RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA, February 24, 2026
Community Services Building
440 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA 94804
_____________________________________________________________________
A. SPECIAL OPEN SESSION TO HEAR PUBLIC COMMENT BEFORE CLOSED
SESSION
The Richmond City Council Evening Special Open Session was called to order at 4:02 p.m. by Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
B. ROLL CALL
Present: Councilmembers Jamelia Brown, Claudia Jimenez, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez. Absent: Councilmember Soheila Bana and Vice Mayor Doria Robinson arrived after the Council adjourned to Closed Session.
C. CLOSED SESSION
C.1 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION (Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of Subdivision (d) [as applicable] of Government Code Section 54956.9) Two Cases
C.2 CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATORS (Government Code
Section 54957.6)
Agency Representatives: Sharrone Taylor, Jack Hughes, and Lisa Charbonneau
Employee organizations:
1. SEIU Local 1021 Full Time Unit and Part Time Unit
2. IFPTE Local 21 Mid-Level Management Unit and Executive Management Units
3. Richmond Police Officers Association RPOA
4. Richmond Police Management Association RPMA
5. IAFF Local 188
6. Richmond Fire Management Association RFMA
D. PUBLIC COMMENT BEFORE CLOSED SESSION (limited to items on the Closed Session agenda only)
Cordell Hindler gave comments in person. Nathan Lonso gave comments via teleconference.
E. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION
The Open Session adjourned to Closed Session at 4:07 p.m. Closed Session adjourned at 5:55 p.m.
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F. REGULAR MEETING OF THE RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL
The Regular Meeting of the Richmond City Council was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
G. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Eduardo Martinez led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
H. ROLL CALL
Present: Councilmembers Soheila Bana, Jamelia Brown, Claudia Jimenez, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez. Absent:
None.
I. STATEMENT OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None.
J. AGENDA REVIEW
Item P.2 (Tobacco Retailer License Amendments) was moved up to be heard as the first item under Public Hearings.
K. REPORT FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY OF FINAL DECISIONS MADE
DURING CLOSED SESSION
Interim City Attorney Shannon Moore reported that Item C.1 (conference with legal counsel - anticipated litigation) and Item C.2 (conference with labor negotiators) were discussed. No reportable action was taken.
L. REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER (public comment allowed under Open Forum)
City Manager Shasa Curl provided a report. Link to view report: City Manager's Report M. COMMENDATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS
M.1 Proclamation Honoring the Richmond Steelers Dance Team “Rich Girlz” as JAMZ National Champions
PROCLAMATION honoring the Richmond Steelers Rich Girlz for their national championship achievement and recognizing their excellence, leadership, and positive representation of the City of Richmond - Councilmember Jamelia Brown (510-412-2050).
Councilmember Jamelia Brown introduced the item. Councilmember Jamelia Brown, Councilmember Soheila Bana, Councilmember Cesar Zepeda, Mayor Eduardo Martinez, Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, and Councilmember Claudia Jimenez read the proclamation and presented it to the members of the Richmond Steelers Rich Girlz. The Richmond Steelers Rich Girlz performed. Cordell Hindler gave comments in person.
N. OPEN FORUM FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
(public comment on items that remain on the Consent Calendar or items not on the agenda - limited to 2 minutes unless otherwise specified - Back and forth dialogue with the Council is prohibited)
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The following individuals gave comments in person:
Cordell Hindler thanked the Mayor's office for bringing forward Item O.3.a (Proclamation Recognizing March 2026 as Red Cross Month in Richmond). Mr. Hindler also expressed concerns regarding City staffing levels, street conditions, and street safety.
Irania DeLaMora gave comments regarding communism in other countries.
Matt Stonebraker gave comments regarding officers recently placed on leave.
Ruthie Dineen expressed appreciation for the support to youth programs throughout the City provided by the Richmond Fund for Children and Youth.
Elizabeth Bashan gave comments regarding officers recently placed on leave. Ms. Bashan also gave comments regarding morale in the Police department and police officer retention.
Savannah Stewart gave comments regarding a recent officer involved shooting and expressed concerns for the parties involved.
Ben Therriault gave comments regarding officers recently placed on leave. Mr. Therriault also gave comments regarding morale in the Police department and police officer retention.
Rolanda Wilson gave comments regarding Item O.3.a (Proclamation Recognizing March 2026 as Red Cross Month in Richmond) and the work the Red Cross does in the community.
Mark Wassberg gave comments regarding the City's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) free safe zones.
Kathleen Cosby expressed concerns regarding recent sideshows that took place in her neighborhood.
Jaime R. and Nat C. expressed concerns regarding officer involved shootings.
The following individuals gave comments via teleconference:
Michael Pagaling gave comments regarding officers recently placed on leave and staffing levels in the Police department.
Alexander Caine gave comments regarding labor negotiations between the Police Officer's Association and the City. Mr. Caine also gave comments regarding officers recently placed on leave and police officer retention.
Mark gave comments regarding the upcoming primary election.
O. CITY COUNCIL CONSENT CALENDAR
(All items placed under the Consent Calendar are considered to be routine and noncontroversial. These items will be enacted upon together with a motion and second, without discussion, of any member of the City Council, and each item shall be deemed to have received the action recommended.)
Motion by Councilmember Claudia Jimenez
Seconded by Councilmember Jamelia Brown
To approve all items on the consent calendar.
Ayes (7): Councilmembers Soheila Bana, Jamelia Brown, Claudia Jimenez, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
Passed
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O.1 City Clerk
O.1.a City Council Minutes
APPROVE the minutes of the January 27, 2026, Regular City Council meeting - City Clerk's Office (Pamela Christian 510-620-6513).
O.2 Human Resources
O.2.a Amendments to the Position Control List
ADOPT a resolution amending staffing and position control list and allocating the necessary salary, wages, and benefits as required – Human Resources Department (Nickie Mastay/Sharrone Taylor/Emily Combs 510-620-6602).
Adopted Resolution No. 20-26
O.3 Mayor's Office
O.3.a Proclamation Recognizing March 2026 as Red Cross Month in Richmond PROCLAMATION declaring March 2026 as Red Cross Month in the City of Richmond – Mayor’s Office (Mayor Eduardo Martinez 510-620-6503).
O.4 Public Works
O.4.a January 2026 Abatement Report
RECEIVE a report on the January 2026 abatement activities – Public Works Department (Daniel Chavarria 510-620-5478/Darin Fitzpatrick 510-231-3044/Hugo Mendoza 510-231-3030).
O.4.b Contract with ChargePoint, Inc. for Electric Vehicle Charging Network Services
APPROVE a sole-source contract with ChargePoint, Inc., in an amount not to exceed $32,900, consisting of a base contract amount of $26,400 and a $6,500 contingency, for network cloud services and warranty coverage for City-owned electric vehicle charging stations, for the term of June 30, 2025, through November 10, 2028 - Public Works Department (Gabino Arredondo 510-620-6606).
P. PUBLIC HEARINGS
P.1 Public Hearing and First Reading of Ordinance Adopting the 2025 California Building Standards Code
HOLD a public hearing to INTRODUCE an ordinance (first reading) amending Richmond Municipal Code (RMC) Article VI, Building Regulations, Chapter 6.02 by adopting the 2025 California Building Standards Code with noted local amendments – Community Development Department (Lina Velasco/George Kabaivanov 510-620-5519).
Community Development Director Lina Velasco introduced the item. Building Official George Kabaivanov presented a PowerPoint. Link to presentation: CA Building Standards Code
Mayor Martinez opened the public hearing. There were no public speakers. Mayor Martinez closed the public hearing. Discussion ensued.
Motion by Mayor Eduardo Martinez
Seconded by Councilmember Soheila Bana
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To approve the recommended action.
Ayes (6): Councilmembers Soheila Bana, Jamelia Brown, Claudia Jimenez, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
Absent (1): Vice Mayor Doria Robinson
Passed
P.2 Tobacco Retailer License Amendments
HOLD a public hearing to INTRODUCE an ordinance (first reading) amending Chapter 7.106 entitled “Tobacco Retailer License” and repealing Richmond Municipal Code Chapter 7.107 to comply with updates to State law relating to the sale of flavored tobacco products, establish a cap of 50 licenses that can be issued at any one time to protect against overconcentration, and to add operational prerequisites and enhanced regulations for enforcement of violations (including retailing without a tobacco retail license, sales to minors, and sales of illegal and hazardous substances), which shall aim to protect vulnerable demographics, streamline compliance standards, and enhance available enforcement tools – Community Development Department (Lina Velasco/Avery Stark/Eva Mann 510- 621-1283).
Planning Manager Avery Stark introduced the item. Mr. Stark, Code Enforcement Officer Kevin Tisdell, Contra Costa Health Representative Mayra Lopez, Code Enforcement Manager Eva Mann, and Community Development Director Lina Velasco presented a PowerPoint. Link to presentation: Tobacco Retailer License Amendments
Mayor Martinez opened the public hearing. Aileen Paz, Brianna Avila, Natalia Vasquez, Hannah Cobrador, Ben Therriault, Cynthia LeBlanc, Raymond Chimezie, Nabila Oliver, Oscar Garcia, Rocio Martinez, and Claudia Citroen gave comments in person.
(Vice Mayor Robinson left the meeting at 7:58 p.m.)
Bryan Lam, Carlo Shihady, Amaya Wooding, Blythe Young and Mya Richmond gave comments via teleconference. Mayor Martinez closed the public hearing.
Discussion ensued. The Council suggested and/or requested the following: an assessment of staffing needs in the Code Enforcement division; the development of a method for residents to report violations; and clarification on what results within a livescan would disqualify a retailer.
Motion by Councilmember Sue Wilson
Seconded by Councilmember Jamelia Brown
To approve the recommended with an amendment that staff consider recommendations from the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and LGBTQ Minus Tobacco organizations.
Ayes (6): Councilmembers Soheila Bana, Jamelia Brown, Claudia Jimenez, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
Absent (1): Vice Mayor Doria Robinson
Passed
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Q. STUDY AND ACTION SESSION
Q.1 Establishment of a Safe Walk Zone Along the 23rd Street Corridor and Identification of Child-Sensitive Areas
DIRECT the city manager and city attorney to study and bring an ordinance back to City Council that establishes a Safe Walk Zone along the 23rd Street corridor, with identification of child-sensitive areas surrounding schools, parks, libraries, and other youth-serving facilities – Councilmember Jamelia Brown (510-412- 2050).
(At 9:50 p.m. - a motion by Councilmember Zepeda, seconded by Councilmember Jimenez, to suspend the rules and extend the meeting to complete Item Q.1 (Establishment of a Safe Walk Zone Along the 23rd Street Corridor and Identification of Child-Sensitive Areas) passed by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmembers Bana, Brown, Jimenez, Wilson, Zepeda, and Mayor Martinez. Noes: None. Absent: Vice Mayor Robinson. Abstain: None.).
Councilmember Brown introduced the item. Councilmember Brown presented a PowerPoint. Link to presentation: Safe Walk Zone
Cordell Hindler, Claudia Citroen, Barbara Ropati, and Leilani Bailey gave comments in person. Discussion ensued.
Councilmember Bana made a motion, seconded by Councilmember Jimenez, that instead of an ordinance, city staff and the city attorney work with organizations that were involved with the Richmond Task Force to End Gender Based Violence and come up with possible solutions to bring back to the Council.
Councilmember Zepeda made a substitute motion, seconded by Councilmember Brown, to accept the item as is, and in addition work with public works department staff on creative engineering solutions and with community-based organizations that are already working on the issue of local prostitution.
Councilmember Jimenez offered a friendly amendment to the substitute motion that staff work with organizations that have worked on the subject to see what kinds of programs can be coordinated, to bring engineering solutions that make it difficult for cars to pass in areas where prostitution is taking place, and to have public annual reporting on enforcement outcomes. The amendment was partially accepted; it was agreed that public annual reporting on enforcement outcomes would be added to the motion. Councilmember Wilson offered a friendly amendment that staff also study enforcement towards the men who procure women, who are managing them, or who are the clients. The amendment was accepted.
Motion by Councilmember Cesar Zepeda
Seconded by Councilmember Jamelia Brown
To accept the item as is, and include the following additional direction: to work with public works department staff on creative engineering solutions; to work with community-based organizations that are already working on the issue of local prostitution; to have public annual reporting on enforcement outcomes; and to direct staff to study enforcement towards the men who procure women, who are managing them, or who are the clients.
Ayes (6): Councilmembers Soheila Bana, Jamelia Brown, Claudia Jimenez, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
Absent (1): Vice Mayor Doria Robinson
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Passed
R. REPORTS OF OFFICERS: REFERRALS TO STAFF, AND GENERAL REPORTS (INCLUDING AB 1234 REPORTS)(limited to two minutes per Councilmember) The item was not heard.
S. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:54 p.m. to meet again on March 3, 2026.
Clerk of the City of Richmond Mayor
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RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA, March 3, 2026
Community Services Building
440 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA 94804
_____________________________________________________________________
A. SPECIAL OPEN SESSION TO HEAR PUBLIC COMMENT BEFORE CLOSED
SESSION
The Richmond City Council Evening Open Session was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Mayor Eduardo Martinez.
B. ROLL CALL
Present: Councilmembers Claudia Jimenez, Jamelia Brown, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez. Absent: Councilmember Soheila Bana arrived at 5:01 p.m. after the roll was called.
C. CLOSED SESSION
Emergency Item Added to Closed Session:
Interim City Attorney Shannon Moore requested the addition of a new case under Item C.2 and reported that the city had received a letter from Brian Hofer of Secure Justice regarding Item W.1 (Flock Safety Contract Extension) on the Open Session agenda. Mrs.
Moore stated that the letter was a threat of litigation and requested a discussion with the council in Closed Session.
Mayor Martinez announced that, pursuant to Government Code Section 54954.2(b), staff was requesting that the council add a Closed Session item that arose after the agenda was posted and required immediate action. The mayor stated that the city received the litigation threat letter on March 3, 2026, after the agenda was posted, and delaying the matter would prejudice the city's interest.
Motion by Councilmember Zepeda
Seconded by Councilmember Brown
To add said emergency item to the Closed Session agenda.
Ayes (7): Councilmember Bana, Councilmember Brown, Councilmember Jimenez, Councilmember Wilson, Councilmember Zepeda, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Mayor Martinez.
Passed (7 to 0)
C.1 PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EV ALUATION (Government Code Section 54957)
Title: City Clerk
C.2 CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION (Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of Subdivision (d) [as applicable] of Government Code Section 54956.9) Two Cases
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D. PUBLIC COMMENT BEFORE CLOSED SESSION (limited to items on the Closed Session agenda only)
Cordell Hindler gave comments in person regarding Item C.1 (city clerk performance evaluation).
E. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION
The Open Session adjourned to Closed Session at 5:03 p.m. Closed Session adjourned at 6:05 p.m.
F. REGULAR MEETING OF THE RICHMOND HOUSING AUTHORITY
The Regular Meeting of the Richmond Housing Authority was called to order at 6:08 p.m. by Chairperson Eduardo Martinez.
G. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Chairperson Martinez led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
H. ROLL CALL
Present: Commissioners Claudia Jimenez, Jamelia Brown, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, Vice Chairperson Doria Robinson, Chairperson Eduardo Martinez, and Housing Authority Tenant Commissioner Jaycine Scott. Absent: Commissioner Soheila Bana arrived at 6:09 p.m. after the roll was called.
I. STATEMENT OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None.
J. AGENDA REVIEW
None.
K. HOUSING AUTHORITY OPEN FORUM
Cordell Hindler gave comments in person regarding Item L.1 (Pacific Site Management contract).
L. HOUSING AUTHORITY CONSENT CALENDAR
Motion by Commissioner Brown
Seconded by Tenant Commissioner Scott
To approve Item L.1 on the Housing Authority Consent Calendar.
Ayes (7): Commissioner Brown, Commissioner Jimenez, Commissioner Wilson, Commissioner Zepeda, Vice Chairperson Robinson, Chairperson Martinez, and Tenant Commissioner Scott.
Absent: (1): Commissioner Bana.
Passed (7 to 1)
L.1 Contract with Desert Parks Landscaping (dba Pacific Site Management) for Landscaping Services
ADOPT a resolution to APPROVE a contract with Pacific Site Management for $36,000, to pay for outstanding invoices for landscaping services performed under the previous contract, with a new contract term ending June 30, 2026 – Economic Development Department/Richmond Housing Authority (Nannette Beacham/Antoinette Terrell 510-621-1300).
Adopted Resolution No. 2224
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M. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 6:11 p.m.
N. REGULAR MEETING OF THE RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL
The Regular Meeting of the Richmond City Council was called to order at 6:11 p.m. by Mayor Martinez.
O. ROLL CALL
Present: Councilmembers Soheila Bana, Claudia Jimenez, Jamelia Brown, Sue Wilson, Cesar Zepeda, Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, and Mayor Eduardo Martinez. Absent:
None.
P. STATEMENT OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST
None.
Q. AGENDA REVIEW
Mayor Martinez proposed adding an emergency item to present a letter regarding the War Powers Resolution in opposition to the unauthorized military action against Iran. He stated the need to take action on the matter arose after the agenda was posted on February 26, 2026, and the item required immediate action due to Congress scheduled to take a vote on the matter during the same week. Link to view Letter Motion by Mayor Martinez
Seconded by Councilmember Jimenez
To approve the addition of said emergency item to the agenda.
Ayes (5): Councilmember Bana, Councilmember Jimenez, Councilmember Wilson, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Mayor Martinez.
Abstained: (2): Councilmembers Brown and Zepeda.
Passed (5 to 2)
Motion by Mayor Martinez
Seconded by Councilmember Jimenez
To approve under the Consent Calendar the transmittal of a letter to the United States Congress expressing the City Council's support of the Massie-Khanna War Powers Resolution and opposing any offensive or unauthorized military action against Iran undertaken without prior congressional authorization. Each member of the City Council was hereby individually and collectively authorized to sign said letter as individuals and on behalf of the City Council. City staff was hereby directed to finalize, transmit, and deliver the signed letters to the offices of Representative John Garamendi and to take all further administrative actions necessary to effectuate the intent of the action.
Ayes (5): Councilmember Bana, Councilmember Jimenez, Councilmember Wilson, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Mayor Martinez.
Abstained: (2): Councilmembers Brown and Zepeda.
Passed (5 to 2)
The emergency item was added to the Consent Calendar.
Item U.2.b (Tobacco Retailer License Amendments) was removed from the Consent Calendar for discussion. This item was subsequently placed back on the Consent Calendar for approval.
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Item W.3 (Cheese Park [La Moine Park] Improvements) was moved for discussion immediately following Item W.1 (Flock Safety Contract Extension).
R. REPORT FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY OF FINAL DECISIONS MADE
DURING CLOSED SESSION
Interim City Attorney Shannon Moore reported there were no final decisions made during Closed Session.
S. REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER (public comment allowed under Open Forum)
City Manager Shasa Curl presented a PowerPoint. Link to view City Manager's Report
S.1 NEW EMPLOYEE REPORT - 1st Tuesday
Director of Human Resources Sharrone Taylor presented a PowerPoint. Link to view New Employees Report
T. OPEN FORUM FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
(public comment on items that remain on the Consent Calendar or items not on the agenda - limited to 2 minutes unless otherwise specified - Back and forth dialogue with the Council is prohibited)
The following individuals gave comments in person:
Cordell Hindler requested that an item be placed on a future agenda to acknowledge the service day efforts of Salesian College Preparatory High School students. He also recommended that Chevron settlement funds be allocated toward street repairs and street safety improvements. Mr. Hindler expressed concerns regarding Richmond police staffing shortages and suggested hiring a Richmond Port marketing manager.
Soloman Ervin announced that he formed a youth basketball program in Richmond. He requested use of the Booker T. Anderson Community Center on Saturdays and additional funding for tournaments.
Claudia Citroen expressed concerns regarding the amount of time individual councilmembers spent speaking on agenda items. She urged Mayor Martinez to reinforce a five-minute speaking limit.
Ben Therriault shared the Contra Costa County District Attorney's report regarding the Richmond Police Department officer-involved shooting of Angel Alexander Montaño Magallan that occurred on August 4, 2025. He emphasized that the report concluded no further action would be taken in the case.
Mark Wassberg gave comments regarding the attack on Iran and opposed the letter to Congress added as an emergency item to the Consent Calendar. He also gave comments against radical terrorism.
Samantha Torres proposed temporarily activating the vacant lots located on Macdonald Avenue and 12th Street as soccer fields until permanent development began. She emphasized that the increased foot traffic would improve the vitality of Downtown Richmond and provide safe spaces for youth and families.
Elsa Stevens and Julia Keen gave comments in support of Item U.7.b (proclamation honoring Nicolas Traylor for distinguished service as executive director of the Richmond Rent Program). The speakers acknowledged Mr. Traylor for his public service and assistance to the senior residents at the Heritage Park Apartments. 179
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Don Gosney expressed concerns regarding the lack of democracy and transparency when the council added emergency items to the Consent Calendar during meetings. He urged the council to give the public an opportunity to comment on the process.
Soheila Bana expressed sadness over the attack on Iran and thanked the council for its letter to Congress supporting the Massie-Khanna War Powers Resolution. She shared images of youth casualties as a result of war and recited a poem authored by Ghassan Kanafani, wishing for the protection of children.
The following individuals gave comments via teleconference:
Nathan Lonso read the conclusion of the Contra Costa County District Attorney's report regarding the Richmond Police Department officer-involved shooting of Angel Alexander Montaño Magallan that occurred on August 4, 2025. He emphasized that the report determined the officers involved acted within policy and the law.
Devin (last name not stated) gave comments regarding Richmond's mayoral candidates and the Richmond Progressive Alliance. He also gave comments regarding the union's role in negotiating the Chevron settlement. Devin warned of the potential lack of public safety staff to establish fire evacuation routes in Council District 4.
Keycha Gallon expressed concerns regarding the protection of all citizens, a lack of inclusivity, community neglect, and ongoing disparities. She urged the council to protect and serve the entire community.
U. CITY COUNCIL CONSENT CALENDAR
(All items placed under the Consent Calendar were considered to be routine and noncontroversial. These items were enacted upon together with a motion and second, without discussion, of any member of the City Council, and each item was deemed to have received the action recommended.)
Emergency Item Added
APPROVE the transmittal of a letter to the United States Congress expressing the City Council's support of the Massie-Khanna War Powers Resolution and opposing any offensive or unauthorized military action against Iran undertaken without prior congressional authorization. Each member of the City Council was hereby individually and collectively authorized to sign said letter as individuals and on behalf of the City Council. City staff was hereby directed to finalize, transmit, and deliver the signed letters to the offices of representative John Garamendi and to take all further administrative actions necessary to effectuate the intent of the action (Mayor Martinez 510-620-6503 / Councilmember Soheila Bana 510-620-6743). Link to view Letter Motion by Councilmember Jimenez
Seconded by Councilmember Bana
To approve the emergency item and all items on the Consent Calendar.
Ayes (7): Councilmember Bana, Councilmember Brown, Councilmember Jimenez, Councilmember Wilson, Councilmember Zepeda, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Mayor Martinez.
Passed (7 to 0)
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U.1 City Attorney's Office
U.1.a Legal Services Agreement Amendment No. 5 with Ellis Investigations APPROVE the fifth amendment to the legal services agreement with Ellis Investigations to increase the payment limit by $50,000, for a total amount not to exceed $250,000, for confidential personnel investigation services – City Attorney’s Office/Human Resources Department (Shannon Moore/Nickie Mastay/Sharrone Taylor 510-620-6600).
U.2 Community Development
U.2.a Ordinance Adopting the 2025 California Building Standards Code ADOPT an ordinance (second reading) amending Richmond Municipal Code (RMC) Article VI, Building Regulations, Chapter 6.02 by adopting the 2025 California Building Standards Code with noted local amendments – Community Development Department (Lina
Velasco/George Kabaivanov 510-620-5519).
Adopted Ordinance No. 01-26 N.S.
U.2.b Tobacco Retailer License Amendments
ADOPT an ordinance (second reading) amending Chapter 7.106 entitled “Tobacco Retailer License” and repealing Richmond Municipal Code Chapter 7.107 to comply with updates to State law relating to the sale of flavored tobacco products, establish a cap of 50 licenses that can be issued at any one time to protect against overconcentration, and to add operational prerequisites and enhanced regulations for enforcement of violations (including retailing without a tobacco retail license, sales to minors, and sales of illegal and hazardous substances), which shall aim to protect vulnerable demographics, streamline compliance standards, and enhance available enforcement tools – Community Development Department (Lina Velasco/Avery Stark/Eva Mann 510-621-1283).
Adopted Ordinance No. 02-26 N.S.
U.3 Community Services
U.3.a Contract Amendment No. 1 with Commercial Titan Wrap for Van Wrapping Services
APPROVE the first contract amendment with Commercial Titan Wrap for high-performance, exterior-grade vinyl film wrap to Community Crisis Response Programs vehicles increasing the contract amount by $13,095.78, for a total payment limit to $23,095.78, and extending the contract expiration date to January 1, 2027 - Community Crisis Response Program (Sam Vaughn 510-620-5404/Michael Romero 510-620- 6791/Joan Binalinbing 510-620-6531).
U.3.b Appropriate Grant Funds from the California State Library for Literacy Education
ADOPT a resolution to ACCEPT and APPROPRIATE the California State Library grant award of $137,058 for adult learner and family literacy services; and AUTHORIZE the city manager or their designee to execute the grant agreement and certify related grant reports – Community Services Department/Library Division (Kate Eppler 510-620-5452/Abigail Sims-Evelyn 510-307-8082).
Adopted Resolution No. 21-26
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U.4 Economic Development
U.4.a Contract with Gordon Huether & Partners and Sonnikson Inc. for a Public Art Sculpture Project
APPROVE a contract with Gordon Huether & Partners in an amount not to exceed $175,000 for sculpture design and fabrication, and APPROVE a contract with Sonnikson Inc. in an amount not to exceed $50,000 for sculpture installation, both for a term beginning January 1, 2026, and ending December 31, 2026 - Economic Development Department/Arts and Culture Division (Nannette Beacham/Jordon Nesbitt 510-620-6787).
U.4.b Agreement with STAX Engineering for Deployment of a CARB-Approved Emissions Control Solution Barge
ADOPT a resolution appropriating $750,000 annually for three fiscal years (Fiscal Year (FY) 2026–2027, FY 2027–2028, and FY 2028–2029), for a total appropriation of $2,250,000; APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the city manager or their designee to negotiate and execute an agreement with STAX Engineering, pursuant to a previously issued Request for Proposals, for the deployment and operation of a California Air Resources Board (CARB)-Approved Emissions Control Solution (CAECS) barge at the Port of Richmond, for an annual amount not-to-exceed $750,000, and a total contract amount not-to-exceed $2,250,000, for a three-year term ending March 31, 2029 – Economic Development Department/Port (Charles Gerard 510-620-6792).
Adopted Resolution No. 22-26
U.5 Finance Department
U.5.a Special Assessment for Unpaid Garbage Liens
ADOPT a resolution authorizing placement of liens and special assessments for unpaid garbage collection service fees on Contra Costa County’s property tax records – Finance Department (Emily Combs/Mubeen Qader 510-620-6740/Antonio Banuelos 510-620-6741).
Adopted Resolution No. 23-26
U.5.b Amendment of Authorized Signatures on the Local Agency Investment Fund
ADOPT a resolution revising the authorization list on the Local Agency Investment Fund (LAIF) accounts to reflect current staff assignments – Finance Department (Emily Combs 510-620-6740).
Adopted Resolution No. 24-26
U.6 Information Technology
U.6.a Contract Amendment No. 1 with Intuitive Municipal Solutions (iMS) for the Enterprise Community Development and Land Management (ERP) System
APPROVE the First Amendment to the agreement with Intuitive Municipal Solutions (iMS), LLC, for the City’s Enterprise Community Development and Land Management (ERP) System, to provide additional configuration, application support, and training services, increasing the contract amount by $249,610, for a total amount not to exceed $2,008,206 - Information Technology Department (Sue Hartman 510-620-6874). 182
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U.7 Mayor's Office
U.7.a Proclamation Declaring March 09, 2026, as Tibetan National Uprising Day
PROCLAMATION declaring March 09, 2026, as Tibetan Uprising Day in the City of Richmond – Mayor’s Office (Mayor Eduardo Martinez 510-620-6503).
U.7.b Proclamation Honoring Nicolas Traylor for Distinguished Service as Executive Director of the Richmond Rent Program
PROCLAMATION honoring Nicolas Traylor for his distinguished service as Executive Director of the Richmond Rent Program – Mayor’s Office (Mayor Eduardo Martinez 510-620-6503).
U.7.c Reappointment of Ode Kunthar to the Richmond Youth Council APPOINT Ode Kunthar to the Richmond Youth Council, term expires October 1, 2026 – Mayor’s Office (Mayor Eduardo Martinez 510-620- 6503).
U.8 Police Department
U.8.a Purchase Carahsoft Technology Corp GrayKey Device for Forensic Evidence Extraction
APPROVE a sole-source contract with Carahsoft Technology Corp for the GrayKey device for forensic evidence commencing on January 1, 2026, and ending December 31, 2028, in an amount not to exceed $41,431.66 – Police Department (Chief Timothy Simmons 510-621-1802).
U.8.b Purchase of Expandable Batons from Peacekeeper Products International APPROVE the purchase of 125 Peacekeeper Expandable Batons from Peacekeeper Products International in an amount not to exceed $32,000 - Police Department (Chief Timothy Simmons 510-621-1801/Daniel Reina 510-620-1809)
U.9 Public Works
U.9.a Purchase Irrigation Supplies, Tools, and Parts from Heritage Landscape Supply Group and Blue Angel International LLC
ADOPT a resolution to APPROVE the purchase of irrigation supplies, tools, and parts from Heritage Landscape Supply Group and Blue Angel International LLC, on an as-needed basis, for a three-year term, with the option to extend for up to two additional one-year terms, in an amount not to exceed $150,000, consistent with the approved budget – Public Works Department (Daniel Chavarria 510-620-5478/ Darin Fitzpatrick 510-231-3044).
Adopted Resolution No. 25-26
V. BUDGET SESSION
V.1 Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25 Audited Unspent Funds
DISCUSS and ADOPT resolutions to APPROPRIATE Fiscal Year 2024-25 audited unspent funds in the amount of $8,213,680 – Finance Department (Emily Combs 510-620-6790/Mubeen Qader 510-412-2077/Jerry Gurule 510-620-6591). 183
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Director of Finance Emily Combs, Deputy Director of Finance Mubeen Qader, and Accounting Manager Jerry Gurule presented a PowerPoint: Link to view Fiscal Year 2024-25 Audited Unspent Funds. Cordell Hindler gave comments in person. Keycha Gallon gave comments via teleconference. Discussion ensued.
The council requested the following: an allocation of $50,000 for an unhoused emergency response fund to address major issues with encampments and unhoused individuals on the streets, particularly along Carlson Boulevard, who did not fall within the city's existing finite grant parameters; make certain that there were resources to create tools such as hotel vouchers; verify whether the existing unhoused funding allocation for organizations had been exhausted (staff subsequently confirmed that $259,000 was available in the General Fund for unhoused intervention services); a plan to address all unsafe street intersections; a meeting with Public Works to identify appropriate plants for high fire severity zones and erosion-susceptible areas; an allocation for (only the absolutely necessary) restrooms at Cheese Park and address the park's remaining improvements at the mid-year budget review; increase tree canopies and install more solar lights equitably; restore recreation center funding for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; consider less conservative budget forecasting and enhanced city services; consider improvements to Carlson Boulevard lighting and street striping; increase Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA-compliant) curb accessibility ramps and install more stop signs; and consider the establishment of an unhoused Coordinated Outreach Referral, Engagement (C.O.R.E.) team that is centered and anchored in Richmond.
A motion made by Councilmember Bana to approve the item with a budget allocation for bathrooms at Cheese Park died for the lack of a second.
The council proposed the following: reprioritize community needs; install temporary prefabricated park restrooms; develop a holistic Parks Bathroom Plan to address the needs of the entire community; and include Cheese Park in the Capital Improvements Plan with a rating to move forward with other projects.
Motion by Vice Mayor Robinson
Seconded by Councilmember Jimenez
To approve the recommended action with a minimum allocation of $50,000 to ensure that emergency funds were available to provide services for the unhoused that did not fall within the purview of the existing grants, so people in encampments were not just moved from one street to the next, but actually had a place to offer them to go.
The $50,000 allocation could be taken from wherever it was available (including unspent funds) or staff could choose the best funding source, or it could be taken from the available $259,000 in unhoused intervention funds, if those funds could be used to service the unhoused that did not fall within the existing grants and had fallen through the net, and the funds could be used to offer unhoused services wherever they were camping in the city and not just specific areas; an emergency response fund that can respond to anybody wherever to offer services to as many people possible until the resource had been exhausted.
The motion maker restated the motion to allocate $50,000 from the proposed budget (unspent funds) towards emergency funds.
The motion maker restated and clarified that the motion was to accept the recommended action, with the adjustment of $50,000 from the unspent funds to be allocated to emergency unhoused services.
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Ayes (6): Councilmember Bana, Councilmember Jimenez, Councilmember Wilson, Councilmember Zepeda, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Mayor Martinez.
Noes (1): Councilmember Brown.
Passed (Passed 6 to 1)
Adopted Resolution No. 26-26 (with revisions)
The City Manager stated that the resolution would be amended to remove $50,000 from the Complete Streets Improvements line item, currently budgeted at $6,320,944 that would be reduced by $50,000, and would be reappropriated to $50,000 in unhoused funds that would be spent collaboratively between the Community Development and Police departments to outline the policy objectives previously mentioned pertaining to emergency unhoused services.
V.2 City of Richmond Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2025
RECEIVE a report on the City’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) for Fiscal Year ended June 30, 2025 – Finance Department (Emily Combs/Mubeen Qader/Jerry Chak 510-620-6740)
Director of Finance Emily Combs introduced the matter. Ahmed Badawi of Badawi & Associates Certified Public Accountants presented a PowerPoint. Link to view Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. Cordell Hindler gave comments in person. Discussion ensued. The council requested that staff publish the final version of the presentation on the city's website.
Motion by Councilmember Zepeda
Seconded by Councilmember Wilson
To receive said report as presented.
Ayes (7): Councilmember Bana, Councilmember Brown, Councilmember Jimenez, Councilmember Wilson, Councilmember Zepeda, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Mayor Martinez.
Passed (7 to 0)
W. NEW BUSINESS
W.1 Flock Safety Contract Extension
RECEIVE a presentation, APPROVE a transitional contract amendment, and PROVIDE direction to staff regarding the Flock CCTV system, Flock Drone as a First Responder (DFR) Program, and Flock Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) System – Police Department (Chief Timothy Simmons 510-621-1802).
Police Chief Timothy Simmons introduced the matter and presented a PowerPoint. Link to view Flock Safety Report
At approximately 9:15 p.m., a motion made by Vice Mayor Robinson, seconded by Councilmember Bana, to reduce the public comment time limit from two minutes to one minute, failed by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmembers Bana, Brown, and Vice Mayor Robinson. Noes: Councilmembers Jimenez, Wilson, Zepeda, and Mayor Martinez. Abstentions: None. Absent: None.
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The following individuals gave comments in person:
In favor: Kathy Crosby, Ahmad Anderson, Philip Rosenthal, Don Gosney, Claudia Citroen, Edward Escobar, Tuan, Ben Therriault, Oscar Garcia, Jamin Pursell, and Nate Lonso.
Against: Ryan Kazen, Rocky Chew, Jasmin Timmins, Crescent Diamond, Katherine Lee, Hope Dixon, Pedro Bernal, Carlos Juarez, Natalia Soto, Andrew Melendez, Helen Haggerson, Raymond Wendell, Julie Salamon, Elsa Stevens, and Irene Wibawa.
Neutral: Mark Wassberg and Cordell Hindler.
At approximately 9:55 p.m., a motion made by Councilmember Zepeda, seconded by Mayor Martinez, to extend the meeting until the end of Item W.1, passed by the unanimous vote of the City Council.
The following individuals gave comments via teleconference:
In favor: Willie Robinson, Chris Moore, Laura Hill, Robert, Christina Reza, and Linda Whitmore.
Against: Manny, Marisol Gomez, Sonia Decker, Brian Hofer, Edith Pastrano, Emily Ross, Lorraine Reza, Myrna Cervantes, Melvin Willis, Annie Pennell, River Allen, Vincent Iannolo, Sara Cantor, Marisol Cantu, and Reem Suleman.
Discussion ensued.
At approximately 10:56 p.m., a motion was made by Councilmember Zepeda, seconded by Councilmember Brown, to continue the meeting until the next morning of March 4, 2026.
A substitute motion made by Councilmember Bana to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, to continue Item W.1, along with the other remaining items, died for the lack of a second.
The initial motion to continue the meeting until the next morning of March 4, 2026, failed by the following vote: Ayes: Councilmembers Bana, Brown, and Zepeda. Noes: Councilmembers Jimenez, Wilson, Vice Mayor Robinson, and Mayor Martinez. Abstentions: None. Absent: None.
Item W.1 was continued to the March 17, 2026, City Council meeting.
W.2 Update Regarding the City’s Ongoing and Planned Efforts Related to Immigration Enforcement Actions
RECEIVE an initial report regarding the City’s ongoing and planned efforts related to safeguarding residents from federal civil immigration enforcement actions, including U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) raids – City Manager’s Office/City Attorney’s Office (Shasa Curl/Shannon Moore 510-620-6512).
Item W.2 was continued to the March 17, 2026, City Council meeting.
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W.3 Cheese Park (La Moine Park) Improvements—Permanent Restrooms, Drinking Fountain, Playground Safety, Toddler-Area Fencing, Children’s Bike Garden, and Completion of Volunteer-Led Repainting ADOPT a resolution to DIRECT City staff to prepare a comprehensive work plan for improvements at Cheese Park (La Moine Park), including permanent restrooms, a drinking water fountain, playground restoration, safety fencing around the toddler area, completion of repainting started by volunteers, and the design of a children’s bike garden in collaboration with community partners such as Bike East Bay; and identify feasible funding sources in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026– 27 Capital Improvement Program and operating budget process - Councilmember Soheila Bana (510-672-3490) and Councilmember Claudia Jimenez (510-620- 6565).
Item W.3 was continued to the March 17, 2026, City Council meeting.
W.4 Create and Implement Blue Envelope Program in Richmond DIRECT the city manager or their designee to create and implement a Blue Envelope Program for residents, including a promotional campaign to inform police officers, first responders, and of the new program and how to participate, and aim to roll out the program in April for Autism Awareness Month - Councilmember Cesar Zepeda (510-620-6593).
Item W.4 was continued to the March 17, 2026, City Council meeting.
W.5 Co-Sponsorship and Venue Reservation for Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community Celebration
APPROVE an official City of Richmond community event and co-sponsorship of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community Celebration and AUTHORIZE the reservation of the Richmond Auditorium for Saturday, May 2, 2026 - Councilmember Soheila Bana (510-672-3490).
Item W.5 was continued to the March 17, 2026, City Council meeting.
X. REPORTS OF OFFICERS: REFERRALS TO STAFF, AND GENERAL REPORTS (INCLUDING AB 1234 REPORTS)(limited to two minutes per Councilmember) None.
Y. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:59 p.m., to meet again on March 17, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.
Pamela Christian, Clerk of the City of
Richmond
Eduardo Martinez, Mayor
187
March 24, 2026
City Council
DATE: March 24, 2026
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Councilmember Cesar Zepeda
Subject:
Create and Implement Blue Envelope Program in
Richmond
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The fiscal impact of developing and launching the Blue Envelope Program is currently unknown, as staff still
need to determine the scope of materials, quantities, and outreach methods. Costs may include printing blue
envelopes and brochures, producing lanyards, decals,
seatbelt covers, and other program identifiers, as well as staff time and promotional activities to educate the
community. Initial expenses may be absorbed within
existing department resources; however, if additional
funding is required, staff will return to the City Council with cost estimates and a recommended funding source.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The Blue Envelope Program is a voluntary initiative
designed to reduce misunderstandings, enhance safety
and communication during traffic stops between law
enforcement, first responders, and individuals with
disabilities, including autism, dementia, anxiety,
deafness, or other intellectual and developmental
disabilities.
AGENDA
REPORT
188
March 24, 2026
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
DIRECT the city manager or their designee to create and implement a Blue Envelope Program for residents,
including a promotional campaign to inform police officers and first responders of the new program and how to
participate; staff will provide a presentation to the council once the program is up and running - Councilmember
Cesar Zepeda (510-620-6593). This item was
continued from the March 3, and March 17, 2026,
meetings.
DISCUSSION:
The Blue Envelope Program helps promote inclusivity and provides individuals with autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, anxiety, intellectual and developmental disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing with a blue envelope to keep in their vehicle and/or on their person to hold their license, registration, and insurance card. The envelope serves as a visual cue for officers and first responders that the individual may require additional accommodation or awareness during an interaction. Some accommodation strategies that officers and first responders could use during an interaction with an individual:
Lowering the volume on their radio
Allowing the driver extra time to respond
Using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods, such as tablets, picture boards, or speech devices
Using plain language and speaking clearly with limited jargon during interactions
The envelope also includes step-by-step instructions for drivers about what to expect during a traffic stop.
However, the Blue Envelope Program is not just for drivers. Communities around California have expanded the program to include items such as car decals, lanyards, seatbelt covers, keychains, and bracelets. These items give law enforcement and first responders a visual cue that the person may need extra accommodation in any encounter, not just on the road. The program is voluntary, free, and self-implemented.
The City of Richmond would make available for free at participating locations, including the Police Department, ROCK (Reach Out with Compassion and Kindness) vans, and other designated participating locations:
Blue Envelope Program Brochure
Blue Envelope
Lanyards
Seatbelt Covers
Ribbons
Key Chains
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March 24, 2026
Bracelets
Stickers
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
None
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March 24, 2026
City Council
DATE: March 24, 2026
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Councilmember Soheila Bana
Subject:
Stop Iran War Resolution
FINANCIAL IMPACT: Adoption of this resolution has no direct fiscal impact on the City of Richmond. The resolution does, however,
speak to the broader public -policy consequences of
federal war spending and notes that a hypothetical $50
billion war allocation would amount to an estimated $17 million on a per -capita basis for Richmond that could
otherwise support pressing domestic priorities.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
March 3, 2026
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The proposed resolution expresses the City of Richmond’s opposition to the expanding U.S. war on Iran and
condemns reported attacks on civilians and civilian
infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, residential areas, and energy infrastructure.
Reuters has reported a likely U.S. strike on a girls’ school in Minab, damage to Gandhi Hospital in Tehran, and
attacks affecting residential areas and fuel and refinery infrastructure in Tehran. These reported attacks raise
urgent concerns under the U.N. Char ter and international humanitarian law.
AGENDA
REPORT
191
March 24, 2026
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ADOPT a resolution opposing the U.S. war on Iran,
condemning attacks by the United States and Israel on
civilians and civilian infrastructure in Iran, calling for immediate de-escalation and diplomacy, urging Congress
to exercise its constitutional war powers, and calling for an arms embargo on Israel - Councilmember Soheila Bana
(510-672-3490).
DISCUSSION:
The City of Richmond has long affirmed values of peace, human dignity, solidarity among peoples, and protection of civilian life. This resolution is consistent with those values and with the long tradition of local governments speaking out when federal war -making threatens civilian populations abroad and diverts resources from urgent domestic needs.
Under Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations, states must refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state absent lawful justification. International humanitarian law also prohi bits direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and requires distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack. Civilian objects, including schools, hospitals, and homes, may not lawfully be targeted as such.
Attacks on critical civilian infr astructure are especially alarming because they can foreseeably deprive civilians of fuel, electricity, medical care, sanitation, communications, and other essentials of life. Under international humanitarian law, such attacks are unlawful when they target civilian objects or inflict disproportionate harm on civilians. This principle is particularly important where strikes affect hospitals, schools, homes, and core energy systems serving the civilian population.
Public statements by senior federal officia ls have heightened concern. Reuters has reported criticism surrounding the administration’s legal justification for the war, and public statements by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disparaging “rules of engagement” have raised alarm because civilian protections are binding legal obligations, not optional restraints. Reuters has also reported statements by President Donald Trump about shaping Iran’s future leadership and encouraging attacks by Iranian Kurdish forces, raising additional concerns about Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
This resolution is both a moral and policy statement. First, it states Richmond’s opposition to aggressive war and to attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Even in armed conflict, the laws of war prohibi t direct attacks on civilians and require that military operations distinguish between military targets and civilian objects. Schools, hospitals, and residential neighborhoods are entitled to protection, and attacks on critical civilian infrastructure may be unlawful when they primarily harm civilians or cause disproportionate civilian suffering.
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March 24, 2026
Second, the resolution recognizes the domestic cost of war. At a time when Richmond and communities across the United States urgently need greater investment in healthcare, affordable housing, education, infrastructure, climate resilience, and jobs, allocating $50 billion to war would represent a profound misallocation of public resources.
Based on Richmond’s July 1, 2024 , population estimate of 115,353 and the U. S. population estimate of 340,110,988, Richmond’s per -capita share of such an amount would be approximately $17 million.
Third, the resolution urges Congress to exercise its constitutional war powers and calls for immediate de-escalation and diplomacy. It also calls for an arms embargo on Israel in light of the role of U.S. weapons transfers in fueling ongoing regional war and civilian suffering.
This item reflects widespread public concern regarding war, civilian harm, and the diversion of national resources away from local needs. The resolution is also aligned with Richmond’s stated values of peace, human dignity, and the protection of civilian life.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – Images Document showing war-related destruction in civilian sites in Iran, including Shajareh Tayebeh Elementary School in Minab, Gandhi Hospital in Tehran, and the Tehran refinery
193
Reso. No. _____
RESOLUTION NO. ______
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND IN
SUPPORT OF STOPPING THE IRAN WAR
WHEREAS, the City of Richmond affirms its values of peace, human dignity, solidarity among peoples, respect for international law, and the protection of civilian life, and rejects wars of aggression, collective punishment, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, at a time when Richmond and communities across the United States urgently need greater investment in healthcare, affordable housing, education, infrastructure, climate resilience, and good jobs, a war budget of $50 billion would represent a profound misallocation of public resources; and based on Richmond’s July 1, 2024 population estimate of 115,353 and the U.S. population estimate of 340,110,988, Richmond’s per-capita share of such an amount would be approximately $17 million that could instead support urgent community needs; and
WHEREAS, the United States and Israel have carried out attacks in Iran that, according to reported accounts, have struck a girls’ school in Minab, Gandhi Hospital in Tehran, residential areas, and f uel tanks and oil refinery infrastructure in Tehran, causing grave civilian harm and raising urgent concerns under international law; and
WHEREAS, under Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations, states must refrain from the threat or use of forc e against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state absent lawful justification; and international humanitarian law prohibits direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects and requires distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack; and civilian objects may not be made the object of attack; and
WHEREAS, attacks on critical civilian infrastructure are unlawful when they target civilian objects or inflict disproportionate harm on civilians, and strikes on schools, hospitals, homes, and essential civilian systems violate the core principles of the laws of war; and
WHEREAS, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly declared there would be no “stupid rules of engagement,” language that undermines respect for civilian prote ctions under international humanitarian law; and President Donald Trump told Reuters that the United States must have a role in choosing Iran’s next leader and encouraged Iranian Kurds to go on the offensive, threatening Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; and
WHEREAS, this war is unlawful, unethical, open -ended, and contrary to the interests of the people of the United States, while diverting resources away from urgent domestic needs; and Reuters has reported growing criticism, including from E uroean officials, that the U.S. -Israeli attacks on Iran breach international law; and
WHEREAS, continued United States arms transfers to Israel have been condemned by United Nations experts and international bodies, and the United Nations Human Rights Council has called on all states to cease the sale, transfer, and diversion of arms and military equipment to Israel; and in light of international court rulings affirming state duties to prevent genocide and avoid support for unlawful occupation and other s erious violations of international law, an arms embargo on Israel is urgently warranted.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED , that the City Council of the City of Richmond opposes the U.S. war on Iran and condemns attacks by the United States and Israel on civilians, schools, hospitals, residential areas, and critical civilian infrastructure in Iran.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council declares that aggressive war, the targeting of civilians, and the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure violate the U.N. Charter, the laws of war, and the most basic principles of humanity.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED , that the City Council calls on Congress to exercise its constitutional war powers to stop unauthorized war against Iran and demands immediate de - escalation and diplomacy.
194
Reso. No. _____
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED , that the City Council calls for an arms embargo on Israel , including an end to U.S. military assistance and transfers of weapons and military cargo that fuel regional war and civilian suffering.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED , that the City Clerk transmit this Resolution to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the House, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, and the City’s congressional delegation.
******************
***THE CLERK’S OFFICE WILL COMPLETE THE INFORMATION BELOW****
I certify that the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting thereof held on Mmmm dd, yyyy, by the following vote:
AYES: AYES:
NOES:
ABSTENTIONS:
ABSENT:
CLERK OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND
(SEAL)
Approved:
Mayor
Approved as to form:
City Attorney
State of California }
County of Contra Costa : ss.
City of Richmond }
I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of Resolution No. _____, finally passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting held on Mmmm dd, yyyy.
_______________________________________
Pamela Christian, Clerk of the City of Richmond
195
This attachment
contains images
that may be
disturbing.
Viewer discretion
is advised.
196
197
198
March 24, 2026
City Council
DATE: March 24, 2026
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Councilmember Soheila Bana
Councilmember Jamelia Brown (co-sponsor)
Councilmember Sue Wilson (co-sponsor)
Subject:
Establishing a Commitment to Caste Equity and the
Prevention of Caste-Based Discrimination
FINANCIAL IMPACT: Adoption of this resolution is expected to result in modest costs for staff training, development of reporting
mechanisms, and educational initiatives related to caste equity. These activities can be supported within the
approved fiscal year 2025-2026 diversity, equity, and
inclusion program budgets and do not require an
additional appropriation at this time. Any future costs beyond current capacity will be considered through the
annual budget development process (Account String:
01917090-400322).
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The City of Richmond seeks to ensure that all residents are protected from discrimination and inequity. Caste-
based discrimination, though less visible in U.S. law and practice, has been documented within employment,
housing, education, and public services across
communities. This resolution formally establishes the
City’s commitment to caste equity and adds caste as a
protected category under the jurisdiction of the City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission, and
creates pathways for education, reporting, and
enforcement.
AGENDA
REPORT
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March 24, 2026
On January 26, 2026 the Human Rights and Human
Relations Commission (HRHR Commission) unanimously
approved recommending that the City Council adopt the
caste discrimination resolution.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ADOPT a resolution that establishes a Commitment to
Caste Equity and the Prevention of Caste-Based
Discrimination and DIRECT the City Attorney’s Office to add caste as a protected category under Richmond
Municipal Code Chapter 3.58.060(a)(3) to be included
within the purview of the City’s Human Rights and
Human Relations Commission, and RETURN to City
Council for approval within 45 days - Councilmembers
Soheila Bana (510-672-3490)/Jamelia Brown (510-412-
2050)/ Sue Wilson (510-609-2111).
DISCUSSION:
Richmond has a longstanding commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity.
Discrimination in all forms undermines these values and harms individuals’ ability to fully participate in community life.
Caste, a system of social stratification based on hereditary status, creates barriers to equality by restricting access to opportunities and fostering prejudice. Studies and reports have shown that caste-based discrimination affects workplaces, schools, housing, and civic participation even in diaspora communities in the United States.
While federal and state civil rights frameworks protect against many forms of discrimination, caste has not been explicitly recognized in most policies. Richmond’s adoption of this resolution aligns with the City’s principles of equity and its role as a leader in advancing civil and human rights.
The resolution affirms the City’s commitment to caste equity through the following measures:
1. Affirmation of Caste Equity
The City of Richmond affirms its commitment to caste equity and condemns caste- based discrimination in any form within the community.
2. Protection Against Caste-based Discrimination
The City will amend Richmond Municipal Code Chapter 3.58.060(a)(3) to include caste discrimination among the list of prohibitions. Caste will be included as a protected category within the jurisdiction of the City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission, with the objective of protecting residents from caste-based 200
March 24, 2026
discrimination in City employment, housing, education, and access to public services.
3. Training and Education
The City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission will be empowered to conduct training programs for City employees, law enforcement, and community leaders to recognize, prevent, and address caste-based discrimination, and to promote educational initiatives to raise awareness among the general public about the harms of caste discrimination.
4. Reporting and Enforcement Mechanisms
Incidents of caste-based discrimination occurring within the City will be reported to the City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission. Residents will be encouraged to report any violations, and appropriate actions will be taken to address and resolve such complaints.
5. Community Engagement
The City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission will be empowered to engage with community organizations, advocacy groups, and affected communities within the City to collaborate on efforts to combat caste-based discrimination and promote equity and inclusion.
6. Review and Accountability
The City Council will regularly review the effectiveness of these measures and make necessary adjustments to ensure the ongoing commitment to caste equity is upheld.
This item also requests that the City Attorney’s Office amend Richmond Municipal Code Chapter 3.58.060(a)(3) to add caste as a protected category to be included within the purview of the City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission and return to Council for approval within 45 days.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Resolution Establishing a Commitment to Caste Equity and the Prevention of Caste-Based Discrimination
201
Reso. No. _____
DocID #56191v2
RESOLUTION NO. ______
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND
ESTABLISHING A COMMITMENT TO CASTE EQUITY AND THE
PREVENTION OF CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION
WHEREAS, the City of Richmond (City) is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and just community for all its residents, free from discrimination and prejudice; and WHEREAS, caste is a form of social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, social barriers, and social exclusion; and
WHEREAS, caste-based discrimination can manifest in various forms, including but not limited to employment, housing, education, and access to public services, thereby undermining the values of equality and fairness; and
WHEREAS, the City of Richmond recognizes that caste-based discrimination is a violation of fundamental human rights and dignity; and
WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of the City Council to protect the rights of all residents and ensure that all individuals have equal opportunities to participate in and contribute to the community.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Richmond, as follows:
1. Affirmation of Caste Equity
The City of Richmond affirms its commitment to caste equity and condemns caste-based discrimination in any form within the community.
2. Protection Against Caste-based Discrimination
The City of Richmond will include caste as a protected category within the jurisdiction of the City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission with the objective of protecting residents from caste-based discrimination in City employment, housing, education, and access to public services.
3. Training and Education
The City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission will be empowered to conduct training programs for City employees, law enforcement, and community leaders to recognize, prevent, and address caste-based discrimination, and to promote educational initiatives to raise awareness among the general public about the harms of caste discrimination.
4. Reporting and Resolution of Caste-based Discrimination Complaints Incidents of caste-based discrimination occurring within the City will be reported to the City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission. Residents will be encouraged to report any violations, and appropriate actions will be taken to address and resolve such complaints.
5. Community Engagement
The City’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission will be empowered to engage with community organizations, advocacy groups, and affected communities within the City to collaborate on efforts to combat caste-based discrimination and promote equity and inclusion.
6. Review and Accountability
The City Council will regularly review the effectiveness of these measures and make necessary adjustments to ensure the City’s ongoing commitment to caste equity is upheld.
******************
202
Reso. No. _____
DocID #56191v2
***THE CLERK’S OFFICE WILL COMPLETE THE INFORMATION BELOW****
I certify that the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting thereof held on Mmmm dd, yyyy, by the following vote:
AYES: AYES:
NOES:
ABSTENTIONS:
ABSENT:
CLERK OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND
(SEAL)
Approved:
Mayor
Approved as to form:
City Attorney
State of California }
County of Contra Costa : ss.
City of Richmond }
I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of Resolution No. _____, finally passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting held on Mmmm dd, yyyy.
_______________________________________
Pamela Christian, Clerk of the City of Richmond
203
March 24, 2026
City Council
DATE: March 24, 2026
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Councilmember Cesar Zepeda
Subject:
Change Cesar Chavez Day to United Farm Workers Day
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no significant fiscal impact associated with this item. Minor administrative costs may be incurred to
update the City’s holiday schedule and related materials; however, these costs can be absorbed within existing
departmental budgets and do not require an additional
appropriation at this time.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
In light of recent sexual abuse allegations against Cesar Chavez, we should rename the day to United Farm
Workers Day. We must uplift and recognize the daily
contributions of farmworkers impact on the everyday lives of all families in the United States.
The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) is the
nation’s first enduring and largest farm workers’ union.
The UFW continues its activism in major agricultural
sectors, chiefly in California.
Many landmark recent UFW-sponsored laws and
regulations protect all farm workers in California,
especially at non-union ranches.
AGENDA
REPORT
204
March 24, 2026
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ADOPT a resolution that directs staff to update the City’s holiday schedule to reflect “United Farm Workers Day”
instead of Cesar Chavez Day and DIRECT staff to bring
a future agenda item to have further discussion around
sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual assault
and the urgent need to protect and support survivors -
Councilmember Cesar Zepeda (510-620-6593).
DISCUSSION:
In light of recent sexual abuse and sexual assault allegations against Cesar Chavez, the City of Richmond will rename the holiday to stand in solidarity with the United Farm Workers (UFW) and name the holiday “United Farm Workers Day.”
We must uplift and recognize the daily contributions of farmworkers on the everyday lives of all families in the United States. The United Farm Workers of America (UFW) is the nation’s first enduring and largest farm workers’ union. The UFW continues its activism in major agricultural sectors, chiefly in California. Many landmark recent UFW- sponsored laws and regulations protect all farm workers in California, especially at non- union ranches.
The renaming serves as a necessary course correction that acknowledges past harms, challenges long-accepted narratives, and centers a legacy that better reflects dignity and equity for current and future generations.
The farmworkers movement has always been bigger than any one individual. Changing the day from a singular figure to a designation that better reflects the broader movement uplifts the ‘backbone and beating heart’ of the labor struggle and ensures our public honors reflect the dignity, integrity, and contributions of all workers.
While this is a disappointing and awful moment for all, we need to use this moment to reflect and continue to call out those individuals in positions of power and influence that have taken advantage of other individuals by sexually harassing, sexually abusing or sexually assaulting them.
We owe it to the past, present, and all future generations to break this horrible cycle by holding perpetrators accountable, being transparent, and having unwavering support for the victims who have been harmed.
We must all stand together and call out those that have abused their positions of power, regardless of who they are, elected officials, community leaders etc. and lead with accountability and integrity. We must demonstrate to the nation that no one is exempt from scrutiny and that the scales of fairness and justice must prevail and extend across 205
March 24, 2026
all levels of leadership in this country, including our highest offices, and to all individuals connected to wrongdoing.
We must remain dedicated to receiving transparency from all levels so we may have the information to make decisions to protect and preserve the dignity of all workers and survivors.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – United Farm Workers Resolution
206
Reso. No. _____
DocID #56191v2
RESOLUTION NO. ______
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND RENAMING THE “CESAR CHAVEZ DAY” HOLIDAY TO “UNITED FARM WORKERS’ DAY”
WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes and honors the significant contributions of farmworkers and agricultural laborers to the State of California, the region, and the community; and
WHEREAS, the City currently observes a paid holiday commonly referred to as “Cesar Chavez Day,” which designates March 31 as a state and City holiday; and
WHEREAS, although César Chávez was a prominent labor leader who played a significant role in advancing farmworker rights, recent developments have raised concerns regarding aspects of Chávez’s leadership and conduct inconsistent with the City’s values; and
WHEREAS , the renaming serves as a necessary course correction that acknowledges past hard, challenges long-accepted narratives, and centers a legacy that better represents dignity and equity for current and future generations; and
WHEREAS, the farmworkers movem ent has always been bigger than one individual. By changing the day from a singular figure to a better way to reflect the whole movement and uplifting the “backbone and beating heart” of the labor struggle, ensuring our public honors reflect the integrity and safety of all workers; and
WHEREAS, the City has the authority to designate local observances consistent with its municipal powers and values; and
WHEREAS, renaming the March 31 observance to “United Farm Workers’ Day” will honor the tremendous daily contributions of farmworkers to families across the United States of America and their enduring impact on labor rights, public health, and economic development; and
WHEREAS, the City Council further desires to clarify that this action is limited to a renaming of the holiday only, and does not eliminate, reduce, or modify any paid holiday benefit, compensation, or leave entitlement provided to City employees.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Richmond , must all stand together and call out those that have abused their positions of power, regardless of who they are, elected officials, commun ity leaders etc. and lead with accountability and integrity; to demonstrate to the nation that no one is exempt from scrutiny and that the scales of fairness and justice must prevail and extend across all levels of leadership in this country, including our highest offices, and to all individuals connected to wrongdoing.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the City Council of the City of Richmond , must remain dedicated to receiving transparency from all levels , so the City Council may have the information to make decisions to protect and preserve the dignity of all workers and sexual abuse survivors.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, by the City Council of the City of Richmond as follows:
Section 1. Renaming of Holiday
The City-designated holiday previously referred to as “Cesar Chavez Day” is hereby renamed “United Farm Workers’ Day.”
Section 2. Date and Observance Unchanged
The holiday shall continue to be observed annually on March 31, consistent with prior City practice, and shall remain a paid holiday for eligible employees to the same extent as previously provided.
207
Reso. No. _____
DocID #56191v2
Section 3. No Reduction in Benefits
Nothing in this Resolution shall be construed to reduce, eliminate, or otherwise modify any employee compensation, paid leave, or holiday benefit.
Section 5. Administrative Implementation
The City Manager or designee is authorized to update all City policies, administrative manuals, calendars, and public-facing materials to reflect the new holiday name.
Section 6. Effective Date
This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon adoption, subject to any required labor relations processes.
***THE CLERK’S OFFICE WILL COMPLETE THE INFORMATION BELOW****
I certify that the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting thereof held on Mmmm dd, yyyy, by the following vote:
AYES: AYES:
NOES:
ABSTENTIONS:
ABSENT:
CLERK OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND
(SEAL)
Approved:
Mayor
Approved as to form:
City Attorney
State of California }
County of Contra Costa : ss.
City of Richmond }
I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of Resolution No. _____, finally passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting held on Mmmm dd, yyyy.
_______________________________________
Pamela Christian, Clerk of the City of Richmond
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March 24, 2026
Community Development
DATE: March 24, 2026
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Lina Velasco, Director of Community Development
Avery Stark, Planning Manager
Michele Morris, Senior Planner
Subject: Ordinance Rezoning the John Haley Studio at 771 Ocean Avenue
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact related to this item.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The proposed project is a Rezoning request to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District on the John Haley
Studio/House located at 771 Ocean Avenue (PLN24-
358), Richmond, 94801 for the purpose of listing the
property on the Richmond Historic Register. The City
Council is required to conduct a public hearing before
voting on the proposed amendment to the Zoning Map
(rezoning) pursuant to Richmond Municipal Code (RMC)
Section 15.04.303.060 and Chapter 15.04.814.040.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ADOPT an ordinance (second reading) rezoning to add a
-L, Landmark Overlay District to the RL1 base zoning
district to the John Haley Studio/House located at 771
Ocean Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801 for the purpose of
listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register - Community Development Department (Lina
Velasco/Avery Stark 510-620-6714).
AGENDA
REPORT
209
March 24, 2026
DISCUSSION:
The subject property is in the RL1, Single Family Very Low Density Residential Zoning District. The applicant requests a rezoning to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the John Haley Studio/House at 771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801, for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register. The -L, Landmark Overlay District will be added to the RL1 base zoning district of the property. The proposed (Attachment 1 and 2).
The applicant prepared a project statement explaining why the John Haley Studio/House is eligible for listing on the Richmond Historic Register (Attachment 3).
Also, the applicant’s architectural historian, Caitlin Hibma of Left Coast Architectural History, prepared a California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) Form 523 describing why the John Haley Studio/House qualifies to be listed on the Richmond Historic Register (Attachment 4).
BACKGROUND:
Summary of the historic significance of the John Haley Studio/House
Architectural Style
The John Haley Studio/House was built in 1932 and was owned and occupied by John and Monica Haley (his spouse). John Haley was a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world. The property was initially used as an art studio by John Haley, who was a professional artist, architect, and art professor, but it soon also became the couple’s home. The Studio/House has been nominated for its architectural merit and association with Haley, who taught at UC Berkeley, and its environs factored into Haley's and fellow Berkeley School artists' work. Currently, the building is being used as a residence on a 3,361 square foot lot in the Point Richmond neighborhood.
The John Haley Studio/House depicts the typical form and design of a Second Bay Tradition style of architecture in both the original portion of the residence built in the 1930’s and in the rear addition to the home built in 1949. The Haleys hired well-known and respected architect Roger Lee to design the rear addition. The rear addition was designed to function as an art gallery as much as a living room. The residence had been built at an angle on the lot to gain the most northern light for the studio. The angular plan of the addition was a response to this unusual siting and to avoid conflicting with the lot boundaries. It also achieved excellent views to the southwest.
Lee designed the addition to take advantage of good light emanating from a continuous bank of windows, constructing a flat white eastern gallery wall for hanging art and designing built-in banquet seating to foster salon-like gatherings.
The Studio/House and its association with the prominent Bay Area Modernist architect, John Haley, combined with the neighborhood context of architect-designed Modernist 210
March 24, 2026
architecture, makes the property eligible for listing in the Richmond Historic Register and, subsequently, qualifies as a historical resource for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
John Haley’s Personal Background
John Haley (1905-1991) was born in 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and attended the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art & Design). Earning a one-year study-abroad scholarship in 1927, Haley traveled to Europe and studied at the summer art school of Hans Hoffman on the Italian Isle of Carpi. Hoffman was one of the early twentieth century's most influential art teachers, having been influenced by the likes of Picasso and Matisse. Later, Hoffman recommended Haley for a lecturer position in UC Berkeley’s Art department. Haley’s art and teaching while at UC Berkeley, along with his peers and colleagues at the art department, generated a style that became known as the “Berkeley School,” which was characterized by a unique treatment of space and the use of colors in varied tones delineated with different and multi-colored lines.
ANALYSIS:
-L, Landmark Overlay District
Pursuant to Richmond Municipal Code (RMC) Section 15.04.303.060 -H and -L Overlay District Designation Criteria, and upon the recommendation of the Planning Commission and approval of the City Council, a building, structure, object, site, or area may be eligible for designation as a -L Landmark Overlay District if it is found to meet any of the following six (6) criteria. Responses to how the subject property’s significance relates to each criterion follows in italic font:
1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history;
For most of its history (1932-1991), the property at 771 Ocean avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley, a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world (see criterion 2, below, for an explanation of Haley's significance). Because the property served as the studio where he practiced art and produced his extensive body of work, and because the studio-house and its Point Richmond environs often factored into that work as subject matter, the property can be recognized as an embodiment of the City's cultural values, especially in relation to art.
The neighborhood of Point Richmond, in particular, has been an enclave of artists, writers, intellectuals, and other creatives – many faculty of UC Berkeley – since the early twentieth century, and continues to be today. Haley's studio-house, thus contributes significantly to the built environment that makes up a neighborhood long- inhabited by an intellectual and creative community with high creative and artistic history and values.
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The property appears to be significant under criterion 1.
2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history;
For most of its history (1932 to 1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley who used it as both his home and art studio. Haley was a significant and influential figure in Bay Area and California art, who is credited with originating and proliferating the “Berkeley School” style. Having trained with Hans Hoffman, a seminal figure in European Modern art, Haley brought revolutionary new artistic concepts and practice to UC Berkeley and the Bay Area. His work is pioneering and distinctive in its break from traditional Beaux-Arts style painting, its exploration of regionalist subject matter, its later shift toward abstraction, and the more sedate and representational approach that differentiated it from the New York School of Modern art.
Haley not only practiced his ground-breaking genre prolifically, but as a professor of art at UC Berkeley, helped make that academic program one of the strongest art departments in the nation. He was a gifted teacher, who taught and disseminated Berkeley School style and philosophies to countless students, who then went on to have their own art careers, proliferating the Berkeley School style. Haley's career spanned over sixty years and he was well recognized by his representation in solo and group shows nationally and internationally, complimentary critical review, and a number of awards given to him by prestigious art institutions. His name and works remain well represented in Modern art circles, proving the longevity of his influence on Modern art locally and regionally, as well as extending to the national level.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 2.
3. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning;
The property at 771 Ocean Avenue is not strongly reflective of, or significant within, geographical patterns or eras of settlement in Richmond. Built in the early 1930s, it represents a relatively early development of property along the shoreline of the Point Richmond neighborhood, but was not the first property to be developed in that area and became one of numerous residential properties of various ages and styles that expanded the Point Richmond neighborhood in a natural growth pattern toward the water.
The property does not appear to be significant under criterion 3.
4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue can be classified as Second Bay Tradition style (popular from 1930-1960) and embodies many physical characteristics of that style, 212
March 24, 2026
such as a simple form, use of basic affordable materials with a rustic aesthetic like hollow clay tile and wood board-and-batten siding, a broadly sloped side-gable roof form with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, and minimal decorative trim. It also demonstrates strong response to the design philosophies of the Second Bay Tradition style in its unusual angled siting, plan, and hillside integration, which followed the Second Bay Tradition tenant of design cooperating with site topography. The style also emphasized public versus private space, which is seen in the building's orientation away from the public realm and contrasting openness to the private patio and shoreline to the south, a non-interactive street facade, and minimization of the primary entrance. The openness to the private realm to the south is facilitated by ample glazing, which also responds to the Second Bay Tradition concept of interaction between indoor-outdoor space.
Some of the characteristics described above can be attributed to the living room addition, made in 1949, meaning that they are not original to the 1932 design. However, as the Second Bay Tradition style continued until 1960 (and later evolving into the Third Bay Tradition style), the addition falls within the style's period of significance and was designed by an architect who's body of work contributed the development of the Bay Tradition style over time. Therefore, the property can be regarded as a good example of the Second Bay Tradition style at two different time during the style's period of popularity. It also contributes to a notable concentration of Modernist architecture in Point Richmond and was one of the earliest Second Bay Tradition or Modernist buildings to be constructed within that neighborhood context.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 4.
5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development.
The original designer and/or builder of the studio-house is unknown. The living room addition, made in 1949, was designed by pioneering Chinese-American Modernist architect Roger Lee. Lee was responsible for designing over 100 buildings in the Bay Area, and although he tends not to be included in many discussions of Midcentury architecture in the Bay Area, he is credited with designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle-class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the Second Bay Tradition style.
While the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue represents the modification of an existing structure that was not of Lee's design, it is strongly representational of Lee's design philosophies and shows innovation in his integration of an earlier Second Bay Tradition building with his new Second Bay Tradition addition. It is also one of few buildings in Richmond known to have been designed by Lee. Another is located nearby at 664 Ocean Avenue and was built for Josephine Miles in 1951. Miles was a poet and professor at UC Berkeley; another of Point Richmond's artistic academics. It seems likely that she and Haley were acquainted and that Roger Lee's work at 771 Ocean 213
March 24, 2026
Avenue may have given him entree to designing Miles' house down the street a year or two later. Lee also designed a multi-unit housing project in Richmond for Basic Home Industries in 1956; however the location and status of that work are unknown. (UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives).
The property appears to be significant under criterion 5.
6. A structure, site, or other improvement which meets any of the above criteria at the highest level, and whose loss would be a major loss to the City, may be designated a Richmond Historic Landmark.
The property at 771 Ocean Avenue meets criteria 1, 2, 4, and 5. It represents the place where an influential artist lived and produced his significant work for nearly 60 years; contributes to a rich history of intellectual and creative community in Point Richmond; and embodies the characteristics of a distinctive regional architectural style as designed by a prominent and pioneering Bay Area architect. Therefore, its loss would constitute the loss of a cultural and architectural element of the Point Richmond neighborhood and the city as a whole.
Because the building also relates strongly to the near-identical building next door (775 Ocean Avenue) and the two have a shared history, the loss of one or the other would mean the loss of that relationship, which would further exacerbate loss to the neighborhood and city.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 6.
This evaluation shows that the subject property meets five of the six criteria (specifically criterion 1,2, and 4-6) specified in RMC Section 15.04.303.060 for a -L Landmark Overlay District designation and listing on the Richmond Historic Register.
Amendment to Zoning Map (Rezoning)
At the Planning Commission meeting held on January 15, 2026, the Commission recommended that the City Council make the following findings required by RMC Section 15.04.814.050 for approval of a Rezoning. The supporting statements of fact follow in italic font after each finding below:
A. The proposed amendment is consistent with the General Plan.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The proposed project -L Landmark Overlay District Designation complies with the goals and policies of the City of Richmond General Plan, specifically under “Historic Resource Preservation Policy HR1.1: Preservation of Diverse Resources” which encourages the protection, preservation and enhancement of the diverse range of historic, cultural and archaeological sites and resources in the City for the benefit of current and future residents and visitors.
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B. The proposed amendment is necessary for public health, safety, and general welfare or will be of benefit to the public.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The proposed rezoning is suitable for the project site because it will be of historic and cultural benefit to the public to preserve the history and the residence of a significant and influential figure, John Haley, in the Richmond, Bay Area and California art worlds and their respective built environments.
C. The proposed amendment has been reviewed in compliance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The -L Landmark Overlay District Designation of the John Haley Studio/House is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA guidelines Section 15308, Class 8, Actions by Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment as the project proposes to preserve the John Haley Studio/House.
D. For a change to the Zoning Maps, that the subject property is suitable for the uses permitted in the proposed zone in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, and that the proposed change of zoning district is not detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The subject site is located in an area already served by community facilities, utilities and transportation systems and poses no expansion of uses in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, nor will it be detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
The proposed project aligns with the following General Plan Historic Resources Element:
Policy HR1.1: Preservation of Diverse Resources Protect, preserve and enhance the diverse range of historic, cultural and archaeological sites and resources in the City for the benefit of current and future residents and visitors.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
The proposed rezoning request was reviewed and considered by the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) at their meeting held on August 4, 2025, and to make a preliminary determination whether to recommend the Landmark Overlay to the Planning Commission.
The HPC voted in favor of making a preliminary determination to recommend the rezoning to add the -L Landmark Overlay to the Planning Commission for the John 215
March 24, 2026
Haley Studio/House at 771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801, for the purpose of listing on the Richmond Historic Register.
PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
The Planning Commission considered the proposed rezoning at their meeting held on January 15, 2026, and adopted Resolution No. 26-01 (Attachment 5). The Planning Commission voted in favor of making a recommendation to the City Council for approval of a rezoning to amend the zoning map to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the base RL1 zoning district to the John Haley Studio/House located at 771 Ocean Avenue for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The proposed project is Categorically Exempt under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15308 – Actions By Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment (Class 8). Class 8 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies, as authorized by state or local ordinance, to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment. This exemption class applies to actions taken by regulatory agencies to protect the environment, including the designation of historic resources that help preserve cultural or historic aspects of the environment.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Neighborhood Council: The John Haley Studio/House is located within the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council area. The neighborhood council was notified of this item through mail; however, no comments have been received from the neighborhood council to date.
Other: There have been no other public comments submitted on the proposed project as of the distribution of this report.
RECOMMENDATION:
City staff recommends that the City Council:
HOLD a public hearing and INTRODUCE an ordinance rezoning to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the RL1 base zoning district to the John Haley Studio/House at 771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, 94801 for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register.
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DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Proposed Ordinance
Attachment 2 – Proposed Zoning Map Amendment
Attachment 3 – Project Statement
Attachment 4 – DPR 523 Form
Attachment 5 – Planning Commission Resolution No. 26-01
217
ORDINANCE NO. ________
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND REZONING TO ADD A -L, LANDMARK OVERLAY DISTRICT TO THE RL1 BASE ZONING DISTRICT FOR THE JOHN HALEY STUDIO/HOUSE AT 771 OCEAN
AVENUE FOR THE PURPOSE OF ADDING THE PROPERTY TO THE RICHMOND
HISTORIC REGISTER
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Richmond recognizes the importance of preserving and enhancing the City’s historical and cultural background;
WHEREAS, Richmond Municipal Code (RMC) Section 15.04.303.070, Procedure for Designating Property within Historic Districts and Landmarks Overlay Districts, sets forth the requirements and procedures for the designation of a site with the –L, Landmark Overlay District designation;
WHEREAS, on August 4, 2025, the City of Richmond Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) conducted a duly noticed public hearing to conduct a study session for a proposed Landmark Overlay Designation ( -L) and made a preliminary determination on whether to recommend a -L designation for the John Haley S tudio/House (771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, 94801) for the purpose of listing on the Richmond Historic Register;
WHEREAS, on August 4, 2025, the HPC voted (3 -0-2) to recommend to the Planning Commission the designation of the John Haley Studio/House as a -L Landmark Overlay for the purpose of adding the John Haley Studio/House to the Richmond Historic Register;
WHEREAS, on January 15, 2026, the Planning Commission voted to adopt (3 -0-0-2) Resolution No. 26-01 recommending the City Council approve a proposed rezoning to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the RL1 base zoning district to the John Haley Studio/House located at 771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, 94801 for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register;
WHEREAS, upon approval by the City Council, a building, structure, object, site, or area not already designated as a historic or archaeological resource may be subject to an -L overlay designation if it is found to meet any of the six criteria pursuant to Section 15.04.303.060 of the Richmond Municipal Code as listed in Section Two below;
WHEREAS, the proposed -L Landmark Designation complies with the goals and policies of the City of Richmond General Plan; and
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Richmond determines that landmark designation of the John Haley Studio/House is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA guidelines Section 15308, Class 8, Actions by Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment as the project proposes to preserve the John Haley Studio/House.
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NOW, THEREFORE that the City Council of the City of Richmond, does ordain as follows:
SECTION 1. The City Council of the City of Richmond finds that all the above Recitals are true and correct and incorporated herein by reference.
SECTION 2. The City Council finds and determines t hat 771 Ocean Avenue also known as the John Haley Studio/House is a historic resource meeting the following criteria specifie d in RMC Section 15.04.303.060 -L Overlay Designation Criteria as follows:
Criterion 1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history; Supporting Statements of Fact : For most of its history (1932 -1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley, a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world (see criterion 2, below, for an explanation of Haley's significance). Because the property served as the studio where he practiced art and produced his extensive body of work, and because the studio -house and its Point Richmond environs often factored into that work as subject matter, the property can be recognized as an embodiment of the City's cultural values, especially in relation to art. The neighborhood of Point Richmond, in particular, has been an enclave of artists, writers, intellectuals, and other creatives – many faculty of UC Berkeley – since the early twentieth century, and continues to be today. Haley's studio/house, thus contributes significantly to the built environment that makes up a neighborhood long-inhabited by an intellectual and creative community with high creative and artistic history and values.
Criterion 2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history;
Supporting Statements of Fact: For most of its history (1932 to 1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley who used it as both his home and art studio.
Haley was a significant and influential figure in Bay Area and California art, who is credited with originating and proliferating the “Berkeley School” style. Having trained with Hans Hoffman , a seminal figure in European Modern art, Haley brought revolutionary new artistic concepts and practice to U.C Berkeley and the Bay Area. His work is pioneering and distinctive in its break from traditional Beaux -Arts style painting, its exploration of r egionalist subject matter, its later shift toward abstraction, and the more sedate and representational approach that differentiated it from the New York School of Modern art. Haley not only practiced his ground -breaking genre prolifically, but as a professor of art at UC Berkeley, helped make that academic program one of the strongest art departments in the nation. He was a gifted teacher, who taught and disseminated Berkeley School style and philosophies to countless students, who then went on to have their own art careers, proliferating the Berkeley School style. Haley's career spanned over sixty years and he was well recognized by his representation in solo and group shows nationally and internationally, complimentary critical review, and a number of awards given to him by prestigious art institutions.
His name and works remain well represented in Modern art circles, proving the longevity of his influence on Modern art locally and regionally, as well as extending to the national level. 219
Criterion 4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or
Supporting Statements of Fact : The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue can be classified as Second Bay Tradition style (popular from 1930 -1960) and embodies many physical characteristics of that style, such as a simple form, use of basic affordable materials with a rustic aesthetic like hollow clay tile and wood board-and-batten siding, a broadly sloped side-gable roof form with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, and minimal decorative trim. It also demonstrates strong respo nse to the design philosophies of the Second Bay Tradition style in its unusual angled siting, plan, and hillside integration, which followed the Second Bay Tradition tenant of design cooperating with site topography. The style also emphasized public versus private space, which is seen in the building's orientation away from the public realm and contrasting openness to the private patio and shoreline to the south, a non -interactive street facade, and minimization of the primary entrance. The openness to the private realm to the south is facilitated by ample glazing, which also responds to the Second Bay Tradition concept of interaction between indoor-outdoor space.
Some of the characteristics described above can be attributed to the living room addition, made in 1949, meaning that they are not original to the 1932 design. However, as the Second Bay Tradition style continued until 1960 (and later evolving into the Third Bay Tradition style), the addition falls within the style's period of significance and was designed by an architect whose body of work contributed to the development of the Bay Tradition style over time. Therefore, the property can be regarded as a good example of the Second Bay Tradition style at two different time during the style's period of popularity. It also contributes to a notable concentration of Modernist architecture in Point Richmond and was one of the earliest Second Bay Tradition or Modernist buildings to be constructed within that neighborhood context.
Criterion 5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development;
Supporting Statements of Fact: The original designer and/or builder of the studio-house is unknown. The living room addition, made in 1949, was designed by pioneering Chinese-American Modernist architect Roger Lee. Lee was responsible for designing over 100 buildings in the Bay Area, and although he tends not to be included in many discussions of Midcentury architecture in the Bay Area, he is credited with designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle- class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the Second Bay Tradition style.
While the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue represents the modification of an existing structure that was not of Lee's design, it is strongly representational of Lee's design philosophies and shows innovation in his integration of an earlier Second Bay Tradition building with his new Second Bay Tradition addition. It is also one of few buildings in Richmond known to have been designed by Lee. Another is located nearby at 664 Ocean Avenue and was built for Josephine Miles i n 1951. Miles was a poet and professor at UC Berkeley; another of Point Richmond's artistic academics. It seems likely that she and Haley were acquainted and that Roger Lee's work at 771 Ocean Avenue may have given him entree to designing Miles' house down the 220
street a year or two later. Lee also designed a multi -unit housing project in Richmond for Basic Home Industries in 1956; however, the location and status of that work are unknown. (UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives).
Criterion 6. A structure, site, or other improvement which meets any of the above criteria at the highest level, and whose loss would be a major loss to the City, may be designated a Richmond Historic Landmark.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The property at 771 Ocean Avenue meets criteria 1, 2, 4, and 5. It represents the place where an influential artist lived and produced his significant work for nearly 60 years; contributes to a rich history of intellectual and creative community in Point Richmond; and embodies the characteristics of a distinctive regional architectural style as designed by a prominent and pioneering Bay Area architect. Therefore, its loss would constitute the loss of a cultural and architectural element of the Point Richmond neighborhood and the city as a whole.
Because the building also relates strongly to the near -identical building next door (775 Ocean Avenue) and the two have a shared history, the loss of one or the other would mean the loss of that relationship, which would further exacerbate loss to the neighborhood and city.
SECTION 3. The City Council approves a rezoning to amend the Zoning Map to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District at 771 Ocean Avenue, also known as the John Haley Studio/House, for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Hist oric Register and determines that this project meets the following findings required by RMC Section 15.04.814.050:
A. The proposed amendment is consistent with the General Plan.
Supporting Statements of Fact : The proposed project -L Landmark Overlay Distr ict Designation complies with the goals and policies of the City of Richmond General Plan, specifically under “Historic Resource Preservation Policy HR1.1: Preservation of Diverse Resources” which encourages the protection, preservation and enhancement of the diverse range of historic, cultural and archaeological sites and resources in the City for the benefit of current and future residents and visitors.
B. The proposed amendment is necessary for public health, safety, and general welfare or will be of benefit to the public.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The proposed rezoning is suitable for the project site because it will be of historic and cultural benefit to the public to preserve the history and the residence of a significant and influential figure, John Haley, in the Richmond, Bay Area and California art worlds and their respective built environments.
C. The proposed amendment has been reviewed in compliance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.
Supporting Statements o f Fact: The -L Landmark Overlay District Designation of the John Haley Studio/House is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA guidelines Section 15308, Class 8, Actions by Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment as the project proposes to preserve the John Haley Studio/House. 221
D. For a change to the Zoning Maps, that the subject property is suitable for the uses permitted in the proposed zone in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, and that the proposed change of zoning district is not detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
Supporting Statements of Fact : The subject site is located in an area already served by community facilities, utilities and transportation systems and poses no expansion of uses in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, nor will it be detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
SECTION 4. This ordinance shall be effective thirty (30) days after its passage and adoption.
******************************
222
First introduced at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Richmond held March 3, 2026, and finally passed and adopted by the City Council of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting thereof held______________ by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSTENTIONS:
ABSENT:
___________________________________
CLERK OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND
(SEAL)
Approved:
______________________
Mayor
Approved as to Form:
_____________________
City Attorney
223
Existing Zoning for 771 Ocean Avenue
City of Richmond
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RL2 Single-Family Low Density Residential
RM1 Multifamily Residential
RM2 Multifamily High Density Residential
CM-1 Commercial Mixed-Use, Residential
CM-2 Commercial Mixed-Use, Neighborhood
CM-3 Commercial Mixed-Use, Commercial Emphasis
CM-4 Commercial Mixed-Use, Gateway/Node
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LW Live/Work
CG Commercial, General
CR Commercial, Regional
CC Commercial, Coastal
IB Industrial, Business
ILL Industrial, Limited Light
IL Industrial, Light
IG Industrial, General
IW Industrial, Water-Related
PCI Public, Cultural, and Institutional
PR Parks and Recreation
OS Open Space
OS-H Hillside Open Space
SC Shoreline Conservation
Exhibit B - Proposed Zoning Map Amendment
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STATEMENT
The property at 771 Ocean Avenue, in Point Richmond, is herein referred to as the John Haley Studio-House. It has commonly and historically been known by its street address, 771 Ocean Avenue, and was sometimes referred to as Haley Studio by its original owners.
John and Monica Haley were the original owners. The property was initially used as an art studio by John Haley, a professional artist and art professor, but within a few years of construction became both an art studio and home for the Haleys.
The Studio-House was built in 1932. No architect was involved with original design and construction of the house, as it was a Depression-era project, built inexpensively and based on John Haley's experience with the design of art studios in Europe. In 1949, a living room addition was made to the south side of the studio-house, which was designed by notable Midcentury modern architect Roger Lee. Although built in 1932 and 1949, respectively, both portions of the studio-house can be described as Second Bay Tradition style and exhibit characteristic features and philosophies of that design movement.
The studio-house is in good condition, currently being used as a residence, and sits on a 0.077 acre (3,361 square foot) parcel in the Point Richmond neighborhood of Richmond, California.
The John Haley Studio-House is being nominated to the Richmond Historic Register because it was owned and occupied by John Haley, who was a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world. Haley is credited with originating and proliferating the “Berkeley School” style.
Having trained with Hans Hoffman, a seminal figure in European Modern art, Haley brought revolutionary new artistic concepts and practice to U.C Berkeley and the Bay Area. His work is pioneering and distinctive in its break from traditional Beaux-Arts style painting, its exploration of regionalist subject matter, its later shift toward abstraction, and the more sedate and representational approach that differentiated it from the New York School of Modern art. Haley not only practiced his ground-breaking genre prolifically, but as a professor of art at U.C. Berkeley, he helped make that academic program one of the strongest art departments in the nation. He was a gifted teacher, who taught and disseminated Berkeley School style and philosophies to countless students, who then went on to have their own art careers, proliferating the Berkeley School style. Haley's career spanned over sixty years and he was well recognized by his representation in solo and group shows nationally and internationally, complimentary critical review, and a number of awards given to him by prestigious art institutions. His name and works remain well represented in Modern art circles, proving the longevity of his influence on Modern art locally and regionally, as well as extending to the national level. The property at 771 Ocean Avenue served as the studio where he practiced art and produced his extensive body of work. Because of this, and because the studio-house and its Point Richmond environs often factored into that work as subject matter, the property can be recognized as an embodiment of the City's cultural values, especially in relation to art, and has significance for association with a person of historical importance.
The Studio-House is also nominated for its architectural merit and association with an influential architect. It is a good local example of the Second Bay Tradition style of architecture, both in its original 1930s design and in the design of the living room addition madein 1949. The Studio-House embodies many physical characteristics of the Second Bay Tradition style, such as a simple form, use of basic affordable materials with a rustic aesthetic, a broadly sloped side-gable roof form with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, and minimal decorative trim. It also demonstrates strong response to the design philosophies of the Second Bay Tradition style in its unusual angled siting, plan, and hillside integration, which followed the Second Bay Tradition tenant of design cooperating with site topography. The style also emphasized public versus private space, which is seen in the building's orientation away from the public realm, a non-interactive street facade, minimization of the primary entrance, and contrasting openness to the private patio and shoreline to the south. The openness to the private realm to the 226
south is facilitated by ample glazing in the living room, which also responds to the Second Bay Tradition concept of interaction between indoor-outdoor space.
Some of the characteristics described above can be attributed to the later living room addition, as well.
The Second Bay Tradition style continued until 1960 (later evolving into the Third Bay Tradition style) and the addition also falls within the style's period of significance and was designed by pioneering Chinese-American Modernist architect Roger Lee. Lee was responsible for designing over 100 buildings in the Bay Area and is credited with designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle-class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the Second Bay Tradition style. While the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue represents the modification of an existing structure that was not of Lee's design, it is strongly representational of Lee's design philosophies and shows innovation in his integration of an earlier Second Bay Tradition building with his new Second Bay Tradition addition. Therefore, the John Haley Studio-House represents the work of an architect who contributed the development of the Bay Tradition style over time and can be regarded as a good example of the Second Bay Tradition style at two different times during the style's period of popularity.
It also contributes to a notable concentration of Modernist architecture in Point Richmond and was one of the earliest Second Bay Tradition or Modernist buildings to be constructed within that neighborhood context.
Ultimately, this historic resource nomination finds that the John Haley Studio-House at 771 Ocean Avenue meets five of the six criteria for listing on the Richmond Historic Register (criteria 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6). It represents the place where an influential artist lived and produced his significant work for nearly sixty years; contributes to a rich history of intellectual and creative community in Point Richmond; and embodies the characteristics of a distinctive regional architectural style as designed by a prominent and pioneering Bay Area architect. Its designation as a historic resource in the City of Richmond would recognize important local history and encourage the continued preservation of a valuable cultural and architectural element of the Point Richmond neighborhood and the city as a whole.
227
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date
P1. Other Identifier: 771 Ocean Avenue
*P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County: Contra Costa and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: San Quentin Date: 1995 rev 1999 T ; R ; ¼ of ¼ of Sec ; M.D. B.M. c. Address: 771 Ocean Avenue City: Richmond Zip: 94801 d. UTM: Zone: 10 ; mE/ mN (G.P.S.)
e. Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc., as appropriate) Elevation:
APN: 558-223-012-3
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) Site
The property is located in a residential neighborhood on the Richmond shoreline of San Francisco Bay. The house sits at an angle on its lot; facing due north, while the long axis of the lot is oriented to the northeast. Topography in the area slopes down toward the water. The house is set in close proximity to neighboring buildings (to east and west) and to the street (to the north), but has a patio at the rear (south) that descends steeply to the water in a series of stone masonry terraces. At the west side of the house is a noteworthy site wall, which is constructed of hollow-clay tile and clad with stucco. The wall is slightly less than one-story high. It spans (east-west) between the subject building and its neighbor to the west, separating the entry area of the subject property from its patio to the south. The wall also extends to the southwest, creating physical separation between the patios of the two properties. The wall is structurally integrated with the subject building, as well, with the section spanning between the properties continuing into the interior, forming a partition that creates an entry vestibule. (Continued) *P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP2. Single-family property, HP39. Other (art studio) *P4. Resources Present: Building oStructure oObject oSite oDistrict oElement of District oOther (Isolates, etc.) P5b. Description of Photo: (View,
date, accession #)
Primary and west facades, looking
southeast; September 2024
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: Historic
oPrehistoric oBoth
1932; County Assessor and other
*P7. Owner and Address:
David Ruddell & Joy Tahan Ruddell
771 Ocean Avenue
Richmond, CA. 94801
*P8. Recorded by: (Name,
affiliation, and address)
Left Coast Architectural History
PO Box 70415
Richmond, CA. 94807
*P9. Date Recorded: Oct. 2024
P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: None
*Attachments: oNONE oLocation Map oSketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record oArchaeological Record oDistrict Record oLinear Feature Record oMilling Station Record oRock Art Record oArtifact Record oPhotograph Record o Other (List):
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
P5a. Photo or Drawing (Photo required for buildings, structures, and objects.) 228
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
*Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) John Haley Studio-House B1. Historic Name: 771 Ocean Avenue, Haley Studio
B2. Common Name: 771 Ocean Avenue
B3. Original Use: art studio/residential B4. Present Use: residential *B5. Architectural Style: Second Bay Tradition
*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations) Constructed 1932. Sleeping porch addition, 1938. Living room addition, 1949. (See alterations chart on Continuation Sheets for additional construction history.)
*B7. Moved? No oYes oUnknown Date: n/a Original Location: n/a *B8. Related Features: None
B9a. Architect: None (original), Roger Lee (addition) b. Builder: Unknown *B10. Significance: Theme: Art and Artists Area: Point Richmond Period of Significance: 1932-1991 Property Type: Studio/Residential Applicable Criteria: 1,2,4,5,6 (Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity.) Local Context: Point Richmond & the City of Richmond
Point Richmond is a neighborhood within the larger City of Richmond, in Contra Costa County, California, and is the place where the city originated. Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the native Huchiun (Ohlone) people. During the Spanish period, the Huchiun were displaced and relegated into the Catholic Mission system, and in the succeeding Mexican period the Richmond area became part of Rancho San Pablo, granted to Don Francisco Castro. American control of California resulted in prolonged land disputes and the rancho eventually being divided among numerous landowners. The Point Richmond area remained generally unsettled and undeveloped until the turn of the twentieth century. (City of Richmond 2012) Point Richmond was originally an island, separated from the mainland by swampy unusable land that could not be sold to private owners. Jacob Tewksbury, formerly a physician, owned land to the north of Point Richmond and took it upon himself to build a system of levies that controlled water flow to silt up the marshland, thus creating solid ground. He then petitioned the government to declare the reclaimed waterway as dry land so that it could be purchased and developed. (Roselius 1985) The former island of Point Richmond and the newly-dry land to its northeast were recognized and promoted by Augustin MacDonald in 1895, when he noticed the pleasant environs and a deep water channel to the south that would be an ideal place for a rail terminus and ferry landing. It only took five years for the Santa Fe Railroad to build the facilities needed to begin operating ferry service, including the transport of rail cars, across San Francisco Bay. That industry was quickly followed, in 1901, by the establishment of the Standard Oil refinery, north of Point Richmond proper. A number of smaller industrial plants, like a couple of brick works, a winery, and a whaling station, were established around Point Richmond, generating a local population of workers and families. (Continued)
B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP2. Single-family property, HP39. Other (art studio)
*B12. References:
(See parenthetical citations within text and on Continuation Sheet) B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date of Evaluation: October 2024
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
(This space reserved for official comments.)
229
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
P3a. Description: (continued)
Exterior
The house is constructed of hollow clay tile and wood framing. It has an irregular plan and varied height; consisting of a rectangular two-story mass, with a one-story former-garage extending to the east, and a one-story trapezoidal living room addition extending to the south. The two-story portion of the house is topped by an asymmetrical side-gable roof, while the former-garage is topped by a shed roof, and the southern living room addition is topped by a flat roof. Exterior cladding consists of smooth stucco at the first story level and southern portion of the second story, and wood board-and-batten siding on the north half of the second story level. Smooth wood paneling clads the lower walls of the southern addition, which are almost entirely glazed above.
Due to the slope of the lot, the first story of the primary facade is situated partially below-grade, with a retaining wall creating a narrow well at its base. This makes the facade essentially one-and-a-half stories high at street level. The first story is clad with smooth stucco and is fenestrated with three regularly spaced window openings. The left and center windows have multi-lite, steel, casement sashes, while the right window is leaded art glass depicting Adam and Eve in an aluminum casement sash that was made by John Haley. The second story of the primary facade is clad with wood board-and-batten and features a large centered window opening that is more than than half the width of the facade. This opening is located about half-way up the second story wall and continues past the eaveline, angling back into a reverse shed dormer. The window itself is a multi-lite steel sash with operable horizontal pivot sections. The roofline is eaveless and, as noted, includes a reverse shed dormer that integrates the upper portion of the large centered window. A one-story former-garage extends from the left (east) side of the primary facade. It has an unfenestrated, smooth stucco-clad wall plane and an eaveless shed roofline. The mass of the former- garage projects forward slightly from the plane of the main facade and there is a small double-hung vinyl sash window on the narrow west-facing section of wall at the juncture.
The west facade is separated by only a narrow margin from the neighboring property and is the location of the primary entrance, which is located at the right (south) side of the first story and accessed by a flight of exterior stairs that descending from the street. The first story of the west facade is clad with smooth stucco and the entry area is recessed slightly, with the aforementioned site wall to its immediate right, creating an exterior entry vestibule. The entry door is a flush wood door with a transom lite above and sidelight to its right. On the right (south) side of the site wall, the first story features a fully-glazed wood door to the patio that is topped with a transom, and a bank of wood dado panels with plate glass glazing above. Representing the side of the southern living room addition, the patio door and plate glass windows are overhung by the broad, deeply boxed eaves of the addition's flat roof. The second story of the west facade is largely clad with wood board-and-batten siding, although the far right (south) side is clad with stucco. It is unfenestrated, but for a pair of narrow, horizontal, wood sash windows with flat wood trim that are located on the lower right side of the board-and-batten section of wall. The roofline has an asymmetrical gable end, shorter on the left (north) than the right (south), and is eaveless.
The first story of the rear (south) facade consists of a 1949 Roger Lee-designed living room addition, which projects forward from the main mass of the building. It features a number of angles in the wall plane, which consists of smooth wood dado panels and plate glass fenestration above. The plate glass glazing is separated at regular intervals by thick wood mullions and overhung by the broad, deeply boxed eaves of the flat roof. The second story of the south facade is located on the main mass of the building and is clad with stucco. Two wide horizontally oriented windows are located toward the left (west) side, while a smaller window it located to the right (east). The leftmost window has a sliding wood sash, while the window to its right is slightly wider and has a three-part sliding wood sash. The rightmost window is a much narrower casement sash of the same material.
The east facade faces a neighboring property. The side of the living room addition creates a long plane that is angled to the southeast and continues the wood dado panels, plate glass glazing, and broad boxed eaves from the south facade. Where the addition meets the main mass of the house, it is clad with wood board-and-batten siding and has two horizontal fixed windows fitted with reeded glass set high on the wall, at a corner. The roolfine has both eaveless and boxed eave sections in this location.
To the right (north), is the stucco-clad south-facing wall of the former-garage, which has an angled wall plane and features two double-hung, vinyl sash windows and an eaveless shed roofline. The east-facing wall of the former-garage is also clad with stucco and features a partially-glazed, flush wood door at the center and an eaveless roofline. The second story of the east facade is clad with stucco on the left (south) and wood board-and-batten on the right (north). It has an asymmetrical gable end, shorter on the right (north) than the left (south), with an exterior brick chimney rising up the center.
Interior
The first floor includes a large living room, a kitchen/dining area, and a bathroom. The living room has terracotta tile floors. Plate glass windows span the east, south, and west sides of the space, with built-in banquets, shelving, and storage cabinets original to the 1949 Roger Lee addition lining the lower walls. A portion of the southeast wall is solid and finished with sheet rock. The ceiling is sheet rocked and spanned by one large exposed beams supported by metal and boxed posts.
The kitchen/dining area has a floor made of hollow clay tile laid flat. The walls and ceiling are finished with sheet rock. The floor level steps up into a small bathroom, which also features hollow clay tile floor, and has stucco plaster walls and ceiling, and original ceramic tiles and fixtures. The Haley-designed art glass window on the primary facade corresponds to the bathroom and is located within the shower.
230
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
P3a. Description: (continued)
Between floor levels (above the first floor and a few steps down from the second floor level) is a garage, which has been converted to a bedroom with bathroom and laundry facilities. It features modern finishes.
A wood quarter-turn stair ascends from the west side of the kitchen/dining area to the second story. It has simple wood railings.
The second floor contains a large open space, a sleeping porch area, and a bathroom. The main space and sleeping porch are separated only minimally by a wide opening. The bathroom is located off the east end of the sleeping porch. The spaces have wood board flooring, sheet rocked walls and the ceilings are the vaulted underside of the gable roof finished with wood boards and beams. On the east wall of the main space is a small fireplace with a raised, depressed arch opening. It has a flat terra cotta tile hearth and lacks a mantel, but is surrounded by exposed plaster that bears a partially-restored John Haley fresco.
Documented Alterations
Records on file at the City of Richmond Building Division, as well as other archival sources, document some changes that have been made to the property over time:
Date Permit #/Source Description of Work
1932 SF Chronicle (Tanner 1950) House constructed.
1935? Riquelme & Levick Possible improvements to first floor living space.* 1938-39 SF Chronicle, Ghent 2024,
historic photos
Addition of sleeping porch [south side, second story] and guest room (conversion of former garage) [east side, first story]. 5/19/1949 28079
SF Chronicle
Living room addition to cottage. [South side, first story.] Addition designed by architect Roger Lee; included jacking up parts of house for plumbness, re-wiring, etc.
7/1/1949 18931 Electrical; wire cottage addition, 6 plugs. 9/7/1949 28708 Certificate of Occupancy for living room addition. 1960 Riquelme & Levick Renovated to create gallery space for Haley's personal art collection. 4/26/1960 Bldg. Div. records Unspecified paving work.
9/16/1964 64493 Reroof studio and shop [garage] with tar and gravel. 8/16/1966 54122 Electrical work to install 100 amp service. 11/21/1969 75642 Reroof dwelling with asbestos and gravel. 7/16/1979 94136 Reroof with felt and crushed granite gravel. 5/14/1993 S9300507 Repairs related to shower.
recent Visual observation Garage entrance infilled.
* Riquelme and Levick (2003) state that the house was built in 1930, which appears to be erroneous as all other sources state 1932, and notes that five years after construction, living quarters were added to the downstairs of the studio. Any “addition” of living quarters to the first floor at that time would have been entirely interior (no physical expansion of the structure) and may have more accurately consisted of kitchen/dining/bathroom room improvements within a space that other sources (Tanner 1950) state were original to the building.
231
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
B10. Significance: (continued)
A small community of houses and commercial establishments sprang up between the refinery and rail lines and, in 1905, Richmond was incorporated as a city. Churches, a school, theaters, hotels, a beach resort/bandstand, a swimming pool, and other community amenities eventually created the complete neighborhood now known as Point Richmond. (Roselius 1985) By 1915, development had expanded to the east of Point Richmond and a new commercial core along McDonald Avenue supplanted Point Richmond as the heart of the growing city. Point Richmond became a neighborhood within the larger municipality, although it still supported important industrial facilities for rail and oil refining operations, as well as other business, and was a vital neighborhood of residential and other uses. (City of Richmond 2012) As part of the larger city, which fared well during the Great Depression and World War II in large part due to local industry, Point Richmond rode the upheavals of war and economic downturn. During the Depression, Standard Oil and the railroad kept many residents of Point Richmond employed and in relatively good financial health. World War II, brought immense change to Richmond as a whole. The Kaiser Shipyards were established at present-day Marina Bay and wartime industry brought an influx of workers and their families to the area, all needing housing and services. The population boom was, of course, absorbed by the entire city, but Point Richmond played its role by providing some housing, often tucking newcomers into subdivided apartments in existing homes, while more housing was quickly built near industrial areas to the south of Point Richmond. The neighborhood elementary school, Washington School, began to offer classes in shifts to accommodate all of the children that war workers brought with them to the area. Local businesses prospered. (Roselius 1985) The end of the war was almost as dramatic. Many war workers left Richmond to return home, though just as many stayed. With a sudden lack of war industry jobs and government supported housing, many were left unemployed and homeless, plunging Richmond into a depressed state that lasted into the 1960s and beyond. (City of Richmond 2012) Although the population and activity of Point Richmond settled to more normal levels after the war, it felt like stagnation in comparison to the bustle of the war years. As with the rest of the city, the neighborhood took on a downtrodden and unkempt character in the decades following the war. It was somewhat forgotten as the rest of the Bay Area grew around it. Local small industries languished and closed, but the railroad and oil refinery remained active and, ultimately, kept the area alive. The slightly seedy environs attracted a population of bohemians, artists, and intellectuals to Point Richmond, adding to a creative community that had gotten its foothold as early as the 1930s. This gave the town an increasingly eclectic reputation that has grown into the present day. Some development, such as new housing tracts near the water, the establishment of a regional park, and the designation of Point Richmond proper as a National Register Historic District, raised the profile and esteem of the area, putting some polish on the Point from the 1970s onward. The neighborhood now supports a robust population of artists, intellectuals, and professionals that trend older and more affluent. They inhabit a collection of homes dating to all periods of Point Richmond's history and come together in a small enclave of restaurants and shops at the neighborhood's core. (Roselius 1985) Property History: 771 Ocean Avenue
At its start, Point Richmond was a small commercial town center surrounded by residential properties that was located on the inland, northeast, side of a hill separating it from San Francisco Bay. Because of this topographical barrier, development on the bay side (southwest) of the hill was sparse for decades after the town was established. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps do not illustrate the bay side of the hill until 1930, indicating that there was very little in the way of physical development in that area. Even in 1930, only a few modest houses – some mere one-room cottages – dotted the shoreline and bay-facing slope of the hill.
In 1932, artists, friends, and fellow U.C. Berkeley art professors John Haley and Worth Ryder purchased two adjacent parcels along the shoreline in Point Richmond, where they often came to paint en plein air and had admired the site. Confirming the information found on Sanborn maps, Haley later remembered to a friend how the Point Richmond shoreline was almost totally undeveloped, with only some scattered fishing shacks present. Although Point Richmond would come to have a rich and eclectic community of creatives and academics, Haley and Ryder were probably among the first artists to establish themselves and their studios in Point Richmond. (Ghent 2024)
They built side-by-side studios; 771 Ocean Avenue belonging to Haley and 775 Ocean Avenue belonging to Ryder. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44) No architect was employed in the design of the buildings. Instead, the two artists, modeled the design – particularly the traditional north-facing studio windows – after the numerous artists' studios they had seen while traveling and studying in Europe. They then built the designs “on the cheap.” (Ghent 2024) Despite the European influence and vernacular construction, the buildings have distinctively local architectural character and can be classified as Second Bay Tradition style.
Although John Haley taught at U.C. Berkeley and likely spent a good deal of time on campus, he conducted his own personal art practice in his studio at 771 Ocean Avenue. Being a regionalist with a strong practice of painting local scenery, he made the studio his home base for working out of doors around Point Richmond and further afield. Haley's compact studio originally featured only a dining room, kitchen, and bathroom on the first floor and an art studio and small sleeping area on the second floor. In 1938 or 1938, however; Haley, and his wife Monica, improved the building so that it was a more suitable home for them both (continued) 232
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and moved there permanently from Berkeley. The improvements consisted of an added sleeping porch off the south side of the second floor studio and a small room – a converted former garage – to be used as a guest room, particularly when Monica's mother came to visit. (Ghent 2024)
Worth Ryder's neighboring studio at 775 Ocean Avenue remained strictly a working studio and Ryder continued to live in Berkeley, but Haley's studio became both a place of artistic practice and a family home. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44.) Monica Haley was an arts administrator for the Richmond Unified School District, who wrote and published on the topic of children's art. During World War II into the 1970s, she began amassing and documenting an extensive collection of art and related materials made by children in Richmond's child care centers, which represents possibly the largest collection of children's art in the country and yields important insights into the history, culture, sociology, and psychology of children during wartime and other historical periods. (Treadway 2016. The collection of children's art is held by the Richmond Museum of History & Culture.) The Haleys, thus, shared a common passion for art, art instruction, and art's deeper influences on culture and people.
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue and its environs factored into Haley's and fellow Berkeley School artists' work. In 1932 and 1933, he produced watercolors showing two views of “Point Richmond Studios on SF Bay. ”He depicted “770 Ocean Avenue,” showing the studio though the titular address was slightly different, in a 1936 painting that won the San Francisco Art Association Purchase Prize at the first annual watercolor exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art. In 1940, Haley's colleague Karl Kasten painted “Hillside Homes,” showing Ryder's and Haley's studios in Point Richmond. Haley and other artists also produced a number of depictions of scenes in and around Point Richmond that suggests that they all spent time at Haley and Ryder's studios and working in the area. Such works include Chiura Obata's sumi ink painting depicting the “View of Mount Tamalpais Across San Francisco Bay” and Haley's own painting of the “Richmond/San Rafael Ferry Slip.” In addition to the studio-house serving as subject matter, it was – at least in one instance – Haley's canvas. Around 1935, he practiced his fresco technique by painting a mural around the fireplace in the second floor studio. Likely a practice run for the frescos he painted at the U.S. Coast Guard Administration Building on Alameda in 1937, it depicted workmen building the wall structure around the fireplace and reflected the popular New Deal aesthetic of the time. Haley later painted over the mural with acrylic paint. It was discovered by a later owner and restoration was attempted, but the obscuring acrylic whitewash could only be partially removed. (Ghent 2022)
Just as Haley derived so much of his artistic inspiration from the local landscape, he and Monica were responsible for shaping some of it around their home. In 1941, as World War II loomed, a winery in Napa Valley requested that patrons take and plant cork oak saplings in an effort to preempt an anticipated European cork shortage. The Haleys did just that and planted six cork oaks in a vacant area near their home. In the 1980s, only three of three of the trees remained and it is unclear how many stand today, although there are a number of cork oaks along the Point Richmond shoreline. (Gautraud 1984) The Haleys are also associated with a significant Japanese Black Pine tree that is located on the property's rear patio, where it began as a diminutive bonsai and has grown into a mature tree. The tree was originally grown by Japanese American artist Chiura Obata, who was an associate of Haley's at U.C. Berkeley and a personal friend. (Obata was friends with Worth Ryder and one of the group that often toured the Sierras with Ryder and others, like Ansel Adams. Obata later became a faculty member in the Art Department at Berkeley, from 1932-1941 and from 1945-1953. Obata and Haley were thus acquainted through mutual friendship with Ryder and employment at U.C. Berkeley.) When Obata and his family were interned during World War II, they asked friends to salvage the plants from the garden they were forced to abandon. The Haleys replanted the pine at their own home, overlooking the Bay. (Hill 2000, 17) It is purported that Obata later painted the tree, in situ, after he had returned from the internment camps; yet more evidence that Haley's colleagues spent meaningful time practicing art at 771 Ocean Avenue and in Point Richmond.
In 1949, the studio-house was expanded yet again when the Haleys hired architect Roger Lee to design the rear addition that would house a large living room. The studio-house had been built at an angle on the lot in an effort to gain the most northern light for the studio. The angular plan of the addition was a response to this unusual siting and to avoid conflicting with the lot boundaries. It also achieved excellent views to the southwest. Lee designed the addition as an art gallery as much as a living room, ensuring good light from a continuous bank of windows, a flat white eastern gallery wall for hanging art, and built-in banquet seating that lent itself to salon-like gathering. Monica Haley specified a “cozy corner” for reading. (Tanner 1950) Worth Ryder died in 1960 and the Haleys purchased his studio at 775 Ocean Avenue from his widow, so that the twin buildings came under common ownership. John Haley began to use Ryder's studio as his own, while 771 remained the Haleys' residence.
At that time, they remodeled the studio-house to create additional gallery space for their collection of African, Oceanic, and indigenous American art. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44) John Haley died of a stroke in 1991, followed by Monica in 1997. The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue and its contents were left, in trust, to Gregory Ghent, along with the studio at 775 Ocean Avenue. Ghent was the owner of a San Francisco art gallery and a long-time personal friend of the Haleys. He had worked with them to inventory both John Haley's works and the Haleys' personal art collection, and later assisted Monica in seeing Haley family ephemera donated to worthy repositories (continued) 233
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after John's death. A few years after John Haley's death, Ghent wrote “John Haley, a Retrospective;” a biographical essay and catalog for a solo retrospective show at the Richmond Art Center. Ghent continued to use the two properties much as the Haleys had. He used 775 Ocean Avenue as his studio, working in ceramics, while living at 771 Ocean Avenue. He is known to have also used the studio to host receptions and exhibitions of both he and Haley's art and art collections. In the late 1990s, Ghent let space on the second floor of 775 Ocean Avenue to Xtopher Seldon, a contractor, architecture student, and artist, who assisted Ghent as a caretaker for the properties. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44) Ghent continued to live at 771 Ocean Avenue and work in the lower studio of 775 Ocean Avenue until 2012. The properties had been entailed to the Nature Conservancy, but the organization agreed to divest of them, and Ghent ensured that they were purchased by an ownership consortium that included his friends Robin and Guillermina Emy LaFever. (Ghent 2024) Robin LaFever was an engineer, whose professional work evolved and adapted into an artistic practice involving 3D modeling and tech- related assemblages. He often hosted “The Gang of Five,” or “The Art Squad,” a small group of Point Richmond artists, at his studio on the second floor of 775 Ocean Avenue; a quirky community art practice indicative of the vibrant artistic community Point Richmond has supported since the early twentieth century. (Casas and Wei 2016) Emy LeFever, a local shop owner, was and continues to be the proprietor of Guillermina Asian Art & Antiques located in Point Richmond's commercial hub. She lives at 775 Ocean Avenue, while in 2022, she and the ownership consortium sold the property at 771 Ocean Avenue to the current owners, David Ruddell and Joy Tahan Ruddell. The Ruddells are, themselves, an artist and a museum collections specialist, ensuring the property's ongoing stewardship by those who value art and the legacy of John Haley.
Chain of Title & Occupancy
Date Owners/Occupants
1932 - 1997 John & Monica Haley (1960 – purchased neighboring 775 Ocean Avenue) 1997 - 2017 Gregory Ghent (owned both properties in trust) 2017-2022 Ownership consortium including residents Robin and Guillermina Emy LeFever (owned both properties)
2022 - present David & Joy Tahan Ruddell (purchased 771 Ocean Avenue. 775 Ocean Avenue was purchased by one member of the ownership consortium and rented to Emy LeFever.) Significant Person: John Haley
John Haley (1905-1991) was born in 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As early as high school, he showed a talent for drawing in illustrations he created for the school newspaper. After graduating, he attended the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art & Design). The school taught mainly in the traditional Beaux Arts genre, which Haley mastered. In his senior year, he was commissioned to paint a portrait of T.B. Walker, a local lumber tycoon, which was hung in Minneapolis City Hall. This recognition made Haley's talent public and seems to have ensured some future in art. However, his interest and skill were developed beyond traditional portraiture. While at the Minneapolis School of Art, Haley took instruction from artist Cameron Booth, who had brought his own interest in European Modernism to the school's otherwise traditional curriculum. Haley thus discovered a passion for Modernist art and a lasting comradery with Booth. (Ghent 1993. Spake 2023.) Earning a one-year study-abroad scholarship in 1927, Haley traveled to Europe with Booth where they studied at the summer art school of Hans Hoffman on the Italian Isle of Carpi. Hoffman was one of the early twentieth century's most influential art teachers, having been influenced himself by the likes of Picasso and Matisse. In addition to his summer program on Capri, he ran a regular school in Munich, which Haley attended in the fall, after Booth had returned to the States. (Haley, 1982) Hoffman was a major player in the European avant-garde movement, furthering the genres of Symbolism, Neo-impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.
His school is cited by some historians as the first school of modern art and both his practice and teaching was seminal to twentieth century modern art. (Wikipedia)
Haley attended Hoffman's school for the 1927-1928 academic year, learning Hoffman's techniques of colorful expressionistic cubism and enthusiastically breaking away from his early Beaux Arts training. He returned to the United States in the summer of 1928 and traveled to the West Coast to see his fiancee, Monica, who was studying at the University of Southern California, and to visit a Minneapolis School of Art colleague who was then teaching at the University of California, Berkeley. This trip introduced Haley to California, U.C. Berkeley, and artists who would be influential in his career and life, like Worth Ryder, a U.C. Berkeley art department professor and former Hoffman student. (Ghent 1993) In 1930, Hans Hoffman was invited to teach a summer art course at U.C. Berkeley and, while there, recommended Haley for a lecturer position in the school's art department. Haley, who had returned to Minnesota to teach at his alma mater, collaborate on Modernist department store window displays with Cameron Booth, do newspaper illustrations, and create stained glass church windows for the Mayo Clinic, eagerly took the job. He and Monica relocated to Berkeley for the start of the 1930-1931 academic year. (Ghent 1993. Deutsch.) (continued)
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At Berkeley, Haley was quick to find success and promoted the avant-garde style that he had learned from Hoffman and developed to his personal practice in intervening years and through collaborations with colleagues. He was known for his good rapport with students, and his clear methods of teaching and conveying new and radical ideas in art. He staunchly promoted Moderism whenever academic debate arose about its merits in relation to traditional art, saying “Modern art... is tradition expressing itself in a new way.” (Ghent 1993)
Haley's art and teaching generated a style that became known as the “Berkeley School,” which was characterized by a unique treatment of space and the use of colors in varied tones delineated with different and multi-colored lines. The style essentially softened the contours and colors of Hoffman's style and embraced on-site, plein air painting. Haley worked primarily in gouache (opaque watercolor) on paper (especially from 1935 to 1941), although he also painted in oil and watercolor; sculpted in stone, wood, and bronze; and did lithography and etching, photography, mosaic, stained glass, and fresco. He depicted architecture in landscape, often urban and industrial, as well as western subjects like ghost towns and mining camps. This fit well with a new enthusiasm for regionalism and American subject matter that was the result of a Depression-era rejection of European abstract art. The Depression also resulted in government-funded art programs, which Haley participated in and subsequently influenced the style of; as in his 1937 frescoes at the U.S. Coast Guard Administration Building on Coast Guard Island, Alameda. It embodies the New Deal aesthetic, while at the same time employing Haley's personal interest and experimentation in both Renaissance fresco techniques and contemporary Regionalist subject mater.
Developing the Berkeley School aesthetic along with Hoffman disciples, Minneapolis School of Art alumni, and fellow U.C.
Berkeley art professors Worth Ryder, Glenn Wessels, Erle Loran, Karl Kasten, and philosopher and art department chairman Stephen C. Pepper, the U.C. Berkeley art department was established as the most progressive and innovative in academia during the mid-twentieth century. It was the first national university to support a studio-practice program, had a rigorous program of guest- artist/instructors, and espoused the philosophies of aesthetics, practice, and the study of art history. Haley was instrumental in introducing countless students, as well as visiting artists, to the “Berkeley School” and the philosophies of Modern art.
Haley's teaching job at Berkeley supported him well financially and gave him the ability to pursue and develop his personal art practice. The faculty at Berkeley coalesced around him, sharing common training and employment, but also personal artistic philosophies. This strong connection resulted in Haley and Worth Ryder embarking on travels together to paint the California landscape, and ultimately buying land and building side-by-side studios in Point Richmond.
In 1935, Haley was honored with his first solo exhibition at the Art Center in San Francisco, which was devoted to showing the works of local modern artists. Reviews were complimentary. The following year, the San Francisco Museum of Art hosted a second annual watercolor exhibition and a related review written by art critic John Frankenstein coined the moniker “Berkeley School.” Frankenstein's review stated that the Berkeley School were “ a group that practices an art of coloured drawing with watercolour and gouache. Theirs is an essentially graphic way of looking at things…. The old master of this Berkeley school which delights in odd and slightly naïve aspects of the local scene is John Haley, whose contributions to any exhibition are always outstanding.’ (Spake 2023)
In 1936, Haley also won his first award; a San Francisco Art Association Purchase Prize at the first annual watercolor exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art. The prize was given to a gouache painting titled “770 Ocean Avenue,” a depiction of Haley's Point Richmond studio-house. (John Haley Biographical Data) In 1938, he was awarded the Anne Bremmer Memorial Prize. His work featured in a number of other publications, exhibitions, and museums in the pre-war years, culminating with multiple pieces, including dioramas, displayed in the Pacific House at the Golden Gate International Exhibition on Treasure Island; a celebration of modernism and progress. (Krevsky Fine Art)
During World War II, Haley served in the Navy as a combat-intelligence officer, where he was able to implement his artistic skills.
In 1943 and 1944, he assisted in model making and creating detailed relief maps of the various theaters of war to aid in invasion strategizing. Later, he was an air photographer for the Pacific Fleet and also taught a course in camouflage for architects and engineers at U.C. Berkeley. (Krevsky Fine Art)
Returning from his wartime hiatus, Haley was granted a full professorship at U.C. Berkeley. He also responded, in the classroom and in his own work, to evolving philosophies in Modern art precipitated by the upheaval of war. By the mid-twentieth century, Modernism had been fully embraced in the art world and had spun off the genres of Surrealism and Abstraction. Haley took to the latter and shifted to the use of oil paint over gouache or watercolor. He continued to garner inspiration from regional landscapes and subject mater, but depicted them in a much more abstracted and bolder way. By the 1950s, he had fully embraced abstraction in the media of painting, drawing, and collage. (Ghent 1993) In the late 1940s and early 1950s, exhibit of Haley's work went national when a piece of his was shown and later purchased for the permanent collection of the prestigious Phillips Collection in Washington, DC; had work selected by jury and exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and was given solo shows at New York City's Mortimer Levitt Gallery. Critical review of these exhibits lauded Haley's work. (continued)
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In the early 1950s, John and Monica Haley spent months in New York, in part due to Haley's work being exhibit there, but also in absorbing the local art scene; the abstract “New York School” to Haley's “Berkeley School.” This was also when the Haleys became interested in and began their collection of African, Oceanic, and indigenous American art. This collection would come to grace the Haley home at 771 Ocean Avenue in Point Richmond – the 1949 living room addition being designed around it to some extent – although it is noted that the art itself did not have a great influence on Haley's own work. (Ghent 1993) In the 1950s, Haley took a foray into sculpting that lasted into the 1970s. He often took prolonged breaks from painting to explore other media. This occurred again in 1959 and 1960, when he studied photography with Ansel Adams. Ultimately, however, he continued his work in large-scale, colorful, abstract impressionist painting that continued to loosely depict figural or landscape subjects through color and rhythm, but also went beyond the literal to evoke mood. In contrast to the New York School of intense, frenetic, and completely abstract works, Haley and the Berkeley School embraced calmer expression and retained some sense of subject matter. In the early 1960s, Haley's work was shown in solo shows at San Francisco's De Young Museum and at the Worth Ryder Gallery at U.C. Berkeley to great praise. (Ghent 1993) Haley continued his abstract work for some time, creating works that often had loose, blurred margins that concentrated into distinct patches of color toward the center; loosely depicting skylines and landscape formations. He continued to teach at U.C Berkeley until becoming a Professor Emeritus in 1972, and then in retirement continued to make art in his Point Richmond studio.
He did not pursue the Post Modern trends that art followed going into the 1980s, however. He continued the work he had been doing and, in fact, returned to his more representative and less abstract subjects, using watercolor and pen-and-ink. (Ghent 1993) Whether one event influenced the other, or not, California Regionalism experienced renewed appreciation in the later years of the twentieth century, just as Haley revisited his retro style. At that time, Haley's older work was shown in solo exhibitions at the Jan Holloway Gallery in San Francisco titled “John Haley: Regional Watercolors of the '30s and '40s;” at the Richmond Art Center, titled “John Haley's Richmond;” and at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. His work of the 1930s and 1940s was also published in a number of books. (Ghent 1993)
John Haley died of a stroke in November 1991. (University of California Academic Senate) His Point Richmond studio-house was filled with over 400 artworks at the time, in addition to those he had sold throughout his career. Monica Haley continued to live at 771 Ocean Avenue until her death in 1997, paying tribute to her husband's artistic legacy by carefully curating and promoting his works, alongside the Haleys' friend Gregory Ghent.
Architectural Style: Second Bay Tradition
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue can be classified stylistically as Second Bay Tradition. The Bay Tradition was an ongoing regional architectural trend spanning from around 1910 through the 1960s. Buildings of the Bay Tradition can be classified within three different periods, but the designs of all of those periods tended to be small-scale, picturesque, somewhat rustic, and blend into the surrounding landscape. The aesthetic embodied the common characteristics of modest, straightforward, distinctive design that responded to the Bay Area's climate, geography, and relatively informal cultural attitudes. Of the three periods, the First Bay Tradition was a derivation of the East Coast's shingle style and was influenced by the Craftsman style, while the Second Bay Tradition style was inspired by the International and Ranch styles. The Third Bay Tradition style was a synthesis of the earlier two that combined rustic materials with strikingly modern forms.
Advent of the Second Bay Tradition is generally attributed to architects William W. Wurster and Gardner Dailey, while their Bay Area contemporaries Mario Corbett, John C. Funk, Francis Joseph McCarthy, and others played a significant role in perpetuating and interpreting the style. These architects referenced historical precedents and used rustic, natural materials, but applied them in uniquely modern ways. They employed new concepts of space planning, siting, and the interaction of indoor/outdoor space and structure/landscape. In so doing, they were Modernists, but separate from mainstream or high Modernism, which upheld machine- age materials and production, sleek lines, and dramatic forms.
The Second Bay Tradition style, represented by 771 Ocean Avenue, was prevalent between 1930 and 1960. It is described as “a unique combination of the 'less is more' dictum of the International style and the local vernacular architecture of ranches, barns, and low-cost homes.” (Walker 1996, 193) This resulted in small-scale, low-profile houses featuring simple cubistic forms, large expanses of glass, and open plans, which were rendered in redwood board siding, exposed interior roof structures, interior redwood paneling, and low pitched roofs. However, “although they have certain common characteristics like redwood walls, openness of plan, and a tendency to low, sloping roofs, every good Bay Region house is unique in design. This is because each one, unlike most U.S. homes, represents a tailor-made solution to the particular living problems of the owner.” ( Life Magazine 1949)
Even as early as the 1930s, the California lifestyle was notably more informal and unpretentious than the prevailing culture of the East Coast. Temperate climate allowed people to embrace outdoor living and a certain lack of traditional sentimentality meant that people did not want to live in or maintain monumental houses. The time period in which the style was popular, during the Depression and World War II, also dictated economic frugality. For both these reasons, Second Bay Tradition designs (continued) 236
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were simple, not ostentatious, and used inexpensive materials. They drew on the existing architectural traditions of California; that is, ranch houses and Spanish Colonial influences; which harmonized with the environment and used simple, local materials.
Ultimately, these design concepts resulted in modest houses with the quality and livability of a larger house by using siting to to create privacy, separation from the public realm, and divert focus toward the landscape; using windows and indoor/outdoor space, as well as avoiding interior structural members that interrupted sight lines, to capture views and visually increase the size of a room; designing rooms for multiple purposes, thus increasing efficiency and minimizing circulation areas; and using simple materials and minimal detailing to eliminate visual distraction and allow the eye to travel away from confining walls and toward open outdoor views. (Hille 1994)
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue embodies Second Bay Tradition philosophies both in its original 1930s design and later Midcentury addition by presenting a Modernist design that is simple in form and made of basic affordable materials like hollow clay tile and wood. Its form, which is actually two-stories high, melds with the waterfront hillside to minimize the building's profile at the street and respond to the sloped geography of its site, as it descends to the shoreline. The building's primary (north) facade appeals to the concept of privacy by presenting a high ratio of solid wall to fenestration, with the expansive studio window set high on the wall and incorporated into the roofline, so that its perspective angles up and out, and is related to the capture of light, rather than focusing on view and interaction with the public realm. The primary entrance is minimized, located on the side of the building and down a long flight of steps from the street, with no porch and little ornament to mark its location. Meanwhile the rear (south) side of the building opens up to the environment and view through large expanses of glazing and a sense of the living room blending with the outdoor patio. Small details that emphasize indoor-outdoor interaction are noted in a 1950 article about the Roger Lee-designed addition and states that “'Bringing the outdoors indoors' in this otherwise 'interior living' house was accomplished by extending a high stucco wall into the entry and continuing the planting inside.” The building's broadly sloped side-gable roof with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, rustic hollow clay tile and wood board-and-batten siding, unusual angled siting and plan, and minimal decorative trim also characterize it as Second Bay Tradition style.
Built in 1932, the studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue is an early example of the Second Bay Tradition style, which was popular from the 1930s to 1960. Being so early, it appears to have set a precedent for Modernist design in Point Richmond, which became an enclave of architect-designed Modern architecture in following decades. Roger Lee's influence came to the property itself in 1949, and he later designed another house nearby. Meanwhile the likes of William Wurster, John Funk, R.M. Schindler, Donald Olsen and other Midcentury masters all brought their design prowess to Point Richmond.
Architect: Roger Lee
No building permit or other archival information was found to identify an architect or design professional responsible for the original 1932 design or construction of the studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue. The building's modest character, 1930s construction date, and location outside of a major city suggests that it was either not architect designed or that the original design and construction were not formally documented.
The designer of the 1949 living room addition was architect Roger Lee (1920-1981). Lee was a pioneering Chinese-American architect, who designed in the Modernist idiom, primarily in the Bay Area, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. He received his architectural training at U.C. Berkeley, graduating with top honors in 1941. Graduating at the outset of World War II, Lee immediately went to work for the government, designing post offices, bunkers, and military installations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After the war, he worked in Los Angeles for a short time before returning to the Bay Area and working in the office of Frank Langhorst. In 1948, he established his own practice – Roger Lee, Architect – which he operated with a staff of about six architects, in Berkeley and then San Francisco, until relocating to Hawaii in 1964.
Roger Lee is called one of the “forgotten Midcentury Modernist architects,” and is not often mentioned in the echelon of other Midcentury Modernists like William Wurster, Joseph Esherick, and Gardner Daily. Nevertheless, Lee exercised great skill in designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle-class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the post-war Second Bay Tradition style.
In addition to the Second Bay Tradition's typical features, Lee's designs are recognizable for their internally visible post-and-beam construction, which created a harmonious visual rhythm internally and sometimes extended to the exterior as trellises; flat roofs; long, low massing; inconspicuous entries; open plans; ribbon windows; walls of glazing; and structural features employed for visual interest over the use of ornament. His houses often included internal atria that that responded to the indoor-outdoor interaction so important to the Second Bay Tradition style.
His post-and-beam construction later evolved into modular designs that included windows and wall panels of identical size, which could be installed within the post-and-beam structure depending on the preferences of the client. This he called the “Modflux” system and it lent greater flexibility and, thus, affordability to his projects. His emphasis on affordable design also (continued) 237
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B10. Significance: (continued)
meant that he often designed very modest houses, but provided plans for later additions, and readily used inexpensive materials like plywood.
Lee's portfolio includes over 100 houses, primarily in the East Bay, but throughout Northern California, with more in Nevada and Hawaii. He sometimes designed small groupings of houses, as well as apartments, housing projects, recreational facilities, and churches. His work was published in magazines like Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens , and Architectural Forum ; the latter of which published a three page article in 1949 (the same year Lee designed the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue) about a grouping of houses Lee designed in El Cerrito, titled “Modern Design: Out West the Customer is Starting to Demand It,” highlighting Lee's focus on designing custom houses for the middle-class. Lee was also honored with a number of industry awards, including “America's Best Small Houses, 1949,” an AIA Honor Awards Program Award of Merit in 1955, and First Honor in the AIA's “Homes for Better Living” program in 1956. (Online Archive of California. Weinstein 2006, 98-105. Weinstein “8 Great Modern Masters.”)
Evaluation: Richmond Historic Register
The City of Richmond Historic Structures Code defines a historic resource as any building, structure, sign, feature, site, place, area, or other improvement of scientific, aesthetic, educational, cultural, archaeological, architectural, or historical value to citizens of the City and designated as such by the Richmond City Council. Historic resources also include historic landmarks and contributing structures in historic districts. The list of designated historic resources in Richmond is known as the Richmond Historic Register. (City of Richmond, Richmond Historic Register.) A building, structure, object, site, or area may be eligible for Landmark designation, and listing on the Richmond Historic Register, if it is found to meet any of the following criteria:
1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history;
2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history;
3. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning;
4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship;
5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development;
6. It is a structure, site, or other improvement which meets any of the above criteria at the highest level, and whose loss would be a major loss to the City. (City of Richmond Municipal Code) The property at 771 Ocean Avenue appears to be eligible for individual listing in the Richmond Historic Register under five of the above criteria. A full evaluation follows:
1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history;
For most of its history (1932 to 1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley, who was a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world (see criterion 2, below, for an explanation of Haley's significance). Because the property served as the studio where he practiced art and produced his extensive body of work, and because the studio-house and its Point Richmond environs often factored into that work as subject matter, the property can be recognized as an embodiment of the City's cultural values, especially in relation to art. The neighborhood of Point Richmond, in particular, has been an enclave of artists, writers, intellectuals, and other creatives – many faculty of U.C. Berkeley – since the early twentieth century, and continues to be today. Haley's studio-house, thus contributes significantly to the built environment that makes up a neighborhood long-inhabited by an intellectual and creative community with high creative and artistic history and values.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 1.
2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history; For most of its history (1932 to 1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley (continued) 238
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B10. Significance: (continued)
who used it as both his home and art studio. Haley was a significant and influential figure in Bay Area and California art, who is credited with originating and proliferating the “Berkeley School” style. Having trained with Hans Hoffman, a seminal figure in European Modern art, Haley brought revolutionary new artistic concepts and practice to U.C Berkeley and the Bay Area. His work is pioneering and distinctive in its break from traditional Beaux-Arts style painting, its exploration of regionalist subject matter, its later shift toward abstraction, and the more sedate and representational approach that differentiated it from the New York School of Modern art. Haley not only practiced his ground-breaking genre prolifically, but as a professor of art at U.C. Berkeley, helped make that academic program one of the strongest art departments in the nation. He was a gifted teacher, who taught and disseminated Berkeley School style and philosophies to countless students, who then went on to have their own art careers, proliferating the Berkeley School style. Haley's career spanned over sixty years and he was well recognized by his representation in solo and group shows nationally and internationally, complimentary critical review, and a number of awards given to him by prestigious art institutions. His name and works remain well represented in Modern art circles, proving the longevity of his influence on Modern art locally and regionally, as well as extending to the national level.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 2.
3. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning; The property at 771 Ocean Avenue is not strongly reflective of, or significant within, geographical patterns or eras of settlement in Richmond. Built in the early 1930s, it represents a relatively early development of property along the shoreline of the Point Richmond neighborhood, but was not the first property to be developed in that area and became one of numerous residential properties of various ages and styles that expanded the Point Richmond neighborhood in a natural growth pattern toward the water.
The property does not appear to be significant under criterion 3.
4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue can be classified as Second Bay Tradition style (popular from 1930-1960) and embodies many physical characteristics of that style, such as a simple form, use of basic affordable materials with a rustic aesthetic like hollow clay tile and wood board-and-batten siding, a broadly sloped side-gable roof form with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, and minimal decorative trim. It also demonstrates strong response to the design philosophies of the Second Bay Tradition style in its unusual angled siting, plan, and hillside integration, which followed the Second Bay Tradition tenant of design cooperating with site topography. The style also emphasized public versus private space, which is seen in the building's orientation away from the public realm and contrasting openness to the private patio and shoreline to the south, a non-interactive street facade, and minimization of the primary entrance. The openness to the private realm to the south is facilitated by ample glazing, which also responds to the Second Bay Tradition concept of interaction between indoor-outdoor space.
Some of the characteristics described above can be attributed to the living room addition, made in 1949, meaning that they are not original to the 1932 design. However, as the Second Bay Tradition style continued until 1960 (and later evolving into the Third Bay Tradition style), the addition falls within the style's period of significance and was designed by an architect who's body of work contributed the development of the Bay Tradition style over time. Therefore, the property can be regarded as a good example of the Second Bay Tradition style at two different time during the style's period of popularity. It also contributes to a notable concentration of Modernist architecture in Point Richmond and was one of the earliest Second Bay Tradition or Modernist buildings to be constructed within that neighborhood context.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 4.
5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development;
The original designer and/or builder of the studio-house is unknown. The living room addition, made in 1949, was designed by pioneering Chinese-American Modernist architect Roger Lee. Lee was responsible for designing over 100 buildings in the Bay Area, and although he tends not to be included in many discussions of Midcentury architecture in the Bay Area, he is credited with designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle-class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the Second Bay Tradition style.
While the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue represents the modification of an existing structure that was not (continued) 239
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B10. Significance: (continued)
of Lee's design, it is strongly representational of Lee's design philosophies and shows innovation in his integration of an earlier Second Bay Tradition building with his new Second Bay Tradition addition. It is also one of few buildings in Richmond known to have been designed by Lee. Another is located nearby at 664 Ocean Avenue and was built for Josephine Miles in 1951. Miles was a poet and professor at U.C. Berkeley; another of Point Richmond's artistic academics. It seems likely that she and Haley were acquainted and that Roger Lee's work at 771 Ocean Avenue may have given him entree to designing Miles' house down the street a year or two later. Lee also designed a multi-unit housing project in Richmond for Basic Home Industries in 1956; however the location and status of that work are unknown. (U.C. Berkeley Environmental Design Archives) The property appears to be significant under criterion 5.
6. It is a structure, site, or other improvement which meets any of the above criteria at the highest level, and whose loss would be a major loss to the City
The property at 771 Ocean Avenue meets criteria 1, 2, 4, and 5. It represents the place where an influential artist lived and produced his significant work for nearly 60 years; contributes to a rich history of intellectual and creative community in Point Richmond; and embodies the characteristics of a distinctive regional architectural style as designed by a prominent and pioneering Bay Area architect. Therefore, its loss would constitute the loss of a cultural and architectural element of the Point Richmond neighborhood and the city as a whole.
Because the building also relates strongly to the near-identical building next door (775 Ocean Avenue) and the two have a shared history, the loss of one or the other would mean the loss of that relationship, which would further exacerbate loss to the neighborhood and city.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 6.
Integrity
Although integrity is not a qualifying factor for listing in the Richmond Historical Register, the property's retention of historic integrity is important to its ability to convey its historic significance. Therefore, it is noted that the property retains integrity of location and setting, the studio-house having never been relocated from or re-situated on its bay-side site in the residential neighborhood of Point Richmond. It continues to exhibit its original design, including the significant 1949 addition that supports and enhances its Second Bay Tradition architectural style, and has undergone few additional alterations. This contributes to retention of original materials and features, and expression of workmanship, in that the treatment and application of materials to the specifications of the intended design is still extant. Ultimately, the studio-house has integrity of feeling as a 1930s Second Bay Tradition building and is capable of expressing its significant associations with John Haley, his artistic work, its role in the Paint Richmond creative community, and the significant architectural character that references associations with a notable architect and contributes to the character of the surrounding environment.
Conclusion
The property at 771 Ocean Avenue was built in 1932 to serve as an art studio for John Haley, a U.C Berkeley art professor, influential Modern artist, and originator of the “Berkeley School” style of art. It was also the home of Haley and his wife, Monica. No original architect is known, but the building was designed in the Second Bay Tradition style, and was later enhanced with a living room addition in the same style designed by significant Midcentury Modernist architect Roger Lee. The studio-house is significant primarily for its associations with John Haley and his significant artwork, but also has connections to the broader Bay Area art world, other notable artists and their work, art education, and the rich creative and intellectual community that has historically been present in Point Richmond. Along with the physical character of the studio-house, itself; its association with a prominent Bay Area Modernist architect; and contribution to a neighborhood context of architect-designed Modernist architecture, the property is eligible for listing in the Richmond Historic Register and, subsequently, qualifies as a historical resource for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Sources
Casas, Angelic M. and Katherine Wei, 8 February 2016. “Five men, one town, four decades of art,” Richmond Confidential; https://richmondconfidential.org/2016/02/08/five-men-one-town-four-decades-of-art/ City of Richmond Municipal Code, 15.04.303.060
City of Richmond, 2012. “Richmond General Plan 2023: Chapter 14, Historical Resources.” City of Richmond. “Richmond Historic Register,” https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/2959/Richmond-Register.
California Digital Newspaper Collection; https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc. (continued) B10. Significance: (continued) B10. Significance: (continued) 240
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B10. Significance: (continued)
Deutsch, Monroe V., Vice President, U.C. Berkeley to John C. Haley (telegram), 4 September 1930; Bancroft Library, U.C.
Berkeley, BANCMSS93/117, c.
Gautraud, Alexandra A., October 1984. “Cork Trees of Point Richmond,” This Point (Point Richmond History Association newsletter), vol. 3, no.3.
Ghent, Gregory 1993. Haley: A Retrospective, Richmond, CA: Richmond Art Center.
Ghent, Gregory 2022. to Emy Lafever (email), “Haley mural around fireplace.” Ghent, Gregory 20224. Interview by author, 27 August 2024, Richmond, CA. by telephone.
Google Maps/Google Street View. Google.com.
Haley, John C. 1982. To Glenn [Wessels] (letter), 2 December 1982; Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley, BANCMSS93/117, c.
Hill, Kimi Kodani 2000. Topaz Moon: Chiura Obata's Art of the Internment. Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books.
Hille, R. Thomas 1994. Inside the Large Small House: The Residential Design Legacy of William W. Wurster. New York:
Princeton Architectural Press.
John Haley Biographical Data (binder), Bancroft Library, BANCMSS93/117c, 2:2.
Krevsky Fine Art 2024. “John Haley Bio.” https://krevskyfineart.com/artists/john-haley/john-haley-bio/ Life Magazine 1949. “San Francisco Houses: They embody a new U.S. Regional architecture,” 5 September 1949.
NETR Online. “Historic Aerials.” https://www.historicaerials.com/ NewspaperArchive.com.
Newspapers.com
Online Archive of California, U.C. Berkeley Environmental Design Archives, Roger Lee Collection: Biographical Note; https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf6t1nb2j4/admin/.
Riquelme, Kathleen and Melba Levick 2003. The Studio Book. United States: Universe.
Roselius, Donna 1985. “A Brief Unofficial History of Point Richmond.” Point Richmond, CA: Point Richmond History Association; https://www.pointrichmondhistory.org/history.html
Spake, Pierre 2023. “The Unrecorded Photographic Archive of John C. Haley: 'Berkeley School' artist, teacher, and photographer.”
Tanner, Ogden 1950. "How Living Space was Added on to a Studio House at Point Richmond," San Francisco Chronicle, 21 May 1950.
Treadway, Chris 2016. “A Child's View of War: Paintings produced by shipyard care program youths give a unique glimpse into Richmond history,” East Bay Times, 15 August 2016.
United States Federal Census records.
University of California Academic Senate 1991, “University of California: In Memoriam; John C. Haley, Art: Berkeley.” http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb4t1nb2bd&brand=oac4&chunk.id=meta University of California, Berkeley, Environmental Design Archives. Roger Lee Collection: 1949-1968; project index.
University of California, Santa Barbara, Library. Aerial Photographs collection; https://www.library.ucsb.edu/src/airphotos.
Walker, Lester 1996. American Shelter. New York: The Overlook Press. (continued) B10. Significance: (continued)
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Weinstein, Dave. “8 Great Modern Masters,” EichlerNetwork.com; https://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/8-great-modern- masters?page=0,5.
Weinstein, Dave 2006. Signature Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area. Lyton, UT: Gibbs-Smith Publisher.
Wikipedia, “Hans Hofman,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Hofmann. 242
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Historic Images
John Haley, artist and owner/occupant of 771 Ocean Avenue. (Ghent 1993) View of rear facade of 771 Ocean Ave., early 1930s. Hollow clay tile wall separating 771 and 775 Ocean Ave. is still unstuccoed.
John Haley seated on top of wall. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) 243
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Monica and John Haley at rear facade of 771 Ocean Avenue, early 1930s. Practice frescos visible on wall . (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
Monica, John, and Hazel Haley on rear patio of 771 Ocean Ave., early 1930s. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) 244
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Two paintings of 771 and 775 Ocean Avenue by John Haley.
Top: “Point Richmond Studios on SF Bay,” 1933.
Bottom: “Old Garage with New Studio,” 1932.
(MutualArt.com)
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Rear facade of 771 Ocean Ave., 1934. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) Looking south down entry stair/walk at 771 Ocean Ave., 1934. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) 246
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Fresco around fireplace at 771 Ocean Ave. (prior to being covered), ca. 1935. (Ghent 2022) “770 Ocean Avenue,” by John Haley, 1936. (Ghent 1993)
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“Our renters while we were in Europe” and Monica Haley (right), in front of fireplace mural, 1937. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
Interior of first floor living area (before the 1949 addition), 1938. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) 248
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View into guest room, as added/improved in 1938. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) Interior of studio, rear sleeping porch, as added in 1938. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) 249
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1949 Roger Lee-designed living room addition to south facade, looking east. (Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley) 1949 Roger Lee-designed living room addition to south facade, looking southwest. (Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley) 250
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Interior of 1949 Roger Lee-designed living room addition to south facade, looking west. (Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley) Interior of 1949 Roger Lee-designed living room addition to south facade, looking northwest at entry area.
Kitchen and bathroom (with Adam and Eve window) visible beyond. (Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley) 251
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Interior of 1949 Roger Lee-designed living room addition to south facade, looking south.
Chiura Obata's Japanese Black Pine visible outside window. (Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley) John and Monica Haley and some of their art collection, sitting in the “cozy corner” with the eastern gallery wall beyond; northeast corner of the 1949 living room addition, 1956. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) 252
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John and Monica Haley seated on the rear patio of 771 Ocean Avenue, 1956. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) Rear patio at west side of living room addition, 1956 (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History) 253
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Monica Haley seated on original banquette along south wall of living room addition, 1957. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
Monica and John Haley seated in front of eastern wall of living room addition, 1962. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
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“No. 29, Point Richmond, California,”by Henry Wessel, Jr., 1972. (771 Ocean Avenue, looking west) (MoMA.org)
Interior of second floor studio space, looking east, 1975. (Los Angeles Times “Home” magazine, 7 September 1975)
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View west along Ocean Avenue, ca. 1975. 775 Ocean Avenue visible at left. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
Rear facades of 775 (left) and 771 (right) Ocean Avenue from the water, looking northeast, ca. 1980. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
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Marker sketch of 771 and 775 Ocean Avenue by John Haley, 1982. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
View of 771 and 775 Ocean Ave., looking south from lot on north side of Ocean Avenue, 1987. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
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View of portion of living room addition, looking up from lower terrace or shore at southwest side of property, ca. 1990. (Haley collection, Richmond Museum of History)
Current Images
Front (north) facades of 771 (left) and 775 (right) Ocean Ave. looking southwest. 258
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Rear (south) facades of 775 (left) and 771 (right) Ocean Ave. looking northeast.
Rear (south) facade of 771 (right) Ocean Ave., looking northeast. 259
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Primary (north) facade of 771 Ocean Ave., looking southeast. 775 Ocean Ave. at right.
Primary (north) facade of 771 Ocean Ave., looking south. 260
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View east along primary (south) facade of 771 Ocean Ave.
View south along west facade, down entry steps/walkway. 261
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Detail of primary entrance on west facade.
Wall at right is hollow clay tile wall that extends into entry and extends south to separate 771 from 775 Ocean Ave.
West facade of 1949 living room addition, looking east. 262
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Patio at west side of living room addition. Primary entrance is beyond wall at center.
Wall at left/center is hollow clay tile wall that extends into entry and extends south to separate 771 from 775 Ocean Ave.
West facade of living room addition and Chiura Obata's Japanese Black Pine at right. 263
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South facade of 1949 living room addition.
View from lower rear terrace looking up (north) at rear of 775 (left) and 771 (right) Ocean Ave. 264
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View northeast along east side of 771 Ocean Ave.; living room addition left foreground, garage/guest room projecting beyond.
East side of living room addition, looking southeast.
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South facade of projecting garage/guest room, looking north from east side yard.
East facade of garage/guest room, looking west.
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View west along front facade, from northeast corner of property; garage/guest room closest.
Interior of living room, looking west. Patio door center, primary entrance door on right. 267
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Interior of living room, looking south.
Interior of living room, looking northeast at “cozy corner” and eastern gallery wall at right, opening to kitchen at left. 268
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
Eastern gallery wall of living room, looking south.
Interior of first floor bathroom, looking north. John Haley's Adam and Eve stained glass window above tub. 269
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
Stairs to second floor, west side of kitchen space. Opening to living room at left, doorway to bathroom at right.
Interior of second floor studio space, looking east.
270
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
I
Interior of second floor studio space, looking north.
Interior of second floor studio space, looking west.
271
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
Fireplace at east end of studio space, showing partially-restored John Haley fresco.
Interior of second floor studio space looking southwest. Wide opening denotes 1938 sleeping porch addition. 272
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
Interior of second floor studio space, looking west. Sleeping porch addition at left.
View southeast into sleeping porch addition from studio space. 273
RESOLUTION No. 26-01
RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF RICHMOND
RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL APPROVE A ZONING MAP AMENDMENT
TO ADD A -L, LANDMARK OVERLAY DISTRICT TO THE JOHN HALEY STUDIO/HOUSE AT 771 OCEAN AVENUE FOR THE PURPOSE OF LISTING ON THE RICHMOND
HISTORIC REGISTER
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Richmond recognizes the importance of preserving and enhancing the City's historical and cultural background; and WHEREAS, Richmond Municipal Code (RMC) Section 15.04.303.070 Procedure for Designating Property sets forth the requirements and procedures for the designation of a site as a historic resource using the -L, Landmark Overlay District designation; and WHEREAS, on August 4, 2025, the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) conducted a duly noticed public hearing to consider the proposed -L, Landmark Overlay District designation pursuant to Richmond Municipal Code Section 15.04.303.060 of the John Haley Studio/House at771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, 94801 for the purpose of listing on the Richmond Historic Register; and
WHEREAS, on August 4, 2025, the HPC voted (3-0-2) to recommend to the Planning Commission and City Council to approve the designation of the John Haley Studio/House as a -L, Landmark Overlay District and finding that the project meets five of the six criteria of RMC Section 15.04.303.060; and
WHEREAS, the Planning Commission has reviewed the proposed project for conformance with Sections 15.04.303.060 and Article 15.04.814 of the Richmond Zoning Ordinance related to the proposed Rezoning; and
WHEREAS, on January 15, 2026, the Planning Commission conducted a properly noticed public hearing pursuant to California Government Code Section 65090, and has duly considered all written and verbal testimony presented before or during the hearing, including the agenda report; and
WHEREAS, based on the project application, materials, and testimony submitted prior to and at the public hearing, including the agenda report, the Planning Commission makes the following findings required by RMC Section 15.04.303.060 for a recommendation to the City Council of a -L, Landmark Overlay District designation for the John Haley Studio/House located at 771 Ocean Avenue:
Criterion 1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history; Supporting Statements of Fact: The property contributes significantly to the built environment that makes up a neighborhood long inhabited by an intellectual and creative community with high creative and artistic history and values.
274
Criterion 2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history;
Supporting Statements of Fact: John Haley's name and works remain well represented in Modern art circles, proving the longevity of his influence on Modern art locally and regionally, as well as extending to the national level.
Criterion 4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or
Supporting Statements of Fact: The property can be regarded as a good example of the Second Bay Tradition style and also contributes to a notable concentration of Modernist architecture in Point Richmond and was one of the earliest Second Bay Tradition or Modernist buildings to be constructed within that neighborhood context.
Criterion 5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development; Supporting Statements of Fact: The 1949 living room addition was designed by pioneering Chinese-American Modernist architect Roger Lee, one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and promoter of the Second Bay Tradition style.
Criterion 6. A structure, site, or other improvement which meets any of the above criteria at the highest level, and whose toss would be a major loss to the City, may be designated a Richmond Historic Landmark.
Supportinci Statements of Fact: By meeting criteria 1,2,4, and 5 for landmark designation, the John Haley Studio/House may be designated a Richmond Historic Landmark as set forth in RMC Section 15.04.303.060, -H and -L Overlay District Designation Criteria.
WHEREAS, based on the project application, materials and testimony submitted at the public hearing, including the agenda report, the Planning Commission makes the following findings required by RMC Section 15.04.814.050 for a recommendation to the City Council to approve a Rezoning:
A. The proposed amendment is consistent with the General Plan.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The proposed project -L Landmark Overlay District Designation complies with the goals and policies of the City of Richmond General Plan, specifically under "Historic Resource Preservation Policy HR1.1: Preservation of Diverse Resources" which encourages the protection, preservation and enhancement of the diverse range of historic, cultural and archaeological sites and resources in the City for the benefit of current and future residents and visitors.
6. The proposed amendment is necessary for public health, safety, and general welfare or will be of benefit to the public.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The proposed rezoning is suitable for the project site because it will be of historic and cultural benefit to the public to preserve the history and the residence
275
of a significant and influential figure, John Haley, in the Richmond, Bay Area and California art worlds and their respective built environments.
C. The proposed amendment has been reviewed in compliance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The -L Landmark Overlay District Designation of the John Haley Studio/House is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA guidelines Section 15308, Class 8, Actions by Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment as the project proposes to preserve the John Haley Studio/House.
D. For a change to the Zoning Maps, that the subject property is suitable for the uses permitted in the proposed zone in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, and that the proposed change of zoning district is not detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The subject site is located in an area already served by community facilities, utilities and transportation systems and poses no expansion of uses in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, nor will be detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Planning Commission of the City of Richmond hereby recommends to the City Council approval of a rezoning to amend the zoning map to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the base RL1 zoning district to the John Haley Studio/House located at 771 Ocean Avenue for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register.
Attachments:
A. DPR 523 Form and Project Statement
B. Zoning Map Amendment
276
I certif/ that the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted by the Planning Commission of the City of Richmond at a regular meeting held January 15,2026,by the following vote:
AYES: Chair Jonathan Harrison, Vice-Chair Bruce Brubaker, Commissioner Gay Timmons
NOES: None
ABSTENTIONS: None
ABSENT: Alexander Golovets, Rachel Lockett
Approved:
Chair qfthe PlanhFrig Commission
/
Approved as to form:
C^^y^'u^
Assistant City Attorney
277
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #
PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial
NRHP Status Code
Other Listings
Review Code Reviewer Date
P1. Other Identifier: 771 Ocean Avenue
*P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County: Contra Costa and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5' Quad: San Quentin Date: 1995 rev 1999 T ; R ; ¼ of ¼ of Sec ; M.D. B.M. c. Address: 771 Ocean Avenue City: Richmond Zip: 94801 d. UTM: Zone: 10 ; mE/ mN (G.P.S.)
e. Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc., as appropriate) Elevation:
APN: 558-223-012-3
*P3a. Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) Site
The property is located in a residential neighborhood on the Richmond shoreline of San Francisco Bay. The house sits at an angle on its lot; facing due north, while the long axis of the lot is oriented to the northeast. Topography in the area slopes down toward the water. The house is set in close proximity to neighboring buildings (to east and west) and to the street (to the north), but has a patio at the rear (south) that descends steeply to the water in a series of stone masonry terraces. At the west side of the house is a noteworthy site wall, which is constructed of hollow-clay tile and clad with stucco. The wall is slightly less than one-story high. It spans (east-west) between the subject building and its neighbor to the west, separating the entry area of the subject property from its patio to the south. The wall also extends to the southwest, creating physical separation between the patios of the two properties. The wall is structurally integrated with the subject building, as well, with the section spanning between the properties continuing into the interior, forming a partition that creates an entry vestibule. (Continued) *P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP2. Single-family property, HP39. Other (art studio) *P4. Resources Present: Building oStructure oObject oSite oDistrict oElement of District oOther (Isolates, etc.) P5b. Description of Photo: (View,
date, accession #)
Primary and west facades, looking
southeast; September 2024
*P6. Date Constructed/Age and
Sources: Historic
oPrehistoric oBoth
1932; County Assessor and other
*P7. Owner and Address:
David Ruddell & Joy Tahan Ruddell
771 Ocean Avenue
Richmond, CA. 94801
*P8. Recorded by: (Name,
affiliation, and address)
Left Coast Architectural History
PO Box 70415
Richmond, CA. 94807
*P9. Date Recorded: Oct. 2024
P10. Survey Type: Intensive
*P11. Report Citation: None
*Attachments: oNONE oLocation Map oSketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure, and Object Record oArchaeological Record oDistrict Record oLinear Feature Record oMilling Station Record oRock Art Record oArtifact Record oPhotograph Record o Other (List):
DPR 523A (1/95) *Required information
P5a. Photo or Drawing (Photo required for buildings, structures, and objects.)
ATTACHMENT A
278
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD
*Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) John Haley Studio-House B1. Historic Name: 771 Ocean Avenue, Haley Studio
B2. Common Name: 771 Ocean Avenue
B3. Original Use: art studio/residential B4. Present Use: residential *B5. Architectural Style: Second Bay Tradition
*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations) Constructed 1932. Sleeping porch addition, 1938. Living room addition, 1949. (See alterations chart on Continuation Sheets for additional construction history.)
*B7. Moved? No oYes oUnknown Date: n/a Original Location: n/a *B8. Related Features: None
B9a. Architect: None (original), Roger Lee (addition) b. Builder: Unknown *B10. Significance: Theme: Art and Artists Area: Point Richmond Period of Significance: 1932-1991 Property Type: Studio/Residential Applicable Criteria: 1,2,4,5,6 (Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity.) Local Context: Point Richmond & the City of Richmond
Point Richmond is a neighborhood within the larger City of Richmond, in Contra Costa County, California, and is the place where the city originated. Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the native Huchiun (Ohlone) people. During the Spanish period, the Huchiun were displaced and relegated into the Catholic Mission system, and in the succeeding Mexican period the Richmond area became part of Rancho San Pablo, granted to Don Francisco Castro. American control of California resulted in prolonged land disputes and the rancho eventually being divided among numerous landowners. The Point Richmond area remained generally unsettled and undeveloped until the turn of the twentieth century. (City of Richmond 2012) Point Richmond was originally an island, separated from the mainland by swampy unusable land that could not be sold to private owners. Jacob Tewksbury, formerly a physician, owned land to the north of Point Richmond and took it upon himself to build a system of levies that controlled water flow to silt up the marshland, thus creating solid ground. He then petitioned the government to declare the reclaimed waterway as dry land so that it could be purchased and developed. (Roselius 1985) The former island of Point Richmond and the newly-dry land to its northeast were recognized and promoted by Augustin MacDonald in 1895, when he noticed the pleasant environs and a deep water channel to the south that would be an ideal place for a rail terminus and ferry landing. It only took five years for the Santa Fe Railroad to build the facilities needed to begin operating ferry service, including the transport of rail cars, across San Francisco Bay. That industry was quickly followed, in 1901, by the establishment of the Standard Oil refinery, north of Point Richmond proper. A number of smaller industrial plants, like a couple of brick works, a winery, and a whaling station, were established around Point Richmond, generating a local population of workers and families. (Continued)
B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP2. Single-family property, HP39. Other (art studio)
*B12. References:
(See parenthetical citations within text and on Continuation Sheet) B13. Remarks:
*B14. Evaluator: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date of Evaluation: October 2024
DPR 523B (1/95) *Required information
(This space reserved for official comments.)
ATTACHMENT A
279
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
P3a. Description: (continued)
Exterior
The house is constructed of hollow clay tile and wood framing. It has an irregular plan and varied height; consisting of a rectangular two-story mass, with a one-story former-garage extending to the east, and a one-story trapezoidal living room addition extending to the south. The two-story portion of the house is topped by an asymmetrical side-gable roof, while the former-garage is topped by a shed roof, and the southern living room addition is topped by a flat roof. Exterior cladding consists of smooth stucco at the first story level and southern portion of the second story, and wood board-and-batten siding on the north half of the second story level. Smooth wood paneling clads the lower walls of the southern addition, which are almost entirely glazed above.
Due to the slope of the lot, the first story of the primary facade is situated partially below-grade, with a retaining wall creating a narrow well at its base. This makes the facade essentially one-and-a-half stories high at street level. The first story is clad with smooth stucco and is fenestrated with three regularly spaced window openings. The left and center windows have multi-lite, steel, casement sashes, while the right window is leaded art glass depicting Adam and Eve in an aluminum casement sash that was made by John Haley. The second story of the primary facade is clad with wood board-and-batten and features a large centered window opening that is more than than half the width of the facade. This opening is located about half-way up the second story wall and continues past the eaveline, angling back into a reverse shed dormer. The window itself is a multi-lite steel sash with operable horizontal pivot sections. The roofline is eaveless and, as noted, includes a reverse shed dormer that integrates the upper portion of the large centered window. A one-story former-garage extends from the left (east) side of the primary facade. It has an unfenestrated, smooth stucco-clad wall plane and an eaveless shed roofline. The mass of the former- garage projects forward slightly from the plane of the main facade and there is a small double-hung vinyl sash window on the narrow west-facing section of wall at the juncture.
The west facade is separated by only a narrow margin from the neighboring property and is the location of the primary entrance, which is located at the right (south) side of the first story and accessed by a flight of exterior stairs that descending from the street. The first story of the west facade is clad with smooth stucco and the entry area is recessed slightly, with the aforementioned site wall to its immediate right, creating an exterior entry vestibule. The entry door is a flush wood door with a transom lite above and sidelight to its right. On the right (south) side of the site wall, the first story features a fully-glazed wood door to the patio that is topped with a transom, and a bank of wood dado panels with plate glass glazing above. Representing the side of the southern living room addition, the patio door and plate glass windows are overhung by the broad, deeply boxed eaves of the addition's flat roof. The second story of the west facade is largely clad with wood board-and-batten siding, although the far right (south) side is clad with stucco. It is unfenestrated, but for a pair of narrow, horizontal, wood sash windows with flat wood trim that are located on the lower right side of the board-and-batten section of wall. The roofline has an asymmetrical gable end, shorter on the left (north) than the right (south), and is eaveless.
The first story of the rear (south) facade consists of a 1949 Roger Lee-designed living room addition, which projects forward from the main mass of the building. It features a number of angles in the wall plane, which consists of smooth wood dado panels and plate glass fenestration above. The plate glass glazing is separated at regular intervals by thick wood mullions and overhung by the broad, deeply boxed eaves of the flat roof. The second story of the south facade is located on the main mass of the building and is clad with stucco. Two wide horizontally oriented windows are located toward the left (west) side, while a smaller window it located to the right (east). The leftmost window has a sliding wood sash, while the window to its right is slightly wider and has a three-part sliding wood sash. The rightmost window is a much narrower casement sash of the same material.
The east facade faces a neighboring property. The side of the living room addition creates a long plane that is angled to the southeast and continues the wood dado panels, plate glass glazing, and broad boxed eaves from the south facade. Where the addition meets the main mass of the house, it is clad with wood board-and-batten siding and has two horizontal fixed windows fitted with reeded glass set high on the wall, at a corner. The roolfine has both eaveless and boxed eave sections in this location.
To the right (north), is the stucco-clad south-facing wall of the former-garage, which has an angled wall plane and features two double-hung, vinyl sash windows and an eaveless shed roofline. The east-facing wall of the former-garage is also clad with stucco and features a partially-glazed, flush wood door at the center and an eaveless roofline. The second story of the east facade is clad with stucco on the left (south) and wood board-and-batten on the right (north). It has an asymmetrical gable end, shorter on the right (north) than the left (south), with an exterior brick chimney rising up the center.
Interior
The first floor includes a large living room, a kitchen/dining area, and a bathroom. The living room has terracotta tile floors. Plate glass windows span the east, south, and west sides of the space, with built-in banquets, shelving, and storage cabinets original to the 1949 Roger Lee addition lining the lower walls. A portion of the southeast wall is solid and finished with sheet rock. The ceiling is sheet rocked and spanned by one large exposed beams supported by metal and boxed posts.
The kitchen/dining area has a floor made of hollow clay tile laid flat. The walls and ceiling are finished with sheet rock. The floor level steps up into a small bathroom, which also features hollow clay tile floor, and has stucco plaster walls and ceiling, and original ceramic tiles and fixtures. The Haley-designed art glass window on the primary facade corresponds to the bathroom and is located within the shower.
ATTACHMENT A
280
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
P3a. Description: (continued)
Between floor levels (above the first floor and a few steps down from the second floor level) is a garage, which has been converted to a bedroom with bathroom and laundry facilities. It features modern finishes.
A wood quarter-turn stair ascends from the west side of the kitchen/dining area to the second story. It has simple wood railings.
The second floor contains a large open space, a sleeping porch area, and a bathroom. The main space and sleeping porch are separated only minimally by a wide opening. The bathroom is located off the east end of the sleeping porch. The spaces have wood board flooring, sheet rocked walls and the ceilings are the vaulted underside of the gable roof finished with wood boards and beams. On the east wall of the main space is a small fireplace with a raised, depressed arch opening. It has a flat terra cotta tile hearth and lacks a mantel, but is surrounded by exposed plaster that bears a partially-restored John Haley fresco.
Documented Alterations
Records on file at the City of Richmond Building Division, as well as other archival sources, document some changes that have been made to the property over time:
Date Permit #/Source Description of Work
1932 SF Chronicle (Tanner 1950) House constructed.
1935? Riquelme & Levick Possible improvements to first floor living space.* 1938-39 SF Chronicle, Ghent 2024,
historic photos
Addition of sleeping porch [south side, second story] and guest room (conversion of former garage) [east side, first story]. 5/19/1949 28079
SF Chronicle
Living room addition to cottage. [South side, first story.] Addition designed by architect Roger Lee; included jacking up parts of house for plumbness, re-wiring, etc.
7/1/1949 18931 Electrical; wire cottage addition, 6 plugs. 9/7/1949 28708 Certificate of Occupancy for living room addition. 1960 Riquelme & Levick Renovated to create gallery space for Haley's personal art collection. 4/26/1960 Bldg. Div. records Unspecified paving work.
9/16/1964 64493 Reroof studio and shop [garage] with tar and gravel. 8/16/1966 54122 Electrical work to install 100 amp service. 11/21/1969 75642 Reroof dwelling with asbestos and gravel. 7/16/1979 94136 Reroof with felt and crushed granite gravel. 5/14/1993 S9300507 Repairs related to shower.
recent Visual observation Garage entrance infilled.
* Riquelme and Levick (2003) state that the house was built in 1930, which appears to be erroneous as all other sources state 1932, and notes that five years after construction, living quarters were added to the downstairs of the studio. Any “addition” of living quarters to the first floor at that time would have been entirely interior (no physical expansion of the structure) and may have more accurately consisted of kitchen/dining/bathroom room improvements within a space that other sources (Tanner 1950) state were original to the building.
ATTACHMENT A
281
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
B10. Significance: (continued)
A small community of houses and commercial establishments sprang up between the refinery and rail lines and, in 1905, Richmond was incorporated as a city. Churches, a school, theaters, hotels, a beach resort/bandstand, a swimming pool, and other community amenities eventually created the complete neighborhood now known as Point Richmond. (Roselius 1985) By 1915, development had expanded to the east of Point Richmond and a new commercial core along McDonald Avenue supplanted Point Richmond as the heart of the growing city. Point Richmond became a neighborhood within the larger municipality, although it still supported important industrial facilities for rail and oil refining operations, as well as other business, and was a vital neighborhood of residential and other uses. (City of Richmond 2012) As part of the larger city, which fared well during the Great Depression and World War II in large part due to local industry, Point Richmond rode the upheavals of war and economic downturn. During the Depression, Standard Oil and the railroad kept many residents of Point Richmond employed and in relatively good financial health. World War II, brought immense change to Richmond as a whole. The Kaiser Shipyards were established at present-day Marina Bay and wartime industry brought an influx of workers and their families to the area, all needing housing and services. The population boom was, of course, absorbed by the entire city, but Point Richmond played its role by providing some housing, often tucking newcomers into subdivided apartments in existing homes, while more housing was quickly built near industrial areas to the south of Point Richmond. The neighborhood elementary school, Washington School, began to offer classes in shifts to accommodate all of the children that war workers brought with them to the area. Local businesses prospered. (Roselius 1985) The end of the war was almost as dramatic. Many war workers left Richmond to return home, though just as many stayed. With a sudden lack of war industry jobs and government supported housing, many were left unemployed and homeless, plunging Richmond into a depressed state that lasted into the 1960s and beyond. (City of Richmond 2012) Although the population and activity of Point Richmond settled to more normal levels after the war, it felt like stagnation in comparison to the bustle of the war years. As with the rest of the city, the neighborhood took on a downtrodden and unkempt character in the decades following the war. It was somewhat forgotten as the rest of the Bay Area grew around it. Local small industries languished and closed, but the railroad and oil refinery remained active and, ultimately, kept the area alive. The slightly seedy environs attracted a population of bohemians, artists, and intellectuals to Point Richmond, adding to a creative community that had gotten its foothold as early as the 1930s. This gave the town an increasingly eclectic reputation that has grown into the present day. Some development, such as new housing tracts near the water, the establishment of a regional park, and the designation of Point Richmond proper as a National Register Historic District, raised the profile and esteem of the area, putting some polish on the Point from the 1970s onward. The neighborhood now supports a robust population of artists, intellectuals, and professionals that trend older and more affluent. They inhabit a collection of homes dating to all periods of Point Richmond's history and come together in a small enclave of restaurants and shops at the neighborhood's core. (Roselius 1985) Property History: 771 Ocean Avenue
At its start, Point Richmond was a small commercial town center surrounded by residential properties that was located on the inland, northeast, side of a hill separating it from San Francisco Bay. Because of this topographical barrier, development on the bay side (southwest) of the hill was sparse for decades after the town was established. Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps do not illustrate the bay side of the hill until 1930, indicating that there was very little in the way of physical development in that area. Even in 1930, only a few modest houses – some mere one-room cottages – dotted the shoreline and bay-facing slope of the hill.
In 1932, artists, friends, and fellow U.C. Berkeley art professors John Haley and Worth Ryder purchased two adjacent parcels along the shoreline in Point Richmond, where they often came to paint en plein air and had admired the site. Confirming the information found on Sanborn maps, Haley later remembered to a friend how the Point Richmond shoreline was almost totally undeveloped, with only some scattered fishing shacks present. Although Point Richmond would come to have a rich and eclectic community of creatives and academics, Haley and Ryder were probably among the first artists to establish themselves and their studios in Point Richmond. (Ghent 2024)
They built side-by-side studios; 771 Ocean Avenue belonging to Haley and 775 Ocean Avenue belonging to Ryder. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44) No architect was employed in the design of the buildings. Instead, the two artists, modeled the design – particularly the traditional north-facing studio windows – after the numerous artists' studios they had seen while traveling and studying in Europe. They then built the designs “on the cheap.” (Ghent 2024) Despite the European influence and vernacular construction, the buildings have distinctively local architectural character and can be classified as Second Bay Tradition style.
Although John Haley taught at U.C. Berkeley and likely spent a good deal of time on campus, he conducted his own personal art practice in his studio at 771 Ocean Avenue. Being a regionalist with a strong practice of painting local scenery, he made the studio his home base for working out of doors around Point Richmond and further afield. Haley's compact studio originally featured only a dining room, kitchen, and bathroom on the first floor and an art studio and small sleeping area on the second floor. In 1938 or 1938, however; Haley, and his wife Monica, improved the building so that it was a more suitable home for them both (continued)
ATTACHMENT A
282
State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial
*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
B10. Significance: (continued)
and moved there permanently from Berkeley. The improvements consisted of an added sleeping porch off the south side of the second floor studio and a small room – a converted former garage – to be used as a guest room, particularly when Monica's mother came to visit. (Ghent 2024)
Worth Ryder's neighboring studio at 775 Ocean Avenue remained strictly a working studio and Ryder continued to live in Berkeley, but Haley's studio became both a place of artistic practice and a family home. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44.) Monica Haley was an arts administrator for the Richmond Unified School District, who wrote and published on the topic of children's art. During World War II into the 1970s, she began amassing and documenting an extensive collection of art and related materials made by children in Richmond's child care centers, which represents possibly the largest collection of children's art in the country and yields important insights into the history, culture, sociology, and psychology of children during wartime and other historical periods. (Treadway 2016. The collection of children's art is held by the Richmond Museum of History & Culture.) The Haleys, thus, shared a common passion for art, art instruction, and art's deeper influences on culture and people.
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue and its environs factored into Haley's and fellow Berkeley School artists' work. In 1932 and 1933, he produced watercolors showing two views of “Point Richmond Studios on SF Bay. ”He depicted “770 Ocean Avenue,” showing the studio though the titular address was slightly different, in a 1936 painting that won the San Francisco Art Association Purchase Prize at the first annual watercolor exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art. In 1940, Haley's colleague Karl Kasten painted “Hillside Homes,” showing Ryder's and Haley's studios in Point Richmond. Haley and other artists also produced a number of depictions of scenes in and around Point Richmond that suggests that they all spent time at Haley and Ryder's studios and working in the area. Such works include Chiura Obata's sumi ink painting depicting the “View of Mount Tamalpais Across San Francisco Bay” and Haley's own painting of the “Richmond/San Rafael Ferry Slip.” In addition to the studio-house serving as subject matter, it was – at least in one instance – Haley's canvas. Around 1935, he practiced his fresco technique by painting a mural around the fireplace in the second floor studio. Likely a practice run for the frescos he painted at the U.S. Coast Guard Administration Building on Alameda in 1937, it depicted workmen building the wall structure around the fireplace and reflected the popular New Deal aesthetic of the time. Haley later painted over the mural with acrylic paint. It was discovered by a later owner and restoration was attempted, but the obscuring acrylic whitewash could only be partially removed. (Ghent 2022)
Just as Haley derived so much of his artistic inspiration from the local landscape, he and Monica were responsible for shaping some of it around their home. In 1941, as World War II loomed, a winery in Napa Valley requested that patrons take and plant cork oak saplings in an effort to preempt an anticipated European cork shortage. The Haleys did just that and planted six cork oaks in a vacant area near their home. In the 1980s, only three of three of the trees remained and it is unclear how many stand today, although there are a number of cork oaks along the Point Richmond shoreline. (Gautraud 1984) The Haleys are also associated with a significant Japanese Black Pine tree that is located on the property's rear patio, where it began as a diminutive bonsai and has grown into a mature tree. The tree was originally grown by Japanese American artist Chiura Obata, who was an associate of Haley's at U.C. Berkeley and a personal friend. (Obata was friends with Worth Ryder and one of the group that often toured the Sierras with Ryder and others, like Ansel Adams. Obata later became a faculty member in the Art Department at Berkeley, from 1932-1941 and from 1945-1953. Obata and Haley were thus acquainted through mutual friendship with Ryder and employment at U.C. Berkeley.) When Obata and his family were interned during World War II, they asked friends to salvage the plants from the garden they were forced to abandon. The Haleys replanted the pine at their own home, overlooking the Bay. (Hill 2000, 17) It is purported that Obata later painted the tree, in situ, after he had returned from the internment camps; yet more evidence that Haley's colleagues spent meaningful time practicing art at 771 Ocean Avenue and in Point Richmond.
In 1949, the studio-house was expanded yet again when the Haleys hired architect Roger Lee to design the rear addition that would house a large living room. The studio-house had been built at an angle on the lot in an effort to gain the most northern light for the studio. The angular plan of the addition was a response to this unusual siting and to avoid conflicting with the lot boundaries. It also achieved excellent views to the southwest. Lee designed the addition as an art gallery as much as a living room, ensuring good light from a continuous bank of windows, a flat white eastern gallery wall for hanging art, and built-in banquet seating that lent itself to salon-like gathering. Monica Haley specified a “cozy corner” for reading. (Tanner 1950) Worth Ryder died in 1960 and the Haleys purchased his studio at 775 Ocean Avenue from his widow, so that the twin buildings came under common ownership. John Haley began to use Ryder's studio as his own, while 771 remained the Haleys' residence.
At that time, they remodeled the studio-house to create additional gallery space for their collection of African, Oceanic, and indigenous American art. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44) John Haley died of a stroke in 1991, followed by Monica in 1997. The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue and its contents were left, in trust, to Gregory Ghent, along with the studio at 775 Ocean Avenue. Ghent was the owner of a San Francisco art gallery and a long-time personal friend of the Haleys. He had worked with them to inventory both John Haley's works and the Haleys' personal art collection, and later assisted Monica in seeing Haley family ephemera donated to worthy repositories (continued)
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after John's death. A few years after John Haley's death, Ghent wrote “John Haley, a Retrospective;” a biographical essay and catalog for a solo retrospective show at the Richmond Art Center. Ghent continued to use the two properties much as the Haleys had. He used 775 Ocean Avenue as his studio, working in ceramics, while living at 771 Ocean Avenue. He is known to have also used the studio to host receptions and exhibitions of both he and Haley's art and art collections. In the late 1990s, Ghent let space on the second floor of 775 Ocean Avenue to Xtopher Seldon, a contractor, architecture student, and artist, who assisted Ghent as a caretaker for the properties. (Riquelme and Levick 2003, 44) Ghent continued to live at 771 Ocean Avenue and work in the lower studio of 775 Ocean Avenue until 2012. The properties had been entailed to the Nature Conservancy, but the organization agreed to divest of them, and Ghent ensured that they were purchased by an ownership consortium that included his friends Robin and Guillermina Emy LaFever. (Ghent 2024) Robin LaFever was an engineer, whose professional work evolved and adapted into an artistic practice involving 3D modeling and tech- related assemblages. He often hosted “The Gang of Five,” or “The Art Squad,” a small group of Point Richmond artists, at his studio on the second floor of 775 Ocean Avenue; a quirky community art practice indicative of the vibrant artistic community Point Richmond has supported since the early twentieth century. (Casas and Wei 2016) Emy LeFever, a local shop owner, was and continues to be the proprietor of Guillermina Asian Art & Antiques located in Point Richmond's commercial hub. She lives at 775 Ocean Avenue, while in 2022, she and the ownership consortium sold the property at 771 Ocean Avenue to the current owners, David Ruddell and Joy Tahan Ruddell. The Ruddells are, themselves, an artist and a museum collections specialist, ensuring the property's ongoing stewardship by those who value art and the legacy of John Haley.
Chain of Title & Occupancy
Date Owners/Occupants
1932 - 1997 John & Monica Haley (1960 – purchased neighboring 775 Ocean Avenue) 1997 - 2017 Gregory Ghent (owned both properties in trust) 2017-2022 Ownership consortium including residents Robin and Guillermina Emy LeFever (owned both properties)
2022 - present David & Joy Tahan Ruddell (purchased 771 Ocean Avenue. 775 Ocean Avenue was purchased by one member of the ownership consortium and rented to Emy LeFever.) Significant Person: John Haley
John Haley (1905-1991) was born in 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As early as high school, he showed a talent for drawing in illustrations he created for the school newspaper. After graduating, he attended the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art & Design). The school taught mainly in the traditional Beaux Arts genre, which Haley mastered. In his senior year, he was commissioned to paint a portrait of T.B. Walker, a local lumber tycoon, which was hung in Minneapolis City Hall. This recognition made Haley's talent public and seems to have ensured some future in art. However, his interest and skill were developed beyond traditional portraiture. While at the Minneapolis School of Art, Haley took instruction from artist Cameron Booth, who had brought his own interest in European Modernism to the school's otherwise traditional curriculum. Haley thus discovered a passion for Modernist art and a lasting comradery with Booth. (Ghent 1993. Spake 2023.) Earning a one-year study-abroad scholarship in 1927, Haley traveled to Europe with Booth where they studied at the summer art school of Hans Hoffman on the Italian Isle of Carpi. Hoffman was one of the early twentieth century's most influential art teachers, having been influenced himself by the likes of Picasso and Matisse. In addition to his summer program on Capri, he ran a regular school in Munich, which Haley attended in the fall, after Booth had returned to the States. (Haley, 1982) Hoffman was a major player in the European avant-garde movement, furthering the genres of Symbolism, Neo-impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.
His school is cited by some historians as the first school of modern art and both his practice and teaching was seminal to twentieth century modern art. (Wikipedia)
Haley attended Hoffman's school for the 1927-1928 academic year, learning Hoffman's techniques of colorful expressionistic cubism and enthusiastically breaking away from his early Beaux Arts training. He returned to the United States in the summer of 1928 and traveled to the West Coast to see his fiancee, Monica, who was studying at the University of Southern California, and to visit a Minneapolis School of Art colleague who was then teaching at the University of California, Berkeley. This trip introduced Haley to California, U.C. Berkeley, and artists who would be influential in his career and life, like Worth Ryder, a U.C. Berkeley art department professor and former Hoffman student. (Ghent 1993) In 1930, Hans Hoffman was invited to teach a summer art course at U.C. Berkeley and, while there, recommended Haley for a lecturer position in the school's art department. Haley, who had returned to Minnesota to teach at his alma mater, collaborate on Modernist department store window displays with Cameron Booth, do newspaper illustrations, and create stained glass church windows for the Mayo Clinic, eagerly took the job. He and Monica relocated to Berkeley for the start of the 1930-1931 academic year. (Ghent 1993. Deutsch.) (continued)
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At Berkeley, Haley was quick to find success and promoted the avant-garde style that he had learned from Hoffman and developed to his personal practice in intervening years and through collaborations with colleagues. He was known for his good rapport with students, and his clear methods of teaching and conveying new and radical ideas in art. He staunchly promoted Moderism whenever academic debate arose about its merits in relation to traditional art, saying “Modern art... is tradition expressing itself in a new way.” (Ghent 1993)
Haley's art and teaching generated a style that became known as the “Berkeley School,” which was characterized by a unique treatment of space and the use of colors in varied tones delineated with different and multi-colored lines. The style essentially softened the contours and colors of Hoffman's style and embraced on-site, plein air painting. Haley worked primarily in gouache (opaque watercolor) on paper (especially from 1935 to 1941), although he also painted in oil and watercolor; sculpted in stone, wood, and bronze; and did lithography and etching, photography, mosaic, stained glass, and fresco. He depicted architecture in landscape, often urban and industrial, as well as western subjects like ghost towns and mining camps. This fit well with a new enthusiasm for regionalism and American subject matter that was the result of a Depression-era rejection of European abstract art. The Depression also resulted in government-funded art programs, which Haley participated in and subsequently influenced the style of; as in his 1937 frescoes at the U.S. Coast Guard Administration Building on Coast Guard Island, Alameda. It embodies the New Deal aesthetic, while at the same time employing Haley's personal interest and experimentation in both Renaissance fresco techniques and contemporary Regionalist subject mater.
Developing the Berkeley School aesthetic along with Hoffman disciples, Minneapolis School of Art alumni, and fellow U.C.
Berkeley art professors Worth Ryder, Glenn Wessels, Erle Loran, Karl Kasten, and philosopher and art department chairman Stephen C. Pepper, the U.C. Berkeley art department was established as the most progressive and innovative in academia during the mid-twentieth century. It was the first national university to support a studio-practice program, had a rigorous program of guest- artist/instructors, and espoused the philosophies of aesthetics, practice, and the study of art history. Haley was instrumental in introducing countless students, as well as visiting artists, to the “Berkeley School” and the philosophies of Modern art.
Haley's teaching job at Berkeley supported him well financially and gave him the ability to pursue and develop his personal art practice. The faculty at Berkeley coalesced around him, sharing common training and employment, but also personal artistic philosophies. This strong connection resulted in Haley and Worth Ryder embarking on travels together to paint the California landscape, and ultimately buying land and building side-by-side studios in Point Richmond.
In 1935, Haley was honored with his first solo exhibition at the Art Center in San Francisco, which was devoted to showing the works of local modern artists. Reviews were complimentary. The following year, the San Francisco Museum of Art hosted a second annual watercolor exhibition and a related review written by art critic John Frankenstein coined the moniker “Berkeley School.” Frankenstein's review stated that the Berkeley School were “a group that practices an art of coloured drawing with watercolour and gouache. Theirs is an essentially graphic way of looking at things…. The old master of this Berkeley school which delights in odd and slightly naïve aspects of the local scene is John Haley, whose contributions to any exhibition are always outstanding.’ (Spake 2023)
In 1936, Haley also won his first award; a San Francisco Art Association Purchase Prize at the first annual watercolor exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art. The prize was given to a gouache painting titled “770 Ocean Avenue,” a depiction of Haley's Point Richmond studio-house. (John Haley Biographical Data) In 1938, he was awarded the Anne Bremmer Memorial Prize. His work featured in a number of other publications, exhibitions, and museums in the pre-war years, culminating with multiple pieces, including dioramas, displayed in the Pacific House at the Golden Gate International Exhibition on Treasure Island; a celebration of modernism and progress. (Krevsky Fine Art)
During World War II, Haley served in the Navy as a combat-intelligence officer, where he was able to implement his artistic skills.
In 1943 and 1944, he assisted in model making and creating detailed relief maps of the various theaters of war to aid in invasion strategizing. Later, he was an air photographer for the Pacific Fleet and also taught a course in camouflage for architects and engineers at U.C. Berkeley. (Krevsky Fine Art)
Returning from his wartime hiatus, Haley was granted a full professorship at U.C. Berkeley. He also responded, in the classroom and in his own work, to evolving philosophies in Modern art precipitated by the upheaval of war. By the mid-twentieth century, Modernism had been fully embraced in the art world and had spun off the genres of Surrealism and Abstraction. Haley took to the latter and shifted to the use of oil paint over gouache or watercolor. He continued to garner inspiration from regional landscapes and subject mater, but depicted them in a much more abstracted and bolder way. By the 1950s, he had fully embraced abstraction in the media of painting, drawing, and collage. (Ghent 1993) In the late 1940s and early 1950s, exhibit of Haley's work went national when a piece of his was shown and later purchased for the permanent collection of the prestigious Phillips Collection in Washington, DC; had work selected by jury and exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and was given solo shows at New York City's Mortimer Levitt Gallery. Critical review of these exhibits lauded Haley's work. (continued)
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In the early 1950s, John and Monica Haley spent months in New York, in part due to Haley's work being exhibit there, but also in absorbing the local art scene; the abstract “New York School” to Haley's “Berkeley School.” This was also when the Haleys became interested in and began their collection of African, Oceanic, and indigenous American art. This collection would come to grace the Haley home at 771 Ocean Avenue in Point Richmond – the 1949 living room addition being designed around it to some extent – although it is noted that the art itself did not have a great influence on Haley's own work. (Ghent 1993) In the 1950s, Haley took a foray into sculpting that lasted into the 1970s. He often took prolonged breaks from painting to explore other media. This occurred again in 1959 and 1960, when he studied photography with Ansel Adams. Ultimately, however, he continued his work in large-scale, colorful, abstract impressionist painting that continued to loosely depict figural or landscape subjects through color and rhythm, but also went beyond the literal to evoke mood. In contrast to the New York School of intense, frenetic, and completely abstract works, Haley and the Berkeley School embraced calmer expression and retained some sense of subject matter. In the early 1960s, Haley's work was shown in solo shows at San Francisco's De Young Museum and at the Worth Ryder Gallery at U.C. Berkeley to great praise. (Ghent 1993) Haley continued his abstract work for some time, creating works that often had loose, blurred margins that concentrated into distinct patches of color toward the center; loosely depicting skylines and landscape formations. He continued to teach at U.C Berkeley until becoming a Professor Emeritus in 1972, and then in retirement continued to make art in his Point Richmond studio.
He did not pursue the Post Modern trends that art followed going into the 1980s, however. He continued the work he had been doing and, in fact, returned to his more representative and less abstract subjects, using watercolor and pen-and-ink. (Ghent 1993) Whether one event influenced the other, or not, California Regionalism experienced renewed appreciation in the later years of the twentieth century, just as Haley revisited his retro style. At that time, Haley's older work was shown in solo exhibitions at the Jan Holloway Gallery in San Francisco titled “John Haley: Regional Watercolors of the '30s and '40s;” at the Richmond Art Center, titled “John Haley's Richmond;” and at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. His work of the 1930s and 1940s was also published in a number of books. (Ghent 1993)
John Haley died of a stroke in November 1991. (University of California Academic Senate) His Point Richmond studio-house was filled with over 400 artworks at the time, in addition to those he had sold throughout his career. Monica Haley continued to live at 771 Ocean Avenue until her death in 1997, paying tribute to her husband's artistic legacy by carefully curating and promoting his works, alongside the Haleys' friend Gregory Ghent.
Architectural Style: Second Bay Tradition
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue can be classified stylistically as Second Bay Tradition. The Bay Tradition was an ongoing regional architectural trend spanning from around 1910 through the 1960s. Buildings of the Bay Tradition can be classified within three different periods, but the designs of all of those periods tended to be small-scale, picturesque, somewhat rustic, and blend into the surrounding landscape. The aesthetic embodied the common characteristics of modest, straightforward, distinctive design that responded to the Bay Area's climate, geography, and relatively informal cultural attitudes. Of the three periods, the First Bay Tradition was a derivation of the East Coast's shingle style and was influenced by the Craftsman style, while the Second Bay Tradition style was inspired by the International and Ranch styles. The Third Bay Tradition style was a synthesis of the earlier two that combined rustic materials with strikingly modern forms.
Advent of the Second Bay Tradition is generally attributed to architects William W. Wurster and Gardner Dailey, while their Bay Area contemporaries Mario Corbett, John C. Funk, Francis Joseph McCarthy, and others played a significant role in perpetuating and interpreting the style. These architects referenced historical precedents and used rustic, natural materials, but applied them in uniquely modern ways. They employed new concepts of space planning, siting, and the interaction of indoor/outdoor space and structure/landscape. In so doing, they were Modernists, but separate from mainstream or high Modernism, which upheld machine- age materials and production, sleek lines, and dramatic forms.
The Second Bay Tradition style, represented by 771 Ocean Avenue, was prevalent between 1930 and 1960. It is described as “a unique combination of the 'less is more' dictum of the International style and the local vernacular architecture of ranches, barns, and low-cost homes.” (Walker 1996, 193) This resulted in small-scale, low-profile houses featuring simple cubistic forms, large expanses of glass, and open plans, which were rendered in redwood board siding, exposed interior roof structures, interior redwood paneling, and low pitched roofs. However, “although they have certain common characteristics like redwood walls, openness of plan, and a tendency to low, sloping roofs, every good Bay Region house is unique in design. This is because each one, unlike most U.S. homes, represents a tailor-made solution to the particular living problems of the owner.” ( Life Magazine 1949)
Even as early as the 1930s, the California lifestyle was notably more informal and unpretentious than the prevailing culture of the East Coast. Temperate climate allowed people to embrace outdoor living and a certain lack of traditional sentimentality meant that people did not want to live in or maintain monumental houses. The time period in which the style was popular, during the Depression and World War II, also dictated economic frugality. For both these reasons, Second Bay Tradition designs (continued)
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were simple, not ostentatious, and used inexpensive materials. They drew on the existing architectural traditions of California; that is, ranch houses and Spanish Colonial influences; which harmonized with the environment and used simple, local materials.
Ultimately, these design concepts resulted in modest houses with the quality and livability of a larger house by using siting to to create privacy, separation from the public realm, and divert focus toward the landscape; using windows and indoor/outdoor space, as well as avoiding interior structural members that interrupted sight lines, to capture views and visually increase the size of a room; designing rooms for multiple purposes, thus increasing efficiency and minimizing circulation areas; and using simple materials and minimal detailing to eliminate visual distraction and allow the eye to travel away from confining walls and toward open outdoor views. (Hille 1994)
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue embodies Second Bay Tradition philosophies both in its original 1930s design and later Midcentury addition by presenting a Modernist design that is simple in form and made of basic affordable materials like hollow clay tile and wood. Its form, which is actually two-stories high, melds with the waterfront hillside to minimize the building's profile at the street and respond to the sloped geography of its site, as it descends to the shoreline. The building's primary (north) facade appeals to the concept of privacy by presenting a high ratio of solid wall to fenestration, with the expansive studio window set high on the wall and incorporated into the roofline, so that its perspective angles up and out, and is related to the capture of light, rather than focusing on view and interaction with the public realm. The primary entrance is minimized, located on the side of the building and down a long flight of steps from the street, with no porch and little ornament to mark its location. Meanwhile the rear (south) side of the building opens up to the environment and view through large expanses of glazing and a sense of the living room blending with the outdoor patio. Small details that emphasize indoor-outdoor interaction are noted in a 1950 article about the Roger Lee-designed addition and states that “'Bringing the outdoors indoors' in this otherwise 'interior living' house was accomplished by extending a high stucco wall into the entry and continuing the planting inside.” The building's broadly sloped side-gable roof with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, rustic hollow clay tile and wood board-and-batten siding, unusual angled siting and plan, and minimal decorative trim also characterize it as Second Bay Tradition style.
Built in 1932, the studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue is an early example of the Second Bay Tradition style, which was popular from the 1930s to 1960. Being so early, it appears to have set a precedent for Modernist design in Point Richmond, which became an enclave of architect-designed Modern architecture in following decades. Roger Lee's influence came to the property itself in 1949, and he later designed another house nearby. Meanwhile the likes of William Wurster, John Funk, R.M. Schindler, Donald Olsen and other Midcentury masters all brought their design prowess to Point Richmond.
Architect: Roger Lee
No building permit or other archival information was found to identify an architect or design professional responsible for the original 1932 design or construction of the studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue. The building's modest character, 1930s construction date, and location outside of a major city suggests that it was either not architect designed or that the original design and construction were not formally documented.
The designer of the 1949 living room addition was architect Roger Lee (1920-1981). Lee was a pioneering Chinese-American architect, who designed in the Modernist idiom, primarily in the Bay Area, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. He received his architectural training at U.C. Berkeley, graduating with top honors in 1941. Graduating at the outset of World War II, Lee immediately went to work for the government, designing post offices, bunkers, and military installations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After the war, he worked in Los Angeles for a short time before returning to the Bay Area and working in the office of Frank Langhorst. In 1948, he established his own practice – Roger Lee, Architect – which he operated with a staff of about six architects, in Berkeley and then San Francisco, until relocating to Hawaii in 1964.
Roger Lee is called one of the “forgotten Midcentury Modernist architects,” and is not often mentioned in the echelon of other Midcentury Modernists like William Wurster, Joseph Esherick, and Gardner Daily. Nevertheless, Lee exercised great skill in designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle-class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the post-war Second Bay Tradition style.
In addition to the Second Bay Tradition's typical features, Lee's designs are recognizable for their internally visible post-and-beam construction, which created a harmonious visual rhythm internally and sometimes extended to the exterior as trellises; flat roofs; long, low massing; inconspicuous entries; open plans; ribbon windows; walls of glazing; and structural features employed for visual interest over the use of ornament. His houses often included internal atria that that responded to the indoor-outdoor interaction so important to the Second Bay Tradition style.
His post-and-beam construction later evolved into modular designs that included windows and wall panels of identical size, which could be installed within the post-and-beam structure depending on the preferences of the client. This he called the “Modflux” system and it lent greater flexibility and, thus, affordability to his projects. His emphasis on affordable design also (continued)
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meant that he often designed very modest houses, but provided plans for later additions, and readily used inexpensive materials like plywood.
Lee's portfolio includes over 100 houses, primarily in the East Bay, but throughout Northern California, with more in Nevada and Hawaii. He sometimes designed small groupings of houses, as well as apartments, housing projects, recreational facilities, and churches. His work was published in magazines like Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens , and Architectural Forum ; the latter of which published a three page article in 1949 (the same year Lee designed the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue) about a grouping of houses Lee designed in El Cerrito, titled “Modern Design: Out West the Customer is Starting to Demand It,” highlighting Lee's focus on designing custom houses for the middle-class. Lee was also honored with a number of industry awards, including “America's Best Small Houses, 1949,” an AIA Honor Awards Program Award of Merit in 1955, and First Honor in the AIA's “Homes for Better Living” program in 1956. (Online Archive of California. Weinstein 2006, 98-105. Weinstein “8 Great Modern Masters.”)
Evaluation: Richmond Historic Register
The City of Richmond Historic Structures Code defines a historic resource as any building, structure, sign, feature, site, place, area, or other improvement of scientific, aesthetic, educational, cultural, archaeological, architectural, or historical value to citizens of the City and designated as such by the Richmond City Council. Historic resources also include historic landmarks and contributing structures in historic districts. The list of designated historic resources in Richmond is known as the Richmond Historic Register. (City of Richmond, Richmond Historic Register.) A building, structure, object, site, or area may be eligible for Landmark designation, and listing on the Richmond Historic Register, if it is found to meet any of the following criteria:
1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history;
2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history;
3. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning;
4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship;
5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development;
6. It is a structure, site, or other improvement which meets any of the above criteria at the highest level, and whose loss would be a major loss to the City. (City of Richmond Municipal Code) The property at 771 Ocean Avenue appears to be eligible for individual listing in the Richmond Historic Register under five of the above criteria. A full evaluation follows:
1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history;
For most of its history (1932 to 1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley, who was a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world (see criterion 2, below, for an explanation of Haley's significance). Because the property served as the studio where he practiced art and produced his extensive body of work, and because the studio-house and its Point Richmond environs often factored into that work as subject matter, the property can be recognized as an embodiment of the City's cultural values, especially in relation to art. The neighborhood of Point Richmond, in particular, has been an enclave of artists, writers, intellectuals, and other creatives – many faculty of U.C. Berkeley – since the early twentieth century, and continues to be today. Haley's studio-house, thus contributes significantly to the built environment that makes up a neighborhood long-inhabited by an intellectual and creative community with high creative and artistic history and values.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 1.
2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history; For most of its history (1932 to 1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley (continued)
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*Recorded by: Caitlin Hibma/Left Coast Architectural History *Date: October 2024 Continuation Update DPR 523L (1/95) *Required information
B10. Significance: (continued)
who used it as both his home and art studio. Haley was a significant and influential figure in Bay Area and California art, who is credited with originating and proliferating the “Berkeley School” style. Having trained with Hans Hoffman, a seminal figure in European Modern art, Haley brought revolutionary new artistic concepts and practice to U.C Berkeley and the Bay Area. His work is pioneering and distinctive in its break from traditional Beaux-Arts style painting, its exploration of regionalist subject matter, its later shift toward abstraction, and the more sedate and representational approach that differentiated it from the New York School of Modern art. Haley not only practiced his ground-breaking genre prolifically, but as a professor of art at U.C. Berkeley, helped make that academic program one of the strongest art departments in the nation. He was a gifted teacher, who taught and disseminated Berkeley School style and philosophies to countless students, who then went on to have their own art careers, proliferating the Berkeley School style. Haley's career spanned over sixty years and he was well recognized by his representation in solo and group shows nationally and internationally, complimentary critical review, and a number of awards given to him by prestigious art institutions. His name and works remain well represented in Modern art circles, proving the longevity of his influence on Modern art locally and regionally, as well as extending to the national level.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 2.
3. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning; The property at 771 Ocean Avenue is not strongly reflective of, or significant within, geographical patterns or eras of settlement in Richmond. Built in the early 1930s, it represents a relatively early development of property along the shoreline of the Point Richmond neighborhood, but was not the first property to be developed in that area and became one of numerous residential properties of various ages and styles that expanded the Point Richmond neighborhood in a natural growth pattern toward the water.
The property does not appear to be significant under criterion 3.
4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue can be classified as Second Bay Tradition style (popular from 1930-1960) and embodies many physical characteristics of that style, such as a simple form, use of basic affordable materials with a rustic aesthetic like hollow clay tile and wood board-and-batten siding, a broadly sloped side-gable roof form with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, and minimal decorative trim. It also demonstrates strong response to the design philosophies of the Second Bay Tradition style in its unusual angled siting, plan, and hillside integration, which followed the Second Bay Tradition tenant of design cooperating with site topography. The style also emphasized public versus private space, which is seen in the building's orientation away from the public realm and contrasting openness to the private patio and shoreline to the south, a non-interactive street facade, and minimization of the primary entrance. The openness to the private realm to the south is facilitated by ample glazing, which also responds to the Second Bay Tradition concept of interaction between indoor-outdoor space.
Some of the characteristics described above can be attributed to the living room addition, made in 1949, meaning that they are not original to the 1932 design. However, as the Second Bay Tradition style continued until 1960 (and later evolving into the Third Bay Tradition style), the addition falls within the style's period of significance and was designed by an architect who's body of work contributed the development of the Bay Tradition style over time. Therefore, the property can be regarded as a good example of the Second Bay Tradition style at two different time during the style's period of popularity. It also contributes to a notable concentration of Modernist architecture in Point Richmond and was one of the earliest Second Bay Tradition or Modernist buildings to be constructed within that neighborhood context.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 4.
5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development;
The original designer and/or builder of the studio-house is unknown. The living room addition, made in 1949, was designed by pioneering Chinese-American Modernist architect Roger Lee. Lee was responsible for designing over 100 buildings in the Bay Area, and although he tends not to be included in many discussions of Midcentury architecture in the Bay Area, he is credited with designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle-class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the Second Bay Tradition style.
While the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue represents the modification of an existing structure that was not (continued)
ATTACHMENT A
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State of California ¾ The Resources Agency Primary #
DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI#
CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial