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 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.