Richmond City Council
March 24, 2026

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.

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

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

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

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
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
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
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
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
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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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)

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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)

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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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B10. Significance: (continued)
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.

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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View east along primary (south) facade of 771 Ocean Ave.

View south along west facade, down entry steps/walkway.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I
Interior of second floor studio space, looking north.

Interior of second floor studio space, looking west.

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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.

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Interior of second floor studio space, looking west. Sleeping porch addition at left.

View southeast into sleeping porch addition from studio space.

ATTACHMENT A

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

ATTACHMENT A
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.

ATTACHMENT A
Existing Zoning for 771 Ocean Avenue
City of Richmond
This map is a user generated static output from an Internet mapping site and is for reference only. Data layers that appear on this map may or may not be accurate, current, or otherwise reliable.
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0.1 THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION
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Notes
Parcel
Parcel Labels
Historic Resource
Historic Resource
Pt. Richmond Historic District Boundary
Water Bodies
Zoning District
RH Single-Family Hillside Residential
RL1 Single-Family Very Low Density Residential
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
CM-5 Commercial Mixed-Use, Activity Center
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
ATTACHMENT B - Proposed Zoning Map Amendment
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THIS MAP IS NOT TO BE USED FOR NA\/1GATIO N �-----------� ATTACHMENT B - Proposed Zoning Map Amendment