to men’s
apparel. Curtis & Gray was at 2901 College for
over twenty years. Every young man in the sur-
rounding neighborhoods most likely was fitted
for his first suit at Curtis & Gray.

The one store that remained the longest was
Sweet Dreams. In 1971, Gary Gendel opened
Sweet Dreams candy shop in the Dondero
Building, but not in the corner space (which
was in use at the time). At 2901 1/2 College is
a very small shop. It is not known what it was
at first, but after WWI, Hardin Asher Parke,
a barber, opened his own shop in that space.

His wife Belle worked next door at Ye Old
Homestead. Parke died in 1929, but the space
remained a barber shop. It had two chairs, and
the chair in the window was fitted with a hob-
by horse head, which no small child looking
in could resist. This was the spot that Gary
Gendel first rented for his candy shop. It is said
that he filled the barber pole with jelly beans.

Within a few years, he had outfitted the large

corner store with Victorian-style shelves and
counters, filled with large glass jars of colorful
old-fashioned candy. The store also sold whim-
sical gifts, and, for a time, the back room was
set up as an ice cream parlor. The store became
a fixture in the Elmwood district, as did Gendel
himself, who would be seen striding along the
sidewalk, going from one of his three stores to
the other. (He also owned Sweet Dreams toy
store and Primvera gift shop). Gary Gendel
closed the toy store in June 2023 and he died
that August.

The history of the Dondero Building includes
the fact that it was twice the location of the El-
mwood Station of the United States Post Office.

After many years at Rolla Fuller’s drugstore in
the Koerber Building as “Station 8,” the local
post office moved to the Dondero Building in
1927 and was renamed “Elmwood Station.”
In 1937, architect Edwin Lewis Snyder was
commissioned by then-owner James Russell
Selfridge to remodel the post office at 2706-08
Russell Street and to “remove ornaments from
front of building,” in order to make the space
more appropriate for the Post Office. The result
was a bland and sterile façade on the eastern
half of the Russell Street side of the building.

The Post Office moved into its own building
at 2705 Webster Street in 1948 and the Russell
Street space was again remodeled: for Nelson’s
Self-Service Laundry, which was a neighbor -
hood fixture for more than twenty years.

The second time the Elmwood Station appeared
in the Dondero Building was in the early 1970s.

A major remodel was planned for the Webster
Street site and the post office needed a tempo -
rary location. All the golden oak cabinetry and
counters were brought over and carefully fitted
together. One would have thought that the Post
Office had always been there. When the re-
model and addition were finished on Webster,
the handsome woodwork was not reinstalled;
a 1970s interior with orange Formica greeted
postal customers at Webster and College.

The present Nabolom Bakery in the post office
space was created to counteract the threat of
regionalism and duplication of services in the
Elmwood commercial district. The City had
enacted temporary regulations for the turnover
of businesses in the Elmwood in 1975 to at -
tempt to retain neighborhood-serving business-
es. In 1976, a hair-cutting salon had applied for
a then-empty space. Neighbors said there was
greater need for a bakery, and a group, includ -
ing merchants, found both a group of women
wanting to start a bakery and a vacant shop -
front at 2706 Russell. The bakery has been
an extremely popular business since the day
it opened in 1976 in what had been one half
of Nelson’s Laundry. When the laundry lat -
er closed, Nabolom expanded into that space.

After many years, Nabolom closed, but no one
would allow it to die. It reopened with new
owners as Nabolom Bakery and Pizzeria.

16. Significance.

The Dondero Building is significant as an an-
chor building in the Elmwood commercial dis-
trict. Although only one story, it was designed
to take advantage of its corner lot. The façade
of the building is faceted as it turns the corner,
and the shop entrance faces the street corner
directly, giving the Dondero Building a strong
visual presence.

The Dondero Building is also significant for its
builder, John Faust Dondero (1885–1963). Not
only was he a local resident who was an early
commercial investor in the Elmwood district
and a College Avenue businessman, but he was
also noteworthy for his lifelong regard for the
betterment of the lives of blind people in Cal -
ifornia, which he manifested through his ac -
tivism, writing, and working at the California
School for the Deaf and Blind.

The Dondero Building is significant for the
businesses that have enriched the lives of the

neighboring residents, as well as all Berkeley -
ans. The businesses went from one of the first
full-scale grocery stores in the Elmwood to the
several restaurants to the Curtis & Gray haber-
dashery to Sweet Dreams (1971–2023), a store
in living memory beloved to all. The building is
significant also for being the longtime home of
the Elmwood Station of the United States Post
Office.

The Dondero Building also played a role in so-
cial issues affecting both the neighborhood and
the City. Its construction in 1912–13 caused
consternation to those who had already built
their home on the east side of College Avenue
in the Elmwood Park tract, and was a catalyst
for the City’s eventual first zoning decision in
1916. The growing concern in the 1970s over
losing neighborhood-serving businesses in the
Elmwood, as well as business redundancy, led
to a temporary City ordinance and eventual
special zoning. The Dondero Building solved
the immediate problem of lack of services by
providing a space for a bakery, missing in the
Elmwood since the last bakery closed in 1970.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 2517, 12 December 1912; as well as several alteration 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
Deeds, Berkeley Gazette, 25 November 1912.

Contract notice, Berkeley Gazette, 14 December 1912.

19. Bibliography.

Features to Preserve.
• the faceted corner (three wall planes)
• the former barber shop storefront, with its two
steps, traditional door, and single, small display
window
• the traditional shopfronts along Russell Street

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

18. Is the property endangered? No
• the five remaining original pilasters (two on
College and three on Russell)
• the ledgerock bulkheads at 2903 and 2903 1/2
College
• any remaining transoms

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
9 October 2025
“Blind Home Probe Begins: Dondero Placed on Stand,” Oakland Tribune, 16 December 1912. “Evidence is Continued in Blind Home Investigation: Many Witnesses Called to Stand in Probe of Dondero Charges,” Oakland Tribune, 17 December 1912.
“Blind Home Attack is Breaking Down: Witnesses Called by Complainants in Inquiry Testify for Defense,” Oakland Tribune, 19 December 1912.
“State Home Teacher Weds; Faints in the Clerk’s Office. Mr. and Mrs. John Faust Dondero, who were Married Last Night in Berkeley. Dondero is an Instructor at the State School for the Deaf and Blind,” Oakland Tribune, 20 July 1913.
“Former Resident Dies: Mrs. Arlington Dondero Passes Away,” St. Helena Star, 2 December 1919. “Blind School Probe Promised,” Oakland Tribune, 15 September 1920. “Blind Man Here to Boost Candidacy for State Office,” Modesto News-Herald, 12 August 1926. “Sweet Dreams Owner Dies Shortly after Closing 50-year-old Elmwood Toy Store” by Joanne Furio, Berkeleyside, 15 September 2023.

Interview with Ava Earle Barber, conducted by Anthony Bruce, 1970s.

Additional Photographs.

Dondero Building,
College Avenue
frontage.

Anthony Bruce,
2025.

Dondero Building.

Anthony Bruce,
1982.

Dondero
Building,
College
Avenue
frontage.

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

Additional Photographs.

Dondero Building, Russell Street
frontage. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Dondero Building, Russell
Street frontage, showing
the now-missing center
shopfront. Ormsby Donogh,
1939, Donogh Real Estate
File, BAHA..

Dondero Building, Russell
Street frontage, showing the
Edwin Lewis Snyder-de-
signed Post Office in about
1948.

Donogh Real Estate File,
BAHA.

Dondero Building, Russell Street
frontage, showing the toy store
mural. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

Arlie and John Dondero. Oakland Tribune, 7 July 1913.

John Faust Dondero at the house he built in 1923 after
his second marriage. 66 Vicente Road.

Fang family San Francisco Examiner photograph ar -
chive © The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

This work is made available under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 license.

Mrs. Beretta in front of the Dondero Building.

Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Annie McKinney in McKinney Deli Food Shop, 2903-A Col-
lege, Dondero Building. Byron Bolfing, 1947, Berkeley His- torical Society.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 2517, 12 December 1912

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 32
Safeway Supermarket Building
2887 College Avenue
The Safeway Supermarket Building, 2887 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2887 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 053–1696–01500
(University Villa Tract, Block A, Lots 1 and 2)
Dimensions: 120 feet x 120 feet
Cross Streets: Stuart Street and Russell Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 14442

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: Safeway
Commonly Known Name: 7–Eleven

6. Date of Construction: 1932 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 37037, 25 June 1932, and No. 110772846, 1972

7. Architect: Harold F. Genss, 2249 Ward Street (1932); Max R. Garcia, A.I.A. and Associ ates, 555 Sutter Street, San Francisco (1972)

8. Builder: K. E. Parker Company, 135 South Park, San Francisco (1932); Lambert & Wells, 315 Second Street, San Francisco(1972)

9. Style: industrial

10. Original Owners: K. E. Parker Company (land & building) Original Use: commercial (1 store)

11. Present Owner: Miottell Ward J Jr Trustee
Present Occupant: vacant; 7-Eleven; Arlene’s Cleaners; Elmwood Laundry

12. Present Use: commercial (4 stores)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: R-2, R-2A

13. Present Condition of Property:

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

14. Description.

Built in 1932, the Safeway Building is one story
and is constructed of reinforced concrete. The
reinforced concrete piers project slightly from
the building’s walls and extend above the para-
pet where they exhibit minimal Art Deco styl-
ing. There are eight piers from front to back,
creating seven bays.

The building was designed to house a modern
supermarket with a large stock room behind the
market space. The adjoining parking lot was a
necessary adjunct for a supermarket. The en -
trance to the store was on College Avenue. The
four piers that frame the front façade were sur-
faced in celadon green glazed terra cotta in an
angular Art Deco style. The same glazed terra
cotta framed the three-panel frieze above the
transom windows. The first two bays on the
south side also held display windows and tran-
soms. The transom windows were each divided
in the style of Roman lattice.

Safeway vacated the building in late 1970 and
the building was subsequently remodeled. Four
shops were installed in place of the one super -
market. One shopfront is at the north end of the
street façade, with the south two thirds left a
blank wall. Along the south wall, the three oth-
er shops open to a concrete walkway next to
the parking lot. The third bay is filled in, and
the others contain store entrances or display
windows. Each open bay has a plain marquee
above the shopfronts. The upper half of each
of the seven bays is surfaced with diagonally
placed redwood boards, which introduce the
rustic Sea Ranch style to this concrete indus -
trial-like building. Three of the redwood panels
have large plastic store signs attached. A vine
covers much of the street façade and much of
the first two side bays. The north side of the
building, built on the property line, has no
openings.

The parking lot has a concrete curb around it
and two driveway entrances: one on College
and one on Russell. A kiosk, designed to hold
a small shop, was later built at the southwest
corner of the parking lot. It is now vacant.

15. History.

In 1909, a church building was erected at the
northeast corner of College and Russell for the
College Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.

Architect Clinton Briggs Ripley (1849–1922)
designed a picturesque stucco building with
half-timbering, towers, gables, and a large
stained-glass window facing College. Ripley’s
practice was in Honolulu, but he happened
to be here at the time his services were need -
ed. In 1928, the large structure at Durant and
Dana was built for Trinity Methodist Episcopal
Church. When the church opened, the College
Avenue congregation moved to the new church
and the College Avenue site became surplus
property (which by then was two lots facing
College Avenue).

The City Council, in May 1932, reclassified the
two lots as commercial—per petition by Trin -
ity Church—and the property was immediate -
ly sold in order to finance the construction of
Trinity Hall next to Trinity Church.

The new owner of the land was the K. E. Park-
er Company of San Francisco. This major con-
tracting firm was also the builder of the new
supermarket built on the site, which was leased
to Safeway Stores. The site of the church be -
came a parking lot for the store. The building
was designed by Berkeley architect Harold F.

Genss (1890–1983).

The name “Safeway” appeared in 1926 as the
new name for several grocery store chains that
merged that year. The College Avenue store
was constructed during the last year of the
company’s rapid expansion, when the effects

of the Depression were felt.

When the building was completed, Safeway did
not move into it. Instead, the building opened
as a Piggly Wiggly supermarket. Piggly Wig -
gly opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee,
as the first self-service grocery store. It was
extremely successful and influenced grocery
stores around the country to convert to self-ser-
vice. After a stock market fiasco, the company
was divided and sold to regional chains. Safe -
way acquired the West Coast Piggly Wiggly in
1929. In 1933, there were two Piggly Wiggly
stores in the relatively small Elmwood business
district, and one Safeway (at 2997 College). By
1939, Safeway had moved into the building at
2887 College Avenue, and the red-and-yellow
Safeway signs had gone up on the building and
in the parking lot.

In 1959, Safeway introduced a new supermar -
ket design created by the architectural firm of
Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons. The first one
built was the Marina Safeway in San Francis -
co. Soon older Safeway buildings were being
replaced by these much larger buildings with
a signature curved roof and glass front. Of the
two Safeways on College Avenue, the one just
over the line in Oakland near Claremont Ave -
nue was chosen for the modern makeover. The
Safeway at Russell, still owned by the K. E.

Parker Company, remained the same. In 1966,
the property was sold to Robert W. and Evelyn
Ratcliff, he being the architect son of Walter H.

Ratcliff, Jr.

By 1970, with two more years left on their
lease, Safeway ceased operations in the build -
ing that August. The building was put up for
sale. Almost right away both 7-Eleven and a
laundromat were interested in leasing space.

Two years later, the property was finally sold
in August 1972 to Berkeleyans John and Ka -
trina Miottel. A permit was taken out that fall to
“remodel old Safeway store to shopping com -
plex,” with plans by architect Max R. Garcia.

In a 1976 letter written to the City Council, Mr.

Miottel described his thinking around the proj-
ect: “During my ownership of the property, I
have acted to improve it for the benefit of the
neighborhood, Prior to my acquisition of the
property in 1972, the improvements consisted
of an abandoned Safeway market and adjoining
parking area. The improvements had been sub-
jected to substantial vandalism, and numerous
and repeated health code violations had been
issued for accumulation of trash and debris.
“After several months of careful planning, a to-
tal renovation of the property was undertaken
at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Although the site is zoned C-1 and could have
been improved with buildings in its entirety,
in the interests of the neighborhood it was de -
cided to preserve the parking lot for the conve-
nience of shoppers and local residents. In addi-
tion, utilities were placed underground, public
benches were placed around the site, and a bul-
letin board kiosk was provided for public use.

The area was landscaped and the buildings on
the site are of an attractive resawn redwood,
concrete, and rough brick style. I believe that
my actions have amply demonstrated my con -
cern for the Elmwood area.”
The first businesses to move into the completed
building in the summer of 1973 were the pres -
ent 7-Eleven food store; Korakleen coin-op-
erated laundry (site of the present Elmwood
Laundry); One of a Kind, a bookstore, facing
College Avenue; and possibly a fourth shop:

Fotique. In Fotique’s then-empty space Ber -
igan’s Records opened in 1975, located where
Arlene’s Cleaners is now. In 1976 almost a year
after One of a Kind closed, Alexander Pope
Haircutters moved in (working business name:

Rape of the Locks), but not without a conten -
tious neighborhood fight and City hearings re-
garding possible duplication of services. Kor -
akleen did not last long; it was soon replaced
by Coin-op Super Wash; and later by Laun-
draLand. Berigan’s moved to a new location
and Fotoshop moved in.

16. Significance.

In 1976, a small Fotomat building was pro-
posed for the southwest corner of the parking
lot. The question of whether it was considered
a drive-in or walk-in business seems to have
doomed this project as a free-standing “kiosk”
business. Instead, in 1978, Fotomat moved into
the former Berigan’s Records space, later re-
placed by of the Dryclean Club of America.

The small building that stands at the corner of
the parking lot, and that is currently vacant, was
built in 1979. It was designed and fabricated by
the firm of Bluepeter, Inc. of San Francisco for
Earrings, Ltd., a jewelry shop.

Features to Preserve.
• the remaining bit of Art Deco styling at the
tops of the piers
• the prefabricated kiosk shop
• the panels of resawn redwood
• the rough gray bricks (or simulated bricks)
that cover some areas of the walls

17. Historic Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
Architectural Value— Neighborhood: Yes City: Yes
The Safeway building is significant for expand-
ing the Elmwood commercial district out of its
original two-block boundaries. The building
was constructed four years after the last parcel
had been built on (the Sparhawk Building of
1928).

It is also significant as the first non-traditional
shop building in the Elmwood. Built as a large,
single-use building (a modern supermarket),
the Safeway building came with its own ded -
icated parking lot.

The building has significance after its 1972
remodeling for introducing the concept of the
strip mall to the Elmwood. Shops in a row with
a walkway along the front, and the whole fac-
ing a parking lot are features that define a strip
mall. Wikipedia states that these small malls
are generally service-oriented, containing a
hair salon, grocery store, dry cleaner, and laun-
dromat, for instance.

Finally, the building and parking lot are signifi-
cant for their association with the early growth
years of major chain, Safeway.

19. Bibliography.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 37037, 25 June 1932; City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 110772846, November 1972; as well as several other appli - cations 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.

Property file for 2887 College Avenue, City of Berkeley.

20. Recorder
Anthony Bruce for Elmwood Property Owners Association, c/o Claudia Hunka, Your Basic Bird, 2940 College Avenue, Berkeley, California 94705
20 January 2026
Various Elmwood directory folders, published between 1974 and 2002. ancestry.com
Wikipedia.

The Berkeley Monthly.
“C. B. Ripley, Pioneer Honolulu Architect, Dies in California,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 13 Febru- ary 1922.

Additional Photographs.

Architect C. B. Ripley (above).

Found on-line.

College Avenue
Methodist
Episcopal Church. The current
parking lot was created where
this building stood. The Safeway
Building was built on the garden
area at the left of the church.

Source unknown.

Postcard of a rendering of the
soon-to-be-built College Avenue
Methodist Episcopal Church.

Source unknown.

Additional Photographs.

The Safeway Building, parking lot
façade.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Safeway Building, two views of
the kiosk in the parking lot, designed
and fabricated by Bluepeter, Inc. in
1979. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Safeway Building, showing the value of the parking lot’ s “open space” to give a clear view of Dwight Way Hill from the Elmwood commercial district. Byron Bolfing, November 1947, Berkeley Historical Society.

Additional Photographs.

The Safeway Building, parking lot façade, showing the seven bays. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Safeway Building, showing parking lot driveway exit onto Russell Street. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Safeway Building and parking lot; view looking northwest to College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

The Safeway Building in the summer of 1970, just before the store closed. Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Safeway street façade along College Avenue. Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Advertisements for Alexander Pope Haircutters, Berig-
an’ s Records, and 7-Eleven from the Berkeley Monthly,
late 1970s and early 1980s.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 37037, 25 June 1932

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 33
David Building & Hussey House
2832 College Avenue
The David Building at 2832 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2832, 2836 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 053–1695–01100
(Berry-Bangs Tract, Block J, Lot 9)
Dimensions: 40 feet x 108 feet
Cross Streets: Stuart Street and Russell Street

3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 14414

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: Hussey House; David Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1915; 1972 Factual: Yes
Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 5004, 27 October, 1915; City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 070672652, 5 July 1972

7. Architect: Charles M. Norgrove; W. B. Baker & Ronald Dean Senna of Senna Kemp & Kemp Design Partnership

8. Builder: Cedarborg & Anderson, 1033 Poplar Street, Oakland; David & Company

9. Style: Prairie; Early California Adobe storefront

10. Original Owners: Dr. Samuel W. Hussey, 2649 Russell Street; Thomas S. & Janet David Original Use: residential and office; offices and commercial (2 stores)

11. Present Owner: Ludwig Alison F Tr
Present Occupant: offices; Vibrant Nails & Lashes

12. Present Use: offices; commercial (1 store)
Current Zoning: C-E Adjacent Property Zoning: R-2A

13. Present Condition of Property:

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

14. Description.

Built in 1972, this wood-frame shop building
(built in the front yard of an existing house)
is one story with mezzanine. The façade is
surfaced with simulated adobe bricks painted
white (slump stone). The trim is rough wood,
stained dark brown.

15. History.

There was much building activity at the north
edge of the Elmwood commercial district in the
early 1970s—even crossing over Russell to the
2800 block of College Avenue. The first new
shop building since the Gallardo Building of
1950 was built in 1972 at 2832 College. How
was space found for a new building in an al -
ready built-up neighborhood? It was built in
the front yard of the Hussey House.

In 1904, Major Samuel William Hussey mar -
ried Elizabeth Lillian Lugg. Samuel was a
dental surgeon who had served in the Span -
ish-American War (and later served in World
War I). Lillian had come to this country from
Cornwall, England, with her family as a teen-
ager. Her father was a bookkeeper and the fam-
ily lived at 1239 Haskell Street. The young
couple first lived on Haskell when they settled
in Berkeley in 1909. In 1912 Dr. Hussey was
appointed to a position at the University and
they moved to one of the apartments in the
Koerber Building, Two years later they moved
into a large house at the northwest corner of
Russell and College. They must have liked the
neighborhood, as they bought a lot to the north
of where they were living and in 1915 built a
two-story house and dental office at 2832 Col-
lege Avenue designed by Charles M. Norgrove,
a Berkeley draftsman. The Husseys enjoyed
their College Avenue home, although not as
much when John Bischoff purchased the corner
house, moved it west, and built an apartment
house on the corner, lot-line to lot-line in 1920.

Mrs. Hussey died in 1941 and Dr. Hussey sold
the house the next year. He died in Napa in
1958. Meanwhile, the Hussey House had been
converted to a duplex after the World War II.

In 1971, Thomas Swafford David and his wife
Janet Sullivan David purchased the property.

This was the first of three residential properties
that the Davids bought in the early 1970s with
an eye to converting them to commercial uses.

Thomas David was a 1963 graduate of the Uni-
versity.

In April 1972, the Davids applied to the City
to convert the Hussey House to offices and to
build a free-standing commercial shop building
in the front yard. They turned to architect Ron-
ald Senna of the firm of Senna Kemp & Kemp
Design Partnership, who was working on a
shops-and-offices complex in North Berke-
ley—Walnut Square—to design their project.

The shops building was designed to resemble a
rustic California adobe. The slump stone used
on the street façade can easily pass for adobe
bricks, and the trim was rough unpainted wood.

The interior was divided into two shops, with
the northern shop being much larger than the
other. The first business to open in the larger
space was Primavera, a very popular gift shop
owned by Patsy Slater and Lynn Mattei. The
interior, as designed by the architect, was also
rough unpainted wood. The ceiling was open
with exposed rafters. At the south wall of the
space, a stairway led up to a narrow balco-
ny-like mezzanine that ran around the whole
interior. Both the ground floor and the mezza -
nine were used for merchandise, with the effect
that shopping at Primavera was more like go-
The house—behind the store—was built in
1915 in a vaguely Prairie style. It is stucco,
high-waisted, and with a shallow hip roof. The
windows are casements with Prairie-inspired
muntin design.

ing on a treasure hunt. In 1978, the partnership
was dissolved so that Lyn Mattei could be sole
proprietor of their spin-off business, Primavera
Too in the Davids’ building next door on the
corner. Patsy Slater had opened a new retail
shop in the Koerber Building in 1977 and in
1979 sold Primavera to Gary Gendel, owner of
Sweet Dreams, who ran it ably and successful-
ly for many more years.

The other original tenant was the well-known
Nature Company.

After completing the two large projects on the
site, the Davids again commissioned Ronald
Senna to remodel the garage at the back of the
property which Dr. Hussey had built in 1917.

The Davids had a very active two years. They
purchased a pair of 1920s apartment buildings
where the City parking lot is now at 2642 Rus-
sell Street. Their plan was to create more shops
and offices. Their third project in the same vein
was the Bischoff apartment building at 2840
College Avenue, next door to their initial in -
vestment. In 1973, they received the go-ahead
from the City and began converting it to second
floor offices and an intriguing jumble of retail
spaces on different levels on the first floor. They
had also purchased a home for themselves and
their family: the Mission Revival masterpiece
at the corner of Russell and Kelsey.

Somehow, sadly, even with the shops at 2832
College being rented immediately, the Davids’
projects to extend the Elmwood commercial
district both northward and westward ran into
problems. During 1974 they lost all their prop-
erties to foreclosure. They held onto 2832 Col-
lege and their house on Russell Street to the
bitter end, but by the end of 1974 all was gone.

They left Berkeley and moved to Monterey
where Thomas David went on to become a suc-
cessful developer. The Davids left a legacy in
Berkeley with a collection of unusual and invit-
ing retail spaces in the Elmwood district.

The Hussey House had two surprising Berke -
ley connections over the years. In 1931, while
the Husseys were in residence, Berkeley poet
Charles Keeler (and first client of architect Ber-
nard Maybeck in 1895) held a series of lectures
on “Immortality” at the house. Keeler was also
the founder of the Berkeley Cosmic Society.

In the summer of 1974, after the house had
been made into offices, the Berkeley Gazette
responded to an inquiry about the Berkeley Ar-
chitectural Heritage Committee of Urban Care.
(soon to be the Berkeley Architectural Heri -
tage Association). The reader was instructed to
write to the committee at 2832 College Avenue.

16. Significance.

The David Building is significant as a newer
building in the Elmwood commercial district. It
is part of a development that had a big impact
on the district, by extending offices and retail
on the west side of College beyond the tradi -
tional boundary of Russell Street. It parallels
the earlier extension of the Elmwood commer-
cial district on the east side of the street: the
former Safeway supermarket and parking lot.

The David Building is significant as a sin-
gle shop building designed by Ronald Senna.

Rather than individual buildings, the architect
is known for the type of small, urban mall-like
developments that became popular after the
success of Ghirardelli Square. Senna designed
a number of such projects for Rue-Ell Enter -
prises on the southside. He is best known for
the iconic Walnut Square at Vine and Walnut in
North Berkeley.

The David Building is also significant as the
founding location of The Nature Company,
which evolved into a nationwide chain

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

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

19. Bibliography.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 5004, 27 October, 1915; City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 070672652, 5 July 1972; 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.

Property file for 2832 College Avenue, City of Berkeley. ancestry.com
Wikipedia.
“Appointments at University,” Oakland Enquirer, 11 April 1912. “Dr. S. W. Hussey Given Commission in Army,” Oakland Enquirer, 28 May 1918. “Veterans of Two Wars to be Honored,” Oakland Tribune, 30 October 1919. “Immortality to be Topic of Lectures,” Oakland Tribune, 26 September 1931. “Funeral Tomorrow for Mrs. Hussey,” Oakland Tribune, 31 January 1941. “Thomas David to Take Bride,” San Francisco Examiner, 2 January 1967. “2832 College—small store front of residence,” Berkeley Gazette, 10 April 1972. “Walnut Square: ‘Problem was to Build a Friendly Shopping Center” by Mark Trautwein, Berkeley Gazette, 2 May 1973.
“Construction Delays Worrying Trustees of Berkeley Library” by Bill Stetson, Berkeley Gazette, 14 July 1974.
“A Village Within a City,” San Francisco Examiner, 21 May 1989.

18. Is the property endangered? No
• the slump stone façade
• the rough stained wood trim
• the rough stained wood doors
Features to Preserve.

Additional Photographs.

A real estate picture from 1975 showing the shop
building at the left and a 1957 Values Inc. apart-
ment building at the right. In between is the gate
leading back to the Hussey House.

Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

The Hussey House. at 2832 College Avenue
Ormsby Donogh, 1939, Donogh Real Es-
tate File, BAHA.

The David Building, looking south to Russell Street.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

An advertisement for The Nature Company.

Berkeley Gazette, 6 April 1973.

Additional Photographs.

Earliest known photo of the David Building at 2832 College Avenue, tucked between the 1920 Bischoff apartment building and a 1957 Values Inc. apartment building, probably 1973. The slump stone façade is natural and the trim has not been stained dark. BAHA Archive..

Elizabeth Lillian Lugg
Hussey, Dr. Samuel
William Hussey. Found
on-line.

Thomas Swafford
David, Janet Sullivan
David. Found on-line.

Primavera logo, 1973.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 5004, 27 October, 1915

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 070672652, 5 July 1972

CITY OF BERKELEY
Ordinance #4694 N.S.

LANDMARK APPLICATION
Elmwood Commercial Historic District
Property No. 34
Bischoff Apartment Building
2838–40 College Avenue
The Bischoff Apartment Building, 2838 College Avenue. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

1. Street Address: 2838, 2840, 2842 College Avenue
County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94705

2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 053–1695–01202
(Berry-Bangs Tract, Block J, portion of Lots 9 and 10)
Dimensions: 54 feet x 60 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 #: 14416

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 Apartment Building
Commonly Known Name: not known

6. Date of Construction: 1920; 1972–74 (remodel) Factual: Yes Source of Information: City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 2840, 6 July 1920; City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 121172413, 8 December 1972

7. Architect: John A. Bischoff (designer); Senna Kemp & Kemp Design Partnership

8. Builder: John A. Bischoff; David & Co.

9. Style: Simplified Classical Revival; 1970s “Pop” style

10. Original Owners: John A. Bischoff, 2717 Russell Street; Thomas and Janet David Original Use: residential; stores and offices

11. Present Owner: Durst Mose & Esther O Trs
Present Occupant: Slash; Koraa; Slash

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

13. Present Condition of Property:

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

14. Description.

15. History.

John Albert Bischoff was a perceptive and suc-
cessful designer-builder; and, at least in the El-
mwood, a shrewd investor. He purchased Lots
1 through 6 in Block K of the Berry-Bangs
Tract in 1921, which were all of the as-yet un-
built-upon lots on the west side of College be -
tween Russell and Ashby. By the end of 1922,
he had built four buildings—all different but
related in design—that are an important con-
tributer to the architectural aesthetic of the El-
mwood commercial district.

John Bischoff was born in 1885 in San Fran -
cisco. He was already a contractor when he
married Elna Irene Nelson of Berkeley. They
moved often between addresses in Oakland
and Berkeley until 1919 when Bischoff built a
residence for his family at 2717 Russell Street
at the corner of Cherry Street, one short block
from College Avenue. The Bischoffs raised
their three sons here and remained in the house
the rest of their lives. Their son Elmer became
a renowned figural painter and art instructor at
the University.

They had not lived in the house long, before
Bischoff began to reshape the neighborhood.

At the start of 1923, upon his purchase of the
$135,000 Granada Apartments on Alice Street,
the Oakland Tribune wrote this about him, “Bi-
The Bischoff apartment building is a two-sto-
ry, wood-frame structure built in 1920. It is
surfaced in cement plaster painted light green.

The building as it looks today is the result of a
major remodel and conversion to an office and
retail complex in 1972–73.

The ground floor was given the appearance of
an arcade with six elongated arched windows
on the College Avenue façade and two fac -
ing Russell. The second-floor windows were
changed from double-hung sash to unobtrusive
aluminum sliders. Three shops were created,
each at a slightly different level. The large cor-
ner space, boasting five of the arches, is entered
up only two steps from street level, but feels
much higher from the interior looking out.

The central space (on College) is entered
through the original grand apartment-house en-
trance. Two short flights angle up to shop level.

This intriguing space is lit by two of the tall
arched windows. The eighth arch is close to the
north edge of the College Avenue façade, and
is slightly taller and wider than the others. It
is the entrance to the second-floor offices and
opens onto a brightly-lit lobby with open steel
and concrete stairway.

The third shop is at the southwest corner of the
building with its entrance on Russell Street.

This space was originally storage space for the
apartment building. It is partially subterranean;
a very short flight of stairs leads down from the
sidewalk. There is a sturdy wooden rail fence
at sidewalk level, safely guarding the stair well.

There remain two architectural features of the
original 1920 design. The parapet gently curves
at each corner to create an extra bit of height.

There are three “balustrades” across the front
elevation and one centered on the Russell street
side. These are made of half-balusters attached
to an inset panel to give the impression of a
full, three-dimensional balustrade. These were
retained in the remodel.

The other preserved feature is the grand en -
trance, set into the center of the College Av -
enue façade. Two freestanding, unornamented
columns support a large arch that breaks into
the second floor area. Above the shop entrance
is a robust balcony with a railing of true balus-
ters supported by two molded Classical brack -
ets. Leading onto the balcony is a set of small-
paned French doors that, when closed, form an
arch.

schoff for a number of years has been active
in Claremont and the College Avenue district.

He recently completed the construction of 16
stores on [College] and within the past year has
built four apartment houses in this section. His
other building operations in this district brings
his total in this section to close to $500,000.”
Bischoff’s first project in the district was the
Bischoff apartment building at 2840 College.

On the northwest corner of College and Rus-
sell stood the Edward Cooke House, designed
by Walter H. Parker in 1909. This is the house
that the Husseys lived in before building their
house next door at 2832 College Avenue. In
July of 1920, Bischoff moved the Cooke House
as far west as possible on the deep lot. He then
proceeded to build the two-story apartment
building on the corner, with no set-back. This
aspect continued the urban appearance of this
intersection begun with the Methodist Episco-
pal Church on the northeast corner in 1909 and
the Dondero Building on the southeast corner
in 1912, but it caused great consternation to the
Husseys, who protested to the City Council that
“its obstructing the view would be a menace
to the public.” The “urban intersection” was
complete the next year, with construction by
Bischoff of another two-story building at the
southwest corner.

By 1921, the apartment building was complet-
ed. John Bischoff advertised the apartments as
“Sunny 3 and 4-room apts.; wall beds, break -
fast nook, oak floors, linoleum, gas range, in-
stantaneous water heater.” The building stood
demurely on the corner for the next fifty years.

Then, when the construction boom in the north
end of the Elmwood district began in the early
1970s, the apartment building was converted to
commercial use.

Thomas Swafford David and his wife Janet
Sullivan David, acting as David & Company,
purchased the property fromthe Bischoff fam -
ily, and applied to the City in 1972 to convert
the building to offices and shops. The Davids’
project next door at 2832 College was already
underway. They used their architect Ronald
Senna of the firm of Senna Kemp & Kemp De-
sign Partnership, who was working the same
year on a shops-and-offices complex in North
Berkeley—Walnut Square, to design this proj-
ect as well as the one next door. A building per-
mit was issued in December 1972.

Architect Senna took a robust 1920s building
and was able to create the “paper-thin” look
that was popular at the time. The very narrow
reveals of the minimalist aluminum windows
and the eight elongated arches, as well as the
way the many arches break up the walls, give
the building a more light and airy appearance.

The three shops (there is one facing Russell) are
each set at a different level, adding the sense of
discovery to the shopping experience that one
might find in a place like Walnut Square. That
the architect was able to create this dynamic in
a four-square-walls structure was an exemplary
feat.

One of the first shops was Gourmet Sandwich
and Delicatessen owned by Henry Yarmo and
Stephen Wally. They received a use permit in
May 1973 and were allowed to open for busi -
ness in February 1974 before the entire proj -
ect was completed. The deli was located in the
sunny corner space.

Another first business was La Plume de Ma
Tante owned by Katherine Dunham. What type
of business it was or where in the building it
was located is not known as all businesses were
given the same address.

Also a first was Oggi, opened by Lippincott and
Reguzzoni in December 1973, which featured
modern furniture and accessories. It was locat-
ed in the center shop space, entered through the
grand, columned apartment house entry and
then up two short flights of stairs. Sadly, this
promising business was for sale before the end
of the year. It was replaced by Scaramouche, a
women’s clothing store.

In 1977, Lynn Mattei, co-owner of Primavera
next door in the David Building, opened Prima-
vera Too, a clothing store in the center space.

Then, in 1982 she applied for a use permit,
through the Marcel Schurmann company, for
a “fine paper goods” store: Papyrus Gallery. It
was not readily accepted because of the new
quota system prohibiting like businesses, and
there were other stores that sold greeting cards.

The owners prevailed, and for about twenty
years this intimate inviting space was filled
with people shopping for cards from the Mar -
cel Schurmann line, which was the local manu-
facturer of the finest greeting cards at the time.

Beginning in early 1974, Thomas and Janet
David began losing their Berkeley real estate
through foreclosure, with nothing left by that
December. According to Mr. David, “an excep-
tionally difficult money market” had prevented
continued work on his Russell Street project
nearby, jeopardizing his other projects. The
Bischoff apartment building was purchased by
lawyer Thomas F. Camp on August 18, 1974,
who was able to finish the work on the building
under the existing permits. It was sold to the
current owners in January 1976.

16. Significance.

The Bischoff Apartment Building is significant
firstly as one of the seven buildings that John
A. Bischoff designed and built in the Elmwood
(three commercial buildings, three apartment
buildings, and one combination commercial
and residential building). It is also the first
building that he built during the two years he
developed his properties. John Bischoff helped
to shape the architectural style of the Elmwood
Commercial District.

The building is also significant as a major res-
idential-to-commercial conversion that, along
with the David Building next door built in
1972, helped to extend the boundaries of the
west side of the commercial district north of
Russell Street that year, in line with the Safe -
way Building on the east side.

The building is significant as the work of archi-
tect Ron Senna, who was a designer of intrigu-
ing shopping areas such as Walnut Square. He
managed to impart the same character onto a
square building by creating shops set here and
there at different levels.

Features to Preserve.
• the parapet with simulated balustrades
• the original entrance with columns, arch, bal-
cony, and small-paned French doors
• the simplified second-floor windows
• the eight elongated arches from the 1972 re -
model
• the three-level shop design

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. 8936, 6 July 1920; City of Berkeley Appli- cation for Building Permit No. 021172413, 8 December 1972; 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 2840 College Avenue, City of Berkeley.

Various Elmwood directory folders, published between 1974 and 2002. “Wedding to Be October Event,” Oakland Tribune, 8 October 1910. “Engaged to Wed John A. Bischoff,” San Francisco Chronicle, 13 October 1910. “Berkeley Building Permits,” San Francisco Bulletin, 9 July 1920. “Row Looms as Apartment is Built,” Oakland Enquirer, 18 August 1920.

Advertisement for apartments at 2840 College, Oakland Tribune, 4 January 1922. “Big Apartment Sale in Lake District Made,” Oakland Tribune, 7 January 1923.

John Bischoff obituary, Oakland Tribune, 9 May 1964.
“Thomas David to Take Bride,” San Francisco Examiner, 2 January 1967. “Report on Construction,” Berkeley Gazette, 25 December 1972. “Walnut Square: ‘Problem was to Build a Friendly Shopping Center” by Mark Trautwein, Berkeley Gazette, 2 May 1973.

Fictitious Business Name Statement: “La Plume de Ma Tante,” Berkeley Gazette, 19 October 1973.

Advertisement for Oggi, Berkeley Gazette, 11 June 1974. “Construction Delays Worrying Trustees of Berkeley Library” by Bill Stetson, Berkeley Gazette, 14 July 1974.

Liquidation sale for Oggi, Berkeley Gazette, 8 October 1974. “Recollections of John A. Bischoff, Jr.” by Andrea Gabriel, Rockridge News, April 1987. “A Village Within a City,” San Francisco Examiner, 21 May 1989.

19. Bibliography.

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

Additional Photographs.

The Bischoff apart-
ment house, 1971.

Multiple Listing
Form, Donogh
Real Estate File,
BAHA.

The Bischoff apartment house,
1974. Multiple Listing Form,
Donogh Real Estate File, BAHA.

Primavera Too. Jo-
anna Callenbach,
1978.

The Bischoff apartment house,
Russell Street side.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

The Bischoff apartment house (on left) about 1972. BAHA archives.

The Bischoff apartment house undergoing remodeling, 1973. BAHA archives.

Additional Photographs.

The Bischoff apartment house. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Bischoff apartment house, entrance.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Bischoff apartment house, west and south eleva-
tions. Anthony Bruce, 2025.

The Bischoff apartment house, balcony.

Anthony Bruce, 2025.

Additional Photographs.

John Albert Bischoff.

Oakland Tribune, 12 De-
cember 1928.

Elna Louise Nelson who married John Bis-
choff in 1910. San Francisco Chronicle, 13
October 1910.

Developers of the build-
ing into commercial in
1972. Thomas Swafford
David, Janet Sullivan
David. Found on-line.

Advertisement for one of
the first businesses, Oggi.

Berkeley Gazette, 11
June 1974.

Advertisement for Scaramouche,
which replaced Oggi in about 1974.

Berkeley Monthly, 1976.

The Bischoff family home at 2717 Russell Street, de -
signed by John A. Bischoff in 1919.

Photo: Anthony Bruce, 2025.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 8936, 6 July 1920

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 8935, 6 July 1920, showing how the existing house was to be moved west on the lot.

City of Berkeley Application for Building Permit No. 021172413, 8 December 1972

Civic Arts Commission
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7000 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7099 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: https://berkeleyca.gov/

INFORMATION CALENDAR
July 28, 2026
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Civic Arts Commission
Submitted by: Peter Montgomery, Chairperson, Civic Arts Commission Subject: Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan

INTRODUCTION
The Civic Arts Commission has updated their work plan, which outlines Commission objectives for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) based upon goals articulated in the City of Berkeley Arts & Culture Plan (2018 - 2027 Update)1 and reflective of previously initiated projects that are under way. This work plan includes a variety of objectives in three civic arts areas: Grants, Policy, and Public Art.

CURRENT SITUATION AND ITS EFFECTS
At its regular meeting on June 24, 2026, the Civic Arts Commission approved the final FY27 Civic Arts Commission Work Plan, which is used to guide the Commission’s work throughout the year.

Action Item: Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan
M/S/C (Mongomery/ Woo) to approve the Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan Vote: Ayes — Bachrach, Blecher, Bullwinkel, Dutta-Choudhury, Kramer, Montgomery, Woo; Nays — None; Abstain — None; Absent — Pineda (LoA), Scott.

Public Comment: 0

BACKGROUND
See attached work plan.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE IMPACTS
There are no environmental sustainability or climate impacts identified as a result of this plan.
1 https://dev.berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/OED%20Arts%20and%20Culture%20Plan%20Update.pdf

Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan INFORMATION CALENDAR July 28, 2026

POSSIBLE FUTURE ACTION
Based on Commission research, public meetings, new initiatives, other additional recommendations to City Council may be submitted to City Council at such time deemed necessary.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF POSSIBLE FUTURE ACTION
No fiscal impacts determined at this time.

CONTACT PERSON
Carianna Arredondo, Commission Secretary, Civic Arts Commission, (510) 981-7007 Attachment: 1: FY27 Civic Arts Commission Work Plan

Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027) Page 1 Civic Arts Commission
Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027) Approved at 6/24/2026 Civic Arts Commission meeting
Grants Subcommittee

1. Advocate to Council for the sustaining and growth of the Civic Arts grant funding allocation.

2. Review and develop Civic Arts guidelines for Arts Programs, Community Festivals, General Operating Support, and Individual Artist Projects grant categories for the FY28 grant cycle with Civic Arts staff; make final guidelines recommendations to Civic Arts Commission.

3. Review funding scenarios for grant awards based on scores, number of applicants, and available funding; make final grant funding recommendations to Civic Arts Commission.

4. Prepare for and monitor the proposed Berkeley arts ballot measure that will impact Civic Arts grants funding and staff operations.

Policy Subcommittee

1. Event Producer Policy Recommendations
Ensure that the Event Producer Policy Recommendations are appropriately presented to City Council, reviewed, and acted upon following their anticipated Council consideration in June 2026.The Subcommittee may continue to monitor implementation, identify any follow-up policy needs, and support staff and the Commission in advancing recommendations that strengthen Berkeley’s event production landscape.

2. Civic Arts Grant Funding and General Fund Support
Advocate for the preservation and restoration of full Civic Arts grant funding levels in the General Fund budget. The Subcommittee should continue to emphasize that any future arts revenue measure or dedicated arts funding source should supplement, rather than replace or reduce, existing General Fund support for Civic Arts grants, programs, and core operations.

3. Civic Arts Staffing and Program Capacity
Advocate for the reinstatement of the Economic Development Project Coordinator position, or an equivalent Civic Arts staffing resource, in future budgets. The Subcommittee should continue to advocate for a sustainable staffing model that reflects the ongoing Civic Arts workload within the City Manager’s Office, including grants administration, policy development, Commission support, public art coordination, cultural planning, and arts sector engagement.

Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027) Page 2

4. Cultural Arts District Policy and West Berkeley Cultural Arts District Continue supporting the development of a Cultural Arts District in West Berkeley while also advancing a broader policy framework for the establishment, recognition, and support of Cultural Arts Districts in Berkeley. Building on the FY 2026 work plan and the City’s experience with the African American Arts and Culture District of South & West Berkeley / Lorin District, the Subcommittee shall work to articulate policy guidelines for future Cultural Arts Districts. This may include criteria for district formation, community leadership, cultural significance, geographic boundaries, governance, sustainability, and alignment with potential state designation opportunities.

5. Arts Activation in Vacant Commercial Spaces
Explore and develop policy recommendations for utilizing vacant or underused commercial spaces in Berkeley for arts and cultural uses, with a particular focus on retail frontage, storefront activation, and corridors such as San Pablo Avenue and University Avenue. This work may include reviewing existing Economic Development efforts, inviting staff presentations, researching models from other cities, and identifying feasible policy tools or pilot opportunities to support temporary or longer-term arts activation in vacant spaces including live/work opportunities.

6. Berkeley Cultural Trust
Support the development, advocacy, and long-term sustainability of the newly revived Berkeley Cultural Trust. The Subcommittee should help ensure ongoing Civic Arts Commission representation at Berkeley Cultural Trust meetings and identify opportunities for alignment between the Trust, the Commission, City staff, and the broader arts and culture sector.

7. Poet Laureate Program
Continue advocating for the establishment of a permanent Berkeley Poet Laureate Program. The Subcommittee may support the development of program guidelines, funding recommendations, selection processes, roles and expectations, and potential partnerships to ensure the program is sustainable and aligned with the City’s cultural goals.

8. Turtle Island Monument Project
Monitor and support resolution of the Turtle Island Monument project, including identifying any outstanding policy, process, funding, or interdepartmental coordination issues that require Commission attention. The Subcommittee should work with staff to clarify the project’s current status and determine whether further Commission or Council action is needed.

9. Tracking System for Commission Referrals and Council Actions Develop or recommend a tracking system for Civic Arts Commission referrals, recommendations, and items transmitted to City Council. The purpose of this system would be to support continuity of operations, improve transparency, track Council action and follow-up needs, and help future Commissioners and staff understand the status of prior Commission work.

Civic Arts Commission FY27 Work Plan (July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027) Page 3 Public Art Subcommittee

1. Strategic Planning and Program Direction
 Collaborate with Civic Arts staff and Dyson/Womack to develop a Public Art Strategic Plan for the City of Berkeley. The Plan will identify the steps, strategies, and actions needed to shape, strengthen, and evolve the Civic Arts Program. It will include recommendations to stabilize and sustain the Public Art Program in service of the community, including best practices, policy updates, and guidance on project prioritization and discontinuation. The Plan will build upon previous policy achievements and planning efforts adopted by the City Council.  Review and approve the FY27 Work Plan for projects funded through Funds 148 and 150.

2. Project Prioritization and Backlog Management
 Continue the pause on new public art projects until the existing backlog of projects is addressed and the Public Art Strategic Plan is completed, consistent with prior Civic Arts Commission direction from April 26, 2023.
 Permit Civic Arts staff to honor the mission, spirit, and community intent of “not started” projects through projects currently in progress, ongoing initiatives, and staff-proposed solutions until the Public Art Strategic Plan is completed and approved.

3. Public Art Project Review and Artist Selection
 Review and approve public art projects at key development milestones presented by staff.  Actively promote and distribute public art RFQs through professional networks, artist communities, and relevant community channels.
 Represent the Public Art Subcommittee on RFQ selection panels when possible.

4. Public Engagement and Civic Arts Programming
 Support the development, visibility, and public engagement of Civic Arts programming and public art platforms, including Cube Space, the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza Sound Art Program, and other current or emerging initiatives that support artists, inspire collaboration, and connect audiences with Berkeley’s public art ecosystem.

Landmarks Preservation Commission
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7000 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7099 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.CityofBerkeley.info/Manager

INFORMATION CALENDAR
July 28, 2026
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Landmarks Preservation Commission
Submitted by: Denise Hall Montgomery, LPC Chairperson
Subject: Annual Report on Landmarks Preservation Commission Actions

INTRODUCTION
The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has prepared a report on its activities during the period June 2025 through May 2026; see Attachment 1, “Annual Report on Landmarks Preservation Commission Actions.” Reports on the Commission’s activities are required on an annual basis, in accordance with Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter

3.24.090 - Annual Report Required.

CURRENT SITUATION AND ITS EFFECTS
On June 4, 2025, the Commission voted to approve the attached report and to forward it to City Council. Vote: 9-0-0-0; Yes: Crandall, Fike, Finacom, Gordon, Greene, Montilla, Orbuch, Schwartz, Turner; No: none; Abstain: none; Absent: none.

BACKGROUND
Staff prepared a draft report summarizing LPC’s actions and then presented it for the Commission’s consideration at the meeting on June 4, 2026. The Commission received the report favorably and voted to adopt it and to forward it to City Council in accordance with the BMC requirement.

The Commission held a total of 11 meetings during this reporting period. Among numerous accomplishments, the Commission:
 Added four properties to the local register.
 Granted four Structural Alteration Permits for new development, improvements, additions or expansions within City Landmark properties.  Received five demolition referrals from the Zoning Adjustments Board.

Annual Report on Landmarks Preservation Commission Actions INFORMATION CALENDAR July 28, 2026

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE IMPACTS
Historic preservation practices encourage the adaptive re-use and rehabilitation of cultural resources within the City. The rehabilitation of these resources, rather than their removal, achieves construction and demolition waste diversion, and promotes investment in existing urban centers.

POSSIBLE FUTURE ACTION
The LPC will continue to submit an annual report on its activities in accordance with the BMC requirement.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF POSSIBLE FUTURE ACTION
There are no fiscal impacts associated with this reporting activity.

CONTACT PERSON
Allison Riemer, Secretary, Landmarks Preservation Commission, 510-981-7433, [email protected]
Attachments:
1: Annual Report of Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Activities

ATTACHMENT 1

L A N D M A R K S

P R E S E R V A T I O N

C O M M I S S I O N
R e p o r t t o c i t y c o u n c i l
1947 Center Street, 2nd fl., Berkeley, CA 94704 Tel: 510.981.7410 TDD: 510.981.7474 Fax: 510.981.7420

Annual Report on
Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC)
Actions
Reporting Period: June 2025 through May 2026
Due Date: June 30, 2026
Presented to City Council
By the LPC Secretary
On behalf of the LPC Chairperson and the Commission
In accordance with Berkeley Municipal Code Section 3.24.090 Table of Contents
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Meetings Held
Part 3: Actions Undertaken in Accordance with
Regulatory Compliance
Part 4: Discussions Held
Part 5: Presentations Received

ANNUAL REPORT ON COMMISSION ACTIONS
JUNE 30, 2026 Page 2 of 4
Part 1: Introduction
In accordance with Berkeley Municipal Code Section 3.24.090, the LPC shall report its actions to City Council on an annual basis. The report must arrive not later than June 30 of each year.

Herein City Council will find summaries of all LPC activities for the current reporting period. The summary lists are arranged in categories reflecting LPC’s compulsory duties, such as public meetings and quasi-judicial reviews, as well as other efforts that further cultural resource preservation in Berkeley.

Part 2: LPC Meetings Held
Meeting Body Date
June 5, 2025
July 7, 2025
August 7, 2025
September 4, 2025
October 6, 2025
November 6, 2025
December 4, 2025
February 5, 2026
March 5, 2026
April 6, 2026
Landmarks Preservation Commission
(LPC)
May 7, 2026

ANNUAL REPORT ON COMMISSION ACTIONS
JUNE 30, 2026 Page 3 of 4
Part 3: LPC Regulatory Actions
Activity Property Address Application Number Action Date 2035 Francisco Street LMIN2024-0003 June 5, 2025
2939 Dwight Way LMIN2020-0007 August 7, 2025
2000 Blake Street LMIN2025-0003 September 4, 2025
Landmark & Structure of Merit
Designations
BMC Section 3.24.150
1929 Martin Luther King Jr.

Way LMIN2025-0002 November 7, 2025
2009 Tenth Street LMSAP2025-0003 June 5, 2025
2328 Channing Way LMSAP2025-0004 July 7, 2025
2135 Martin Luther King Jr.

Way LMSAP2025-0004 July 7, 2025
Structural Alteration Permits
BMC Section 3.24.240
2276 Shattuck Avenue LMSAP2024-0005 December 4, 2025
2372 Ellsworth Street ZP2024-0169 July 7, 2025
2298 Durant Avenue ZP2024-0126 July 7, 2025
2029 University Avenue ZP2024-0181 September 4, 2025
1890 Alcatraz Avenue ZP2024-0183 September 4, 2025
Use Permit Demolition Referrals
BMC Section 23.326.070
2417 Carleton Street ZP2024-0027 October 6, 2025
1619 Walnut Street LMMA2025-0002
Favorable Action to
City Council on
September 4, 2025Mill Act Contract Applications
City Council Resolution 59,355 21 Mosswood Road LMMA2025-0001 Favorable Action to
City Council on
November 6, 2025
Zoning Officer Referrals
BMC Section 23.202.070(G)(1)

N/A N/A N/A
Final Design Review
BMC Section23.406.070(D)(3)

N/A N/A N/A
2449 Dwight Way DRCP2022-0003 August 7, 2025Design Review Referrals BMC Section23.406.070(F)(1)(a) 2428-2430 Bancroft Way DRSL2024-0005 December 5, 2024 2012-2024 Ashby Avenue N/A No action, January
6, 2025
1708 Harmon Street/3240
Ellis Street N/A No action, January
6, 2025
1750 Sacramento Street
(North Berkeley BART) N/A No action, May 1,
2025
Section 106 Referrals
National Preservation Act
1429 Delaware Street (North
Berkeley BART) N/A No action, May 1,
2025

ANNUAL REPORT ON COMMISSION ACTIONS
JUNE 30, 2026 Page 4 of 4
Part 4: LPC Agenda Discussions Held
Topic Discussion Outcome Date(s)
Mills Act
Discussed recommendations
from the subcommittee, and
other ideas for improving the
Mills Act program, and a
moratorium on the program.

Council voted to
pause the
program
November 18,
2025
October 6, 2025
Anna Head School
Discussed the information
received from the Save Anna
Head School campaign.

Letter sent to the
University of
California.

October 6, 2025
Landmarks Preservation
Ordinance Amendments
Discussed proposed
amendments to the Landmarks
Preservation Ordinance
(Berkeley Municipal Code
Chapter 3.24).

Established a
new
subcommittee;
sent
communication to
staff.

February 5, 2026;
March 5, 2026;
April 6, 2026
Part 5: LPC Agenda Presentations Received
Topic Presenter Date
Purpose and overview of the
Planning and Development
Department
Jordan Klein, Planning and
Development Department Director February 5, 2026
2026 Potential Infrastructure
Bond Measure City Manager’s Office March 5, 2026

Communications

All communications submitted to the City Council are
public record. Communications are not published directly to the City’s website. Copies of individual communications are available for viewing at the City Clerk Department and through Records Online.

City Clerk Department
2180 Milvia Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
(510) 981-6900

Records Online
https://records.cityofberkeley.info/

To search for communications associated with a particular City Council meeting using Records Online:

1. Select Search Type = “Public – Communication Query (Keywords)”

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