March 24, 2026
Community Development
DATE: March 24, 2026
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Lina Velasco, Director of Community Development
Avery Stark, Planning Manager
Michele Morris, Senior Planner
Subject: Ordinance Rezoning the John Haley Studio at 771 Ocean Avenue
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact related to this item.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The proposed project is a Rezoning request to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District on the John Haley
Studio/House located at 771 Ocean Avenue (PLN24-
358), Richmond, 94801 for the purpose of listing the
property on the Richmond Historic Register. The City
Council is required to conduct a public hearing before
voting on the proposed amendment to the Zoning Map
(rezoning) pursuant to Richmond Municipal Code (RMC)
Section 15.04.303.060 and Chapter 15.04.814.040.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
ADOPT an ordinance (second reading) rezoning to add a
-L, Landmark Overlay District to the RL1 base zoning
district to the John Haley Studio/House located at 771
Ocean Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801 for the purpose of
listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register - Community Development Department (Lina
Velasco/Avery Stark 510-620-6714).
AGENDA
REPORT
March 24, 2026
DISCUSSION:
The subject property is in the RL1, Single Family Very Low Density Residential Zoning District. The applicant requests a rezoning to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the John Haley Studio/House at 771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801, for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register. The -L, Landmark Overlay District will be added to the RL1 base zoning district of the property. The proposed (Attachment 1 and 2).
The applicant prepared a project statement explaining why the John Haley Studio/House is eligible for listing on the Richmond Historic Register (Attachment 3).
Also, the applicant’s architectural historian, Caitlin Hibma of Left Coast Architectural History, prepared a California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) Form 523 describing why the John Haley Studio/House qualifies to be listed on the Richmond Historic Register (Attachment 4).
BACKGROUND:
Summary of the historic significance of the John Haley Studio/House
Architectural Style
The John Haley Studio/House was built in 1932 and was owned and occupied by John and Monica Haley (his spouse). John Haley was a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world. The property was initially used as an art studio by John Haley, who was a professional artist, architect, and art professor, but it soon also became the couple’s home. The Studio/House has been nominated for its architectural merit and association with Haley, who taught at UC Berkeley, and its environs factored into Haley's and fellow Berkeley School artists' work. Currently, the building is being used as a residence on a 3,361 square foot lot in the Point Richmond neighborhood.
The John Haley Studio/House depicts the typical form and design of a Second Bay Tradition style of architecture in both the original portion of the residence built in the 1930’s and in the rear addition to the home built in 1949. The Haleys hired well-known and respected architect Roger Lee to design the rear addition. The rear addition was designed to function as an art gallery as much as a living room. The residence had been built at an angle on the lot to gain the most northern light for the studio. The angular plan of the addition was a response to this unusual siting and to avoid conflicting with the lot boundaries. It also achieved excellent views to the southwest.
Lee designed the addition to take advantage of good light emanating from a continuous bank of windows, constructing a flat white eastern gallery wall for hanging art and designing built-in banquet seating to foster salon-like gatherings.
The Studio/House and its association with the prominent Bay Area Modernist architect, John Haley, combined with the neighborhood context of architect-designed Modernist
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architecture, makes the property eligible for listing in the Richmond Historic Register and, subsequently, qualifies as a historical resource for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
John Haley’s Personal Background
John Haley (1905-1991) was born in 1905 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and attended the Minneapolis School of Art (now the Minneapolis College of Art & Design). Earning a one-year study-abroad scholarship in 1927, Haley traveled to Europe and studied at the summer art school of Hans Hoffman on the Italian Isle of Carpi. Hoffman was one of the early twentieth century's most influential art teachers, having been influenced by the likes of Picasso and Matisse. Later, Hoffman recommended Haley for a lecturer position in UC Berkeley’s Art department. Haley’s art and teaching while at UC Berkeley, along with his peers and colleagues at the art department, generated a style that became known as the “Berkeley School,” which was characterized by a unique treatment of space and the use of colors in varied tones delineated with different and multi-colored lines.
ANALYSIS:
-L, Landmark Overlay District
Pursuant to Richmond Municipal Code (RMC) Section 15.04.303.060 -H and -L Overlay District Designation Criteria, and upon the recommendation of the Planning Commission and approval of the City Council, a building, structure, object, site, or area may be eligible for designation as a -L Landmark Overlay District if it is found to meet any of the following six (6) criteria. Responses to how the subject property’s significance relates to each criterion follows in italic font:
1. It exemplifies or reflects valued elements of the City's cultural, social, economic, political, aesthetic, engineering, archaeological, or architectural history;
For most of its history (1932-1991), the property at 771 Ocean avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley, a significant and influential figure in the Richmond, Bay Area, and California art world (see criterion 2, below, for an explanation of Haley's significance). Because the property served as the studio where he practiced art and produced his extensive body of work, and because the studio-house and its Point Richmond environs often factored into that work as subject matter, the property can be recognized as an embodiment of the City's cultural values, especially in relation to art.
The neighborhood of Point Richmond, in particular, has been an enclave of artists, writers, intellectuals, and other creatives – many faculty of UC Berkeley – since the early twentieth century, and continues to be today. Haley's studio-house, thus contributes significantly to the built environment that makes up a neighborhood long- inhabited by an intellectual and creative community with high creative and artistic history and values.
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The property appears to be significant under criterion 1.
2. It is identified with persons or events important in local, state, or national history;
For most of its history (1932 to 1991), the property at 771 Ocean Avenue was owned and occupied by John Haley who used it as both his home and art studio. Haley was a significant and influential figure in Bay Area and California art, who is credited with originating and proliferating the “Berkeley School” style. Having trained with Hans Hoffman, a seminal figure in European Modern art, Haley brought revolutionary new artistic concepts and practice to UC Berkeley and the Bay Area. His work is pioneering and distinctive in its break from traditional Beaux-Arts style painting, its exploration of regionalist subject matter, its later shift toward abstraction, and the more sedate and representational approach that differentiated it from the New York School of Modern art.
Haley not only practiced his ground-breaking genre prolifically, but as a professor of art at UC Berkeley, helped make that academic program one of the strongest art departments in the nation. He was a gifted teacher, who taught and disseminated Berkeley School style and philosophies to countless students, who then went on to have their own art careers, proliferating the Berkeley School style. Haley's career spanned over sixty years and he was well recognized by his representation in solo and group shows nationally and internationally, complimentary critical review, and a number of awards given to him by prestigious art institutions. His name and works remain well represented in Modern art circles, proving the longevity of his influence on Modern art locally and regionally, as well as extending to the national level.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 2.
3. It reflects significant geographical patterns, including those associated with different eras of settlement and growth, particular transportation modes, or distinctive examples of park or community planning;
The property at 771 Ocean Avenue is not strongly reflective of, or significant within, geographical patterns or eras of settlement in Richmond. Built in the early 1930s, it represents a relatively early development of property along the shoreline of the Point Richmond neighborhood, but was not the first property to be developed in that area and became one of numerous residential properties of various ages and styles that expanded the Point Richmond neighborhood in a natural growth pattern toward the water.
The property does not appear to be significant under criterion 3.
4. It embodies distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, type, period, or method of construction, or is a valuable example of the use of indigenous materials or craftsmanship; or
The studio-house at 771 Ocean Avenue can be classified as Second Bay Tradition style (popular from 1930-1960) and embodies many physical characteristics of that style,
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such as a simple form, use of basic affordable materials with a rustic aesthetic like hollow clay tile and wood board-and-batten siding, a broadly sloped side-gable roof form with reverse shed dormer, lack of eves, banked fenestration and fenestration integrated into the roofline, and minimal decorative trim. It also demonstrates strong response to the design philosophies of the Second Bay Tradition style in its unusual angled siting, plan, and hillside integration, which followed the Second Bay Tradition tenant of design cooperating with site topography. The style also emphasized public versus private space, which is seen in the building's orientation away from the public realm and contrasting openness to the private patio and shoreline to the south, a non-interactive street facade, and minimization of the primary entrance. The openness to the private realm to the south is facilitated by ample glazing, which also responds to the Second Bay Tradition concept of interaction between indoor-outdoor space.
Some of the characteristics described above can be attributed to the living room addition, made in 1949, meaning that they are not original to the 1932 design. However, as the Second Bay Tradition style continued until 1960 (and later evolving into the Third Bay Tradition style), the addition falls within the style's period of significance and was designed by an architect who's body of work contributed the development of the Bay Tradition style over time. Therefore, the property can be regarded as a good example of the Second Bay Tradition style at two different time during the style's period of popularity. It also contributes to a notable concentration of Modernist architecture in Point Richmond and was one of the earliest Second Bay Tradition or Modernist buildings to be constructed within that neighborhood context.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 4.
5. It is representative of the notable work of a builder, designer, or architect whose style influenced the City's architectural development.
The original designer and/or builder of the studio-house is unknown. The living room addition, made in 1949, was designed by pioneering Chinese-American Modernist architect Roger Lee. Lee was responsible for designing over 100 buildings in the Bay Area, and although he tends not to be included in many discussions of Midcentury architecture in the Bay Area, he is credited with designing innovative and high-style houses affordably for middle-class clients. This made him one of the most prolific and financially successful of the Midcentury Modernists and put him at the fore of promoting and proliferating the Second Bay Tradition style.
While the living room addition at 771 Ocean Avenue represents the modification of an existing structure that was not of Lee's design, it is strongly representational of Lee's design philosophies and shows innovation in his integration of an earlier Second Bay Tradition building with his new Second Bay Tradition addition. It is also one of few buildings in Richmond known to have been designed by Lee. Another is located nearby at 664 Ocean Avenue and was built for Josephine Miles in 1951. Miles was a poet and professor at UC Berkeley; another of Point Richmond's artistic academics. It seems likely that she and Haley were acquainted and that Roger Lee's work at 771 Ocean
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Avenue may have given him entree to designing Miles' house down the street a year or two later. Lee also designed a multi-unit housing project in Richmond for Basic Home Industries in 1956; however the location and status of that work are unknown. (UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives).
The property appears to be significant under criterion 5.
6. A structure, site, or other improvement which meets any of the above criteria at the highest level, and whose loss would be a major loss to the City, may be designated a Richmond Historic Landmark.
The property at 771 Ocean Avenue meets criteria 1, 2, 4, and 5. It represents the place where an influential artist lived and produced his significant work for nearly 60 years; contributes to a rich history of intellectual and creative community in Point Richmond; and embodies the characteristics of a distinctive regional architectural style as designed by a prominent and pioneering Bay Area architect. Therefore, its loss would constitute the loss of a cultural and architectural element of the Point Richmond neighborhood and the city as a whole.
Because the building also relates strongly to the near-identical building next door (775 Ocean Avenue) and the two have a shared history, the loss of one or the other would mean the loss of that relationship, which would further exacerbate loss to the neighborhood and city.
The property appears to be significant under criterion 6.
This evaluation shows that the subject property meets five of the six criteria (specifically criterion 1,2, and 4-6) specified in RMC Section 15.04.303.060 for a -L Landmark Overlay District designation and listing on the Richmond Historic Register.
Amendment to Zoning Map (Rezoning)
At the Planning Commission meeting held on January 15, 2026, the Commission recommended that the City Council make the following findings required by RMC Section 15.04.814.050 for approval of a Rezoning. The supporting statements of fact follow in italic font after each finding below:
A. The proposed amendment is consistent with the General Plan.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The proposed project -L Landmark Overlay District Designation complies with the goals and policies of the City of Richmond General Plan, specifically under “Historic Resource Preservation Policy HR1.1: Preservation of Diverse Resources” which encourages the protection, preservation and enhancement of the diverse range of historic, cultural and archaeological sites and resources in the City for the benefit of current and future residents and visitors.
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B. The proposed amendment is necessary for public health, safety, and general welfare or will be of benefit to the public.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The proposed rezoning is suitable for the project site because it will be of historic and cultural benefit to the public to preserve the history and the residence of a significant and influential figure, John Haley, in the Richmond, Bay Area and California art worlds and their respective built environments.
C. The proposed amendment has been reviewed in compliance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The -L Landmark Overlay District Designation of the John Haley Studio/House is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA guidelines Section 15308, Class 8, Actions by Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment as the project proposes to preserve the John Haley Studio/House.
D. For a change to the Zoning Maps, that the subject property is suitable for the uses permitted in the proposed zone in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, and that the proposed change of zoning district is not detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
Supporting Statements of Fact: The subject site is located in an area already served by community facilities, utilities and transportation systems and poses no expansion of uses in terms of access, size of parcel, relationship to similar or related uses, and other relevant considerations, nor will it be detrimental to the use of adjacent properties.
GENERAL PLAN CONSISTENCY:
The proposed project aligns with the following General Plan Historic Resources Element:
Policy HR1.1: Preservation of Diverse Resources Protect, preserve and enhance the diverse range of historic, cultural and archaeological sites and resources in the City for the benefit of current and future residents and visitors.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
The proposed rezoning request was reviewed and considered by the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) at their meeting held on August 4, 2025, and to make a preliminary determination whether to recommend the Landmark Overlay to the Planning Commission.
The HPC voted in favor of making a preliminary determination to recommend the rezoning to add the -L Landmark Overlay to the Planning Commission for the John
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Haley Studio/House at 771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801, for the purpose of listing on the Richmond Historic Register.
PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
The Planning Commission considered the proposed rezoning at their meeting held on January 15, 2026, and adopted Resolution No. 26-01 (Attachment 5). The Planning Commission voted in favor of making a recommendation to the City Council for approval of a rezoning to amend the zoning map to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the base RL1 zoning district to the John Haley Studio/House located at 771 Ocean Avenue for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The proposed project is Categorically Exempt under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15308 – Actions By Regulatory Agencies for the Protection of the Environment (Class 8). Class 8 consists of actions taken by regulatory agencies, as authorized by state or local ordinance, to assure the maintenance, restoration, enhancement, or protection of the environment where the regulatory process involves procedures for protection of the environment. This exemption class applies to actions taken by regulatory agencies to protect the environment, including the designation of historic resources that help preserve cultural or historic aspects of the environment.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Neighborhood Council: The John Haley Studio/House is located within the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council area. The neighborhood council was notified of this item through mail; however, no comments have been received from the neighborhood council to date.
Other: There have been no other public comments submitted on the proposed project as of the distribution of this report.
RECOMMENDATION:
City staff recommends that the City Council:
HOLD a public hearing and INTRODUCE an ordinance rezoning to add a -L, Landmark Overlay District to the RL1 base zoning district to the John Haley Studio/House at 771 Ocean Avenue, Richmond, 94801 for the purpose of listing the property on the Richmond Historic Register.
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DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 – Proposed Ordinance
Attachment 2 – Proposed Zoning Map Amendment
Attachment 3 – Project Statement
Attachment 4 – DPR 523 Form
Attachment 5 – Planning Commission Resolution No. 26-01