A N T H O N Y H A L L “The Pelican Building” U n i v e r s i t y o f C a l i f o r n i a a t B e r k e l e y HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT MAY 27, 2011 PA RR ECSHEIRTVEACTTIOU RNE T H E P E L I C A N B U I L D I N G H I S T O R I C S T R U C T U R E R E P O R T Fig.1: Pelican Building Sketch elevation of north side, J. Esherick, Arch., 20 Feb.‘56 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION Introduction ....................................................................................................................................1-3 Purpose & Methodology ....................................................................................................................3 Key Plan .............................................................................................................................................4 II. HISTORY California Pelican ...........................................................................................................................5-8 Earle C. Anthony..........................................................................................................................8-10 Anthony Hall/The Pelican Building ..........................................................................................10-18 III. DESCRIPTIONS Site ..............................................................................................................................................19-20 Building Exterior........................................................................................................................20-21 Building Interior ..............................................................................................................................21 Character Photos.........................................................................................................................22-23 IV. SIGNIFICANCE Evaluation of Historic Significance............................................................................................24-26 Assessment of Historic Areas & Elements.................................................................................26-29 Summary of Significant Spaces & Features...............................................................................29-31 V. RECOMMENDATIONS General........................................................................................................................................32-33 Reuse and Rehabilitation ............................................................................................................33-36 Materials: Site & Lansdscape.......................................................................................................................36-37 Building Exterior........................................................................................................................37-41 Building Interior.........................................................................................................................41-43 Building & Energy Systems.......................................................................................................43-44 VI. PHOTOGRAPHS & DRAWINGS Historic Documents....................................................................................................................45-49 Site ..............................................................................................................................................50-54 Building Exterior........................................................................................................................55-58 Building Interior.........................................................................................................................59-63 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES 446 17th Street #302 Oakland 94612 510 418 0285 [email protected] THE PELICAN BUILDING HSR Fig.2: Pelican Building INTRODUCTION Rendering, Joseph Esherick, Arch., dated 12 March 1956 (UCB CED Archives) Note: Proposed design extends one bay further to west than realized building The Pelican Building, located on and nearly central to the By way of introduction, at least two sites were initially campus of the University of California at Berkeley under consideration following Anthony’s proposing the (UCB), is a small (approximately 2,000 square foot), one- project to the University, including a site further west, story structure housing offices and a meeting space. It adjacent to Dwinelle Annex and, presumably, also on the was designed during 1955-56 by the architect Joseph south side of the Creek (as is the selected site). At that Esherick (1914-1998), erected by the Dinwiddie same initial time, Anthony and the University considered Construction Co. in the latter half of 1956, and opened the services of the architect Bernard Maybeck (1862- in November. The structure is additionally named 1957), with whom Anthony had previously collaborated. Anthony Hall for its benefactor, Earle C. Anthony (1880- Maybeck apparently deferred the commission to 1961). Anthony donated this building to the University Esherick. Thus, at the outset of the design effort, for the purpose of housing a student humor publication, Esherick was at the architectural helm, with Maybeck The California Pelican, which Mr. Anthony founded as an associated as a consultant. undergraduate in 1903. The earliest design concepts for the building were in the As summarized in the course of this HSR, the Pelican form of broad-brush sketches inspired by Greco-Roman Building has readily identifiable historical significance temples (fig.22). The source of this design inspiration based on: was more than likely Anthony. In fact, there is a lot of • Its renowned Architect, Joseph Esherick; documentary evidence for the supposition that Earle Anthony was idiosyncratic. His home in Los Angeles • Important historic associations, including to was designed and convincingly executed in the style of the benefactor, Earle C. Anthony; the publica- a Medieval castle. tion that is its namesake, The California Pelican, and to the University itself; Yet, the Pelican Building was realized from the original • Its distinctive architecture. purchase order for a concept design – between “Joseph Esherick and Bernard Maybeck Architects, Associated” and UCB – to its opening day in just 26 months. The INTRODUCTION 1 construction contract (between Dinwiddie Construction range of interpretations. and UCB) was signed on the 18 May 1956, and the build- Though of the mid-to-late 1950s, the Pelican Building’s ing was opened within less than six months, on 24 architecture largely appears to be of the earlier 20th November. So there was no lack of cooperation, and century. It incorporates such craftsman-like characteris- whatever relationships existed somehow resulted in an tics as wood timbers, industrial steel window sash, mod- economy of scale and time. eled stucco, clay tile roofing, and ornamental cast con- Foreshortening the accomplishment even further, a crete. Its forms and spaces are, as noted elsewhere, December 2, 1955 letter to Esherick from Evans, the Maybeckian – i.e.; wooded, timbered, gabled, low-slung, University’s architect, provides further initial direction deeply overhung, artistic (fig.7). And its architectural from the Campus Planning Committee: antecedent appears to be Maybeck’s First Church of “A structure compatible with creek and garden environment, dark Christ, Scientist (1910-12), which stands in the nearby or receding in color value, “Woody” and/or Maybeckian in char- south-of-campus area. acter.” Alternatively, prominent exterior features of the Pelican An emphatic direction, the success of which has been Building are its front and rear colonnades, which are manifest, as the Pelican Building is, assuredly, “Woody” composed of sets of concrete columns and redwood and “Maybeckian.” Yet which was apparently not the idea trellis members (fig.8). The columns themselves were of Mr. Anthony, about whom Evans concluded his made by the pouring of concrete into heavy duty tubu- December 2 memo to Esherick: lar forms of a cardboard-like material that is manufac- tured by spiral winding, like a paper towel tube, and “While the design direction expressed by the Donor has been which was made available commercially in the mid-1940s monumentally nebulous and/or generally in conflict with this under the brand name Sonotube. This process produces [“Woody” “Maybeckian”], we are agreed that the effort should be cylindrical columns, with the spiral from the shape of the made to sell an appropriate design.” form embedded in the surface of the finished concrete. The first design sketches exercise a Greco-Roman tem- The resulting forms are distinctly modern. ple concept, both in parti-like plan sketches and in Yet, those columns are the only feature of the Pelican expressive, chalk-drawn perspective sketches. While such Building exterior that convey a modern design aspect. sketches provide a basis for discussion of the project, Moreover, except for the two that support the project- their weight must be considered with caution. First, ing roof of the entry canopy, the columns are not because those sketches do not include any meaningful attached to the building but, instead, support what are context – in fact lack the inference of any direct geog- essentially site structures. Without those columns the raphy – thus present themselves as highly conceptual. building would not convey a mid-20th century charac- Second, because once the building site was established – ter. in December of 1955 – the