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CITY OF BERKELEY Ordinance #4694 N.S. LANDMARK APPLICATION
William Wilkinson House 2511 Regent Street Berkeley, CA 94704
Fig. 1. William Wilkinson House, May 2014
Fig. 2. The Wilkinson houses in their early years (Pusey Real Estate gift, BAHA archives) ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 2 of 40
1. Street Address: 2511 Regent Street County: Alameda City: Berkeley ZIP: 94704
2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: 55-1842-29 (Hillegass Tract No. 3, Block C, Lot 24) Dimensions: 100 feet x 42 feet Cross Streets: Dwight Way & Parker Street
3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? Yes Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes Form #: 17309
4. Application for Landmark Includes: a. Building(s): Yes Garden: Front Yard Other Feature(s): b. Landscape or Open Space: N/A c. Historic Site: No d. District: No e. Other: Entire Property
5. Historic Name: William Wilkinson House; Hughson House Commonly Known Name: Currently known as Regent House Apartments
6. Date of Construction: 1903 Factual: Yes Source of Information: Contract notice, Edwards Transcript of Records, 9 February 1903; Berkeley Gazette, 3 March 1903.
7. Architect: A. Dodge Coplin
8. Builder: Ben Pearson
9. Style: Wood-frame, 2-1/2-story Colonial Revival 10. Original Owner: William Wilkinson Original Use: Single-family residence
11. Present Owner: Resources for Community Development 2220 Oxford Street Berkeley, CA 94704 Present Occupant: Tenants
12. Present Use: Nursing/custodial care facility Residential: Shared housing (6 SRO units) Current Zoning: R-3 Adjacent Property Zoning: R-3
13. Present Condition of Property: Exterior: Good Interior: Unknown Grounds: Good Has the property’s exterior been altered? Yes, the front porch was enclosed; the front steps were modified; several double-hung windows were converted into half casements; the chimney was removed; a 2-story addition and a deck were built in the rear; an ADA ramp was constructed in the front yard.
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Fig. 3. The 2500 block of Regent Street (Google Maps)
Executive Summary
On 1 May 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission initiated The William Wilkinson House, 2511 Regent Street, as a potential City of Berkeley Landmark or Structure of Merit. The William Wilkinson House is located on the east side of Regent Street, close to Dwight Way and People’s Park, at the northern edge of the Willard neighborhood. The house is the third from the north in a row of four Colonial Revival houses that also includes 2503, 2509, and 2517 Regent Street, all built between 1901 and 1903. It is one of three adjacent houses designed by the notable architect Albert Dodge Coplin (1869–1908). These houses represent the architect’s earliest residential work in Berkeley and demonstrate his departure from the conventional foursquare style prevalent in Colonial Revival “classic boxes.” The immediate area is rich in history and historic resources. Within a block and a half of The William Wilkinson House, there are eight designated structures (including Berkeley’s only National Historic Landmark, the First Church of Christ, Scientist) and a designated site (People’s Park). Two additional designated structures—the Blood House and the Woolley House—were scheduled to be moved to the parcel directly across the street (see Fig. 4) beginning 16 August 2014. Across Dwight Way lies People’s Park, created in 1969 after the University of California acquired the land and demolished the buildings. The bloody events following the creation of People’s Park have become one of the most defining moments in Berkeley’s history. The 2500 block of Regent Street is particularly vulnerable owing to its proximity to the UC campus and to Telegraph Avenue. Close to half of the
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ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 4 of 40 buildings that stood on this block in 1911 have been demolished to make way for modern apartment buildings. There are now ten apartment buildings on the block, of which seven were constructed between 1958 and 1966. A new six-story building is currently being proposed for 2539 Telegraph Avenue. If approved, it would have a second façade on Regent Street, replacing a mid-block pocket park. The William Wilkinson House is an essential element in preserving historic fabric on this extremely fragile block of Regent Street and the northern edge of the Willard neighborhood.
Fig 4. Designated landmarks on or near the 2500 block of Regent Street
14. Description:
The William Wilkinson House is a wood-frame, two-story-plus-attic building constructed in 1903 as a single-family residence. It is set back from the street, with a slightly raised front yard planted with trees and shrubs and including an ADA accessibility ramp. The parcel on which the William Wilkinson House stands constitutes the front part of the original lot owned by Mr. Wilkinson (see Fig. 5). In the rear of the lot, Mr. Wilkinson built an earlier brown-shingle Colonial Revival house (2515 Regent Street), still standing (see Fig. 21, page 14). The rear house formed part of the same parcel until sold separately in 1985. A. Dodge Coplin designed the house in the Colonial Revival style, which was prevalent in the new streetcar suburbs of the 1890s and the first decade of the 20th century. The Willard neighborhood is a good example of such streetcar suburbs. Colonial Revival houses lent themselves to row construction and were often grouped to present a unified streetscape. This was the case on the 2500 block of Regent Street and may still be observed in the two surviving rows on the block, from 2503 to 2517 on the northeast end and from 2528 to 2536 further south on the west side.
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Fig 5. The parcel was carved out of Lot 24, which used to include 2515 Regent Street.
Fig. 6. Colonial Revival houses at 2511, 2517 & 2521 Regent Street in 1939 (Ormsby Donogh files, BAHA archives)
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Four types of the domestic Colonial Revival style are represented in Berkeley1: • Colonial Revival House (aka “Classic Box,” known in the eastern United States as American Foursquare), identified by a hip roof (often with dormer); clapboard or shingle cladding; a front stoop or porch; and neoclassical ornamentation such as columns and/or pilasters on the façade, and corbels or dentil friezes under the soffit of the cornice. • Colonial Revival Cottage—a one-story version of the Colonial Revival House. • High-Peaked Gable Colonial Revival House, featuring an oversized dormered gable containing the upper floor[s]. • Dutch Colonial Revival—a two-story version in which the upper floor is enclosed within a gambrel roof.
Fig. 7. 2503 Regent St. (right) and Colonial Revival houses on Dwight Way in 1948 (Hughson family collection)
The William Wilkinson House is an adaptation of the first category—the Colonial Revival House, popularly known as “Classic Box.” The house departs from the conventional Classic Box in having a walled front porch with windows that were originally screened by turned wooden spindles.
1 Emmington, Bruce, and Smith: “Ashby Station: a classic American streetcar suburb.” Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, http://berkeleyheritage.com/essays/ashby_station.html
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General Description
Like the Reames houses that are its immediate neighbors to the north, the William Wilkinson House is rectangular in its massing, but thanks to a deep lot, it was built to present its narrow side to the street and therefore lacks the overall “stretched” appearance of the other two.
Fig. 8. West (front) façade
The house is crowned by a hip roof with flared slopes, wide, boxed eaves, and a wide cornice. The central front dormer is capped by a miniature hip roof and retains its original wooden lozenge-pane window. The house is clad in its original narrow clapboard. The flared roof slopes are repeated on the roof of the entrance porch, front bay window, and two side bay windows. A short flight of four concrete steps flanked by low, scrolled concrete parapets lead from the sidewalk to the front yard.
Fig 9. Dormer and eaves detail
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West (front) Façade The west façade is asymmetrical. The entrance porch on the left has a flared hip roof with wide, boxed eaves, and a wide cornice. It was originally built as a semi-open space, with a door-less opening facing south and unglazed fenestrations screened by turned spindles. Former owner Verne B. Hughson enclosed the porch and replaced the original wooden entrance stairs and parapet wall. Currently, the porch has a 5-lite glazed door and aluminum sliders in the west and north windows. It is reached via a short flight of concrete steps with a metal railing. At the southwest end there is a pentagonal bay window that continues around the corner. This window also has a flared hip roof with wide, boxed eaves, and a wide cornice. Between this window and the porch there is a high, fixed horizontal window with a plain glass pane.
Fig 10. Approach to front entrance
On the second floor there are two identical windows with wooden casings and lozenge-shaped leaded glass in the upper sashes, which are shorter than the lower sashes. Originally, these windows were double-hung, but their lower sashes have been converted to double casements.
Fig 11. Window above front porch
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Fig 12. Pentagonal bay window at the southwest corner
Like the upper-floor windows, those in the pentagonal bay have lozenge- shaped leaded glass in the upper sashes, which are shorter than the lower sashes. Four of the windows in the bay remain double-hung, while the lower part of the central one has been converted to a double casement.
Fig 13. Pentagonal bay window detail
A moulded wood water table is visible below the levels of the ground-floor windows. It is placed at a higher level on the porch than on the other walls.
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Fig 14. 2511 Regent Street in the 1950s (Hughson family collection)
Fig 15. South façade
South Façade The south façade is asymmetrical. At the center of the ground floor window there is a triple bay window with a flared hip roof, wide, boxed eaves, and a wide cornice. The two side windows in this bay retain their original lozenge-
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ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 11 of 40 shaped leaded glass in the upper sashes and double-hung configuration. The central window has plain glass in the upper sash and a double casement below.
Fig 16. Detail of bay window in south façade
A moulded wood water table is visible below the levels of the ground-floor windows. East of the bay window there is a service door and, further east, a plain-glass double-hung wooden window. On the second floor there are three windows with lozenge-shaped leaded glass in the upper sashes. The one closest to the street is double-hung, the two further east have double casements in their lower parts.
Fig 17. South façade, second floor detail
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North Façade The north façade is asymmetrical. At the center of the ground floor there is a triple bay window with a flared hip roof, wide, boxed eaves and a wide cornice. The windows in the bay are not visible from the street. Further to the rear is a double-hung wooden window, also not sufficiently visible for description. All six upper-floor windows are double-hung, and at least four have lozenge- shaped leaded glass in the upper sashes.
Fig 18. North façade
Fig 19. East (rear) façade
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East (rear) Façade The easy façade is asymmetrical and dominated by a 2-story addition with a pent roof and asbestos siding. Although all the Sanborn maps from 1911 on show a build-out in this part of the house, it has undergone several alterations and no longer conveys its original appearance. The wall to the left of this addition is clad in narrow clapboard and has a double-hung wooden window on each level.
Rear Yard The rear yard contains a wooden garden shed with a pent roof, built by Verne B. Hughson in 1978–79. It is not sufficiently visible to be described. The shed is a replacement for Mrs. Hughson’s old shed (Fig. 20).
Fig 20. Verne B. Hughson near her old shed (replaced in 1978–79)
The distinguishing features of The William Wilkinson House include:
• Street setback, with a front yard that is four steps higher than the sidewalk • Flared hip roof with wide, boxed eaves and a wide cornice • Narrow clapboard siding • Front porch with flared hip roof, wide, boxed eaves and a wide cornice • Pentagonal bay window with flared hip roof, wide, boxed eaves and a wide cornice • Two triple bay windows with flared hip roof, wide, boxed eaves and a wide cornices • Double-hung wood-sash windows with wood casings and moulded sills • Lozenge-shaped leaded-glass in upper window sashes • Moulded water table on west and south façades (north façade is not visible)
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Fig 21. 2515 Regent Street
15. History:
The Tract and the Neighborhood Hillegass Tract No. 3, in which The William Wilkinson House is located, was part of the 160 acres (Plot 71 on the Kellersberger map) purchased by William Hillegass in 1857. One of Berkeley’s pioneers, Hillegass (1826–1876) had met Francis K. Shattuck in the winter of 1851–52 and became his partner in an Oakland livery stable. In the late 1860s, Hillegass began building a country home in Berkeley (on the current site of Kroeber Hall) and sold 53 acres of his land to the College of California, soon to become the University of California.2 Hillegass’s remaining land was leased to tenant farmers, principally Andrew Poirier, William Poinsett, and George Stutt, who cultivated wheat and vegetables. In 1886, ten years after Hillegass’s death, his widow had the tract mapped,3 and the first few lots were sold. The George Edwards House (A.H. Broad, 1886) was among the first houses to be constructed in the subdivided tract. In the 1890s, building activity in the tract took place mostly along Dwight Way. The blocks to the south remained undeveloped until realtor Joseph J. Mason brought in Anson Blake to pave the streets. In 1899, Berkeley capitalist John Hinkel, in response to a plea by Mason, built four speculative houses on the 2500 block of Hillegass Avenue, and these sold very quickly, stimulating other sales and, subsequently accelerated building activity. In its issue of 25 May 1901, the Berkeley Gazette reported that the “heretofore quiet and unassuming neighborhood near Dwight Way and Telegraph Avenue
2 Sulliger, Jerry. “William Hillegass: The story of the Hillegass land.” Beautiful Benvenue, Elegant Hillegass. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, 2008. 3 Hillegass Tract deed. 1 May 1886.
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has evolved into a busy and disquieting scene of commercial activity.”4 The article announced the construction of two commercial buildings at the Telegraph-Dwight Way intersection. One of these, designed for the grocer Stella (Mrs. Edmund P.) King by A. Dodge Coplin, still stands at 2502 Dwight Way and is a designated City of Berkeley Landmark. In 1902, Coplin designed a two-story commercial building (demolished) at 2504 Telegraph Avenue for Antoine Eugène Marie Prenveille, a French-born house painter who opened a short-lived business dealing in “Real Estate, paints, oils, wall paper, glass and picture frames,” according to his 1903 city directory listing. Coplin also remodeled Prenveille’s adjoining older buildings on the southwest corner of Dwight and Telegraph, where Prenveille lived and ran a grocery store from 1889 to 1892. Also in 1902, orchardist Harvey S. Haseltine built a corner grocery and residence designed by A.W. Smith at 2447 Telegraph Avenue (now 2499 Telegraph, current location of Shakespeare & Co. Books). Haseltine advertised repeatedly with the headline “We’re in the SOUP Up in Our End of TOWN, Same as Down Town.”5 As John English pointed out in his landmark application for the Soda Water Works Building, 2509–2513 Telegraph Avenue:
By 1903, the Dwight/Telegraph vicinity had about 17 commercial establishments (or at least storefront spaces), not counting the relatively isolated Gorman’s off to the south. Among them were a druggist/stationer, a meat market, a plumber, two shoemakers, and at least three grocers (the competition must have been fierce!). That total substantially exceeded the number of establishments in the contemporary little cluster, near what was then the campus edge, just south of today’s Sather Gate. Back then Telegraph’s blocks in between the two clusters were virtually all residential or vacant.6
The Creation of People’s Park
Fig. 22. The block across Dwight Way in 1911 (Sanborn fire insurance map)
4 “The heretofore quiet and unassuming neighborhood near Dwight Way and Telegraph Avenue has evolved…” Berkeley Gazette, 25 May 1901. 5 The Haseltine’s Corner Grocery ad ran in the Berkeley Gazette throughout August 1903. 6 Soda Water Works Building landmark application. Recorder: John English, 1 March, 2004.
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Directly across Dwight Way from Regent Street lies Assessor’s Block 1875 (block 7 in the College Homestead Association Tract), bounded by Telegraph Avenue, Dwight Way, Bowditch Street, and Haste Street. This block was developed primarily during the first decade of the 20th century. By the late 1920s, the block was fully built with single-family residences, flats, boarding houses, and small apartment buildings.
Fig. 239. The block across Dwight Way in 1929 (Sanborn fire insurance map)
In 1967, the University of California acquired, by eminent domain, most of the land in this block. Intending to develop the land, UC evicted the tenants and, in February 1968, brought in bulldozers to demolish the buildings. Development funds not being available at the time, the land “remained a dusty weed-filled eyesore littered with abandoned cars” for the next 14 months.7
Fig. 24. National Guardsmen confront People’s Park demonstrators on Telegraph Avenue, May 1969. 2503 Regent St. is partially visible at top right. (photo © Bil Paul, www.sixtiespix.com) In April 1969, at the instigation of Michael Delacour, community volunteers
7 Richard Brenneman: “The Bloody Beginnings of People’s Park.” Berkeley Daily Planet, 20 April 2004. http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2004-04-20/article/18700
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began creating a park on the vacant land. On Wednesday, 14 May 1969, Berkeley Police and university workers surrounded the park with 51 “no trespassing” signs. The following day, “Bloody Thursday,” began with thousands marching in protest and ended with the fatal shooting of James Rector by an Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy. Mass protests followed the shootings, and Governor Reagan called in the National Guard, which deployed along Telegraph Avenue side streets behind barbed wire barricades. The events of May 1969 have become one of the defining moments in Berkeley’s history. People’s Park was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark on 19 November 1984. Riots erupted again on 13 July 1991, when UC built sand-filled volleyball courts at the southern end of People’s Park. The courts were dismantled in 1997.
Fig. 25. National Guardsmen patrolling the People’s Park fence along Dwight Way, May 1969. The three Coplin houses are seen in forshortened perspective. (photo © Janine Wiedel, http://wiedel.photoshelter.com
The Block With the exception of a single 19th-century house that stood close to the Parker Street corner behind John Gorman’s Telegraph Avenue furniture store, the 2500 block of Regent Street was not developed until the first half-decade of the 20th century. The street, which at that time extended from Dwight Way to Ashby Avenue, was called Manoa Avenue until 1903 (the name change to Regent Street was noted in the 1904 city directory).
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Fig. 26. The block in a 1903 Sanborn fire insurance map
In 1903, there were 11 houses on the 2500 block of Regent Street. All the houses had been built during the preceding two years in the Colonial Revival style that dominated the streetscapes of turn-of-the-century streetcar suburbs. The tiny store building on the corner of Regent and Dwight Way made its first appearance in the 1903 Sanborn fire insurance map. Jeweler Joji Yokoi, who occupied this building since 1973, told BAHA in 1978 that he had found newspapers as old as the San Francisco Examiner of 4 September 1889 inside the walls, where they were used as insulation.
Fig. 27. The Regent Street fire station. To the left is the Gorman House. (Berkeley Historical Society)
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The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire sent a flood of new residents to the East Bay, and some of the consequences were soon seen on this block. The Berkeley Fire Department built a shingled fire station at 2542 Regent Street, initially known as Hose Company No. 5, Engine No. 1, and later as Engine No. 3.
Fig. 28. Telegraph Ave., Dwight Way & Regent Street in winter, 1907 (BAHA archives)
Fig. 29. Regent Street firemen, 1907 (Veteran Volunteer Fire Association of Berkeley, 14th Annual Old Timers Affair, 1947)
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Fig. 30. Detail from Fig. 24, showing 2503 & 2509 Regent on the right, 2504 Regent on the left, and the frame of the future Needham Building under construction.
In 1907, William G. Needham, proprietor of the Needham & Needham real estate company (which was soon renamed Wm. G. Needham, real estate and insurance), constructed a mixed-use Mission Revival building at (per the Sanborn 1911 map) 2512–2514 Regent St./2525 Telegraph Avenue. It contained two storefronts on the Regent Street side, a meat market on the Telegraph side, and six apartments on the second floor. The 1909 city directory listed Needham’s father, Adolphus, and his uncle, Arnold, as residents at 2512 Regent. Both worked for Needham, the father as manager, the uncle as salesman. The Needham Building and the fire station were the first to depart from the Colonial Revival style that dominated the neighborhood’s streetscapes.
Fig. 31. Needham & Needham ad in Pacific Monthly, October 1906
In 1910, Bernard Maybeck’s First Church of Christ, Scientist was constructed a block and a half to the east. In the US census rolls of that year, residents of the neighborhood included a high proportion of teachers and people of independent means.
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Fig. 32. Cellist Mary Jane Hughson, who lived at 2511 Regent St., circa 1930. The Needham Building is visible across the street. (Hughson family collection)
By 1911, the number of houses on the block had increased to 16 (one of these was a triplex). The house at 2504 Regent Street had become a Methodist Episcopal Chinese mission and marked as such in the Sanborn fire insurance map but not in the city directory. The tiny store building on the corner of Regent Street and Dwight Way (later christened the Bonnet Box) was vacant.
Fig. 33. The block in a 1911 Sanborn fire insurance map
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Sanborn maps show that between 1911 and 1929, there were only two changes in the block’s composition. By 1929, the Chinese mission had disappeared from 2504 Regent Street, leaving an empty lot that has been used as a parking lot for decades since.
Fig. 34. The block in a 1929 Sanborn fire insurance map
In 1924, the first large apartment building, containing 17 units according to the Sanborn 1929 map and 16 at present, was constructed for F.M. Ament on a previously empty lot at 2535 Regent Street. The builder was Harry Ahnefeld. Directly to the north, at 2531 Regent, an apartment building of similar size and layout would be constructed in 1946. Its owners were the Bradshaw family, whose portfolio included several fashionable apartment buildings in the area, including one at 2508 Benvenue Avenue. The builder and co-owner, Ray Towers, was married to the Bradshaws’ daughter, Geraldine. Also in the 1940s, milliner Faye Joyce opened the Bonnet Box in the tiny building at 2506 Dwight Way.
Fig. 35. Detail from promotional flier (BAHA archives, courtesy of Faye Joyce)
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Fig. 36. The Bonnet Box (BAHA archives)
Fig. 37. The block in a 1950 Sanborn fire insurance map
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The Bradshaw/Towers apartments were the only addition to the block between 1929 and 1950. There were no demolitions during that time, but a mid- block lot on the west side was excavated in 1941 for a new Safeway store at 2539 Telegraph Avenue, leaving a small open area that was turned into a pocket park in the 1960s. The Safeway store gave way to a British Motors showroom, which operated through the 1960s and early ‘70s. The building was taken over by the Center for Independent living in 1975. The parcel is currently proposed for a large apartment building project. Between 1958 and 1966, four large apartment buildings replaced four historic houses (built between 1901 and 1905) on the east side of the 2500 block of Regent Street. From north to south, these apartment buildings are: Regent Manor Apartments, 2521 Regent (1958); Arthur Perrott Apartments, 2525 Regent (1963); Raul A. and Mary M. Del Piero Apartments, 2537 Regent (1966), and Sam Ruvkun Apartments, 2541 Regent (1962). On the west side of the street, the Wing Lee Apartments, 2510 Regent (John S. Fisher, architect, 1965), were built on a vacant lot that extended to Telegraph Avenue. The 3-story apartment building at 2520 Regent Street was built in 1968 on a vacant lot. The fire station at 2542 Regent was sold at auction in July 1962 to the Berkeley real estate and construction firm Values, Inc., whose president, James D. Glenn, paid $14,100 for the parcel.8 The following year, contractor Milton Lent constructed an apartment building on the site. The adjacent Gorman house at 2546 Regent St. was razed to make way for the Gorman furniture store’s parking lot.
Owners & Significant Residents of 2511 Regent Street
William Wilkinson & heirs 1903–1920 Robert & Elizabeth Fisk (renters) 1904–1908 William & Verne Hughson 1920–1985 David Antoniuk et al 1985–1996 Resources for Community Dev. 1996–Present
William Wilkinson William Wilkinson (1842–c. 1917) was born in upstate New York, the eldest son of Thomas Wilkinson, a mason, and his wife, Emma Marie Carlow. While William was a small boy, the family moved to a farm in Grant county, Wisconsin. The father having departed for California to seek gold in 1850, Emma and the children remained behind. Still in his teens, William took charge of the farming. In 1861, they crossed the plains to California with ox teams and rejoined Thomas in Liberty, San Joaquin County.9 Thomas died in 1865. By 1870, with William in charge of the farm, the Wilkinsons’ land holdings were worth $4,000, and three farm laborers were living with them. The same year, William married Minerva Rattan, a neighboring farmer’s daughter, and over the next decade, the couple produced four children, three of whom survived to adulthood.
8 “Fire Station Site Sold to Developer.” Oakland Tribune, 18 July 1962. 9 Tinkham, George H. History of San Joaquin County, California. Los Angeles: History Record Co., 1923.
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The Wilkinsons were first listed in the Berkeley directory in 1900, at a time when their two daughters, Ivy Bernice (1875–c. 1929) and Elsie Mabel (1878– 1947), had already been studying at the University of California for a few years.10
Fig 38. Ivy B. Wilkinson taught chemistry at the College of the Pacific in Stockton until her death, c. 1929. (faculty photo published in the Naranjado yearbook, 1927)
The family first rented a house at 2119 Bancroft Way. By 1901, William had built a Colonial Revival duplex at 2424 Atherton Street, and the Wilkinsons made it their home for a few years. The building was probably intended for investment purposes,11 for the Wilkinsons soon purchased a deep lot on Manoa Avenue12 and built a brown-shingle, two-story house in the rear of the lot. It was first registered in the assessment records in 1903, and appeared in the Sanborn map the same year. The Wilkinsons moved into this house, whose address became 2515 Regent Street. For the front of the lot, the Wilkinsons had grander ideas. Following Lucinda Reames’s lead, they retained A. Dodge Coplin to build an 8-room dwelling at 2511 Manoa Avenue. Construction was begun on 9 February 1903 and was to be finished in 60 days, but the building was not completed until June 4. This house was rented to Robert and Elizabeth Fisk (see separate entry), retired pioneer newspaper publishers from Helena, Montana, whose youngest son, James K. Fisk, would become a prominent figure in Berkeley’s history. When the Fisks moved out in about 1908, the Wilkinsons made 2511 Regent Street their residence and rented out the rear house. Minerva Wilkinson died in late 1905 or early 1906, and William married a widow from Stockton by the name of Evaline E. Lower, who brought her two younger children (born in 1886 and 1889) to live on Regent Street. In 1908, William Wilkinson deeded 2515 Regent Street to his daughter, Ivy, and 2511 Regent Street to his wife, Evaline. By 1913, Evaline was the owner of both houses.
10 Elsie obtained her Bachelor of Letters in 1901, Ivy, in 1902. 11 William turned into an active buyer and seller of real estate. His various transactions were recorded in Alameda County assessments, as well as in newspapers such as the Oakland Tribune and the San Francisco Call. The Atherton Street house was sold in May 1904. 12 Lot 24 in block C of Hillegass Tract N. 3.
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William Wilkinson died c. 1917. In 1920, Evaline sold both houses to William and Verne Hughson.
Robert and Elizabeth Fisk The Fisks are believed to have been the first occupants of 2511 Regent Street, which they rented from the Wilkinsons from about 1904 until about 1908.
Robert Emmett Fisk (1837–1908) was born in Pierpont, Ohio. He spent his early life as a newspaperman in Indiana and New York before becoming an officer in several New York volunteer regiments, beginning in 1861. During the Civil War, he served in nearly all the Virginia campaigns13 and corresponded with Miss Elizabeth “Lizzie” Chester (1846–1927) of Vernon, CT, and she later became his wife. In 1866, Fisk and three of his brothers led an overland emigrant expedition to Montana, arriving in Helena in September 14 of that year. Fig 39. Robert Emmett Fisk (Montana Official State Travel Site)15
The Fisks established the Helena Herald in 1867, and Robert Fisk was its editor for 34 years. He was prominent in Republican politics and was said to be a confidential friend of President James Garfield and Secretary of State James G. Blaine.1617 Lizzie Fisk made a name for herself by becoming involved in political associations, charity work, education, temperance, and church organizations. The Fisks’ house at 319 North Rodney Street, completed in 1871, became the social center of town. It was listed in the National Register of Fig 40. Elizabeth Chester Fisk, early 1860s Historic Places on 17 January 2007. The (photo courtesy of Montana Historical National Park Service devoted a Web Society Photograph Archives, Photo #942- article to the Fisks and their house to 299) mark Women’s History Month, 2009.18
13 Obituary of Robert E. Fisk. The Intermountain Catholic, Salt Lake City, 2 January 1909. 14 Guide to the Fisk Family papers, Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives. http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv38992 15 http://www.visitmt.com/history/montana_the_magazine_of_western_history/montanavigilantes1.htm 16 “Noted Editor Passes Away Suddenly.” Oakland Tribune, 28 December 1908. 17 “Noted Editor Expires.” Los Angeles Herald, 29 December 1908. 18 http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/wom/2009/elizabeth_fisk_house.htm
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After suffering a stroke while seated at his editorial desk, Robert Fisk retired from the newspaper business. In 1901, he and Lizzie moved to Berkeley, where their youngest children, the twins Florence Rumley Fisk (1882–1947) and James Kennett Fisk (1882–1951), enrolled at the university, graduating in 1905. At Cal, James joined the University Dramatic Association and served as its secretary. He was stage manager of the legendary 1904 production of Sophocles’ “Ajax” at the Greek Theatre.19 In April 1906, following the untimely death of UC’s beloved janitor and gardener James “Jimmy Potatoes” Tait, James Fisk organized a charity moonlight concert to benefit Tait’s widow and children.
As Berkeley Gazette columnist Hal Johnson would tell it in 1943,
James Fisk was graduated from the University of California and planned to be a doctor, but the San Francisco fire which brought financial reverses to his father prevented that. He had to go to work and his first job was with the Ship Owners’ Association at $65 a month. He literally worked his way around the world on Government transports, serving as a deckhand, waiter, steward and ship’s painter.20
The veracity of Hal Johnson’s story is easily refuted, since the 1907 edition of the University of California Register listed James Kennett Fisk as Assistant in the Recorder’s Office, a position he would keep until 1924. Nevertheless, it may very well have been financial reversals that prompted the Fisks to give up 2511 Regent Street in favor of a flat at 2616 Haste Street. Robert died in that flat on 27 December 1908. Florence had married Clarence Greenleaf White in August 1905 and moved to Hawaii. James never married. He and Lizzie continued to live in the flat at 2616 Haste Street for a few years before moving into the Shattuck Hotel, where they resided until the ends of their respective lives.
Fig 41. Oakland Tribune, 16 June 1924
19 The University of California Blue and Gold, 1905. 20 “Long Time Adjutant.” Berkeley Daily Gazette, 25 August 1943.
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During World War I, James Fisk trained as a pilot and was posted to Washington, DC. Retuning to his old post at UC, he was active in many social and cultural clubs, organizing stage productions, concerts, and lectures. At the behest of David Prescott Barrows, he joined the Berkeley post of the American Legion. In 1924, he was appointed Adjutant of the American Legion’s Department of California. He served in this post until his retirement in 1945.
William & Verne Hughson William Burke Hughson (1866–1942) was born in Maine, New York, to a farming family. Little is known about his life until 1900, when he was working as an art superintendent at the West Side Boys’ Home, a lodging house run by the Children’s Aid Society at 201 W 32nd Street in Manhattan. Hughson first appeared in the Berkeley city directories in 1909. At the time, he was listed as an assistant teacher at the high school. The following year he had advanced to a teacher’s position; the school’s name was not specified. In 1911, his occupation was described as assistant in manual training, Public Schools. By now, he will have begun his career as a shop teacher. In his book History of the Berkeley Schools, former superintendent S.D. Waterman referred to Hughson’s employment at McKinley School:
Miss Carmichael was the first teacher of manual training. She was followed by Mr. W. B. Hughson, who has filled the position very satisfactorily ever since.21
William Hughson was a fine cabinetmaker and designed furniture and lamps in the Arts & Crafts style (Fig. 42 and 43).
Fig. 42. Manual training exhibition at McKinley School (Hughson family collection)
21 Waterman, S.D. History of the Berkeley Schools. Berkeley: 1918.
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In 1912, Hughson, now 46 years old, was lodging at 2616 Telegraph Avenue. Lodging in the same house was Clara Verne Baldwin (1890–1990), a UC student from Bakersfield. Like William, she was born to a farming family. Although William was old enough to be Verne’s father, the two married that year. They lived for several years in a small brown-shingle house at 3014 Benvenue Avenue, where daughters Ermina, Ellen, and Mary were born. The house having grown small, the Hughsons moved to a larger one at 2627 Ashby, just below College Avenue, but didn’t remain long there. In 1920, they acquired their first property, including 2511 and 2515 Regent Street, from Evaline E. Wilkinson. The former served as their principal residence for 65 years. Their only son, William Burke, Jr., was born there.
Fig. 43. William Hughson and his 3-year-old daughter Mary, c. 1918 (Hughson family collection)
Fig. 44. The Hughson family, 1926 (Hughson family collection)
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In addition to teaching woodworking at the Berkeley Public Schools,22 Mr. Hughson was an instructor in the teacher training classes at the Oakland Center of Trade and Industrial Education and taught summer classes at the University of California’s Division of Vocational Education.23 In the early 1920s, Mr. Hughson built a house in Canyon, and the family lived there, selling chickens from a small store they had constructed. They returned to Berkeley toward the end of the decade, so the children could benefit from better education. For a few years, Mr. Hughson worked as a real estate salesman before returning to teaching. Mrs. Hughson worked as a private nurse, and they supplemented their income by taking in lodgers. Mrs. Hughson was a thrifty woman, and with her savings she bought and sold several additional houses in various parts of Berkeley. In 1952, after the death of her neighbor Tinnie Culvyhouse, Verne purchased 2509 Regent Street, where she boarded tenants, primarily students. The Hughsons’ third daughter, Mary Jane Hughson Claudio (1915–1977), was a gifted cellist. She studied in Paris with Pierre Fournier and was chosen by Leopold Stokowski for his All-American Youth Orchestra, which traveled to South America on a Good Neighbor Policy visit in 1940. For many years Mary Jane was a member of the San Francisco Symphony, becoming assistant principal cellist in 1968. According to Mrs. Hughson’s granddaughter, Elisa Claudio Riley, her grandmother continued to live at 2511 Regent Street until she suffered a stroke in December 1984. Her heirs sold the house in 1985 to Elaine, David, and Stephen Antoniuk.
Recent Owners
David Antoniuk was a graduate student at UC Berkeley when he purchased the house from the Hughson family In August 1985. Building permits indicate that he replaced the foundation and some siding in 1991. Antoniuk sold the house to Resources for Community Development (RCD) in November 1996. RCD converted it from a single-family residence to a group living facility for AIDS/HIV patients in 1997.
The Architect
Albert Dodge Coplin (1869–1908) was born in California to Alanson Coplin and Ruth Munsell Coplin. Alanson Coplin (1835–1906) was a Methodist minister who transferred to California from the Michigan Conference in the 1860s. Records show that he performed nine marriages in Santa Cruz County in 1867– 186824 and married Ruth Munsell in Monterey on 7 January 1869.25 In the early 1870s, he was posted to Chico and Auburn. In 1874, he gave up his formal pastoral duties and, having moved to Oakland circa 1876, began a business
22 In the 1920–1921 edition of the California Board of Education’s Directory of Secondary and Normal Schools, William B. Hughson was listed as a teacher in mechanical arts at Willard School. 23 University of California Bulletin, Intersession and Summer Session, 1921. 24 Santa Cruz County Marriage Licenses-Certificates—From County Warehouse. Santa Cruz Genealogical Society: http://scgensoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Marriages-Performed.pdf 25 OneWorldTree http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=182396005
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career as an underwear retailer on Broadway.26 The 1878 Oakland directory listed him as agent for Dr. Warner’s health corsets and manufacturer of chemiloons (Dress Reform ladies’ undergarments combining chemise and pantaloons). In 1883, Alanson Coplin withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church and organized the evangelical Church of Christ, who mission was to focus on holiness.27 From 1883 to 1890, he published the Holiness Evangelist, an 8-page28 annual29 newspaper.
Fig. 45. Oakland city directory, 1887
Albert Coplin studied at Oakland High School and was listed in its 1888 Register as a member of the class of 1890.30 It is likely that Albert did not graduate, since in 1889, the Oakland city directory listed him as a stair builder in San Francisco. He turned 21 in 1890, and his voter registration that year recorded his occupation as “merchant” (most likely employed in his father’s store). By 1892, while still living with his parents, Albert had become a contractor, as stated in his voter registration for that year. Young Albert was mechanically inclined and a good draftsman. On 24 June 1891, aged 22, he applied for a patent on a hose-reel design he had invented. Patent No. 486692 was granted on 22 November 1892 (Fig. 39). During most of the 1890s, Albert Coplin listed himself as a contractor. By 1898, his voter registration record showed his occupation as “builder.” He appears to have learned building design on the job, for there is no evidence that he had ever served an apprenticeship with an architect. Like many designer- builders of the late 19th century, Coplin is very likely to have made use of pattern books—at least in the early years of his career. Yet shortly after the turn of the 20th century, coinciding with his adoption of the title “architect,”31 he blossomed into an original designer with a strong personal style and became one of the more sought-after and prolific architects in the East Bay. Coplin’s earliest recorded Berkeley project, dating from 1901, is the Stella (Mrs. Edmund P.) King Building on the southeast corner of Telegraph Avenue and Dwight Way (City of Berkeley Landmark, designated in 2004). The design of this Colonial Revival building is fairly conventional, no doubt owing to its commercial nature. By the following year, Coplin’s residential designs were showing increasing signs of individual flair, with exteriors notable for quirky elements that were often oversized or horizontally stretched; unconventional window placements; and unusually shaped clinker-brick chimneys.
26 Ruth M. Coplin’s obituary. Oakland Tribune, 1 Mar 1905 27 Charles Volney Anthony: Fifty Years of Methodism. San Francisco: Methodist Book Concern, 1901. https://archive.org/details/cu31924009150057 28 Oakland Newspapers. Oakland Wiki. http://oaklandwiki.org/Oakland_Newspapers_%28Past_%26_Present%29 29 Charles Edwin Jones: A Guide to the Study of the Holiness Movement. Scarecrow Press, 1974. 30 Register of the Teachers, Pupils and Alumni of the Oakland High School. Oakland, California, February 1888. 31 1900 US Census.
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Fig. 46. Coplin’s drawing for hose-reel patent no. 486692
Fig. 40. Mrs. Edmund P. King Building, 2502 Dwight Way/2501 Telegraph Ave.
Coplin’s Earliest Surviving Residential Projects in Berkeley32
• Charles Ravenscroft Greenleaf House, 2610 College Ave (1902) • Lucinda Reames House No. 1, 2503 Regent Street (1902– early ’03) • Lucinda Reames House No. 2, 2509 Regent Street (1902–early ’03) • William Wilkinson House, 2511 Regent Street (early 1903) • W.S. Morley House, 2745 Parker Street (early 1903) • Charles A. Westenberg House, 2811 Benvenue Ave (early 1903)
32 Four additional surviving houses (2632, 2634, 2638, and 2704 Benvenue Avenue) were begun in the latter half of 1903.
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Fig. 47. A row of three early Coplins: 2503, 2509 & and 2511 Regent Street
Fig. 48. Ramsey houses (r, 1902–05; l, 1905–06) 2412 Piedmont Ave at Haste Street (demolished)
Fig. 49. Charles A. Westenberg House, 2811 Benvenue Avenue (1903)
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Fig. 50. Adolphus Barnicott House, 2630 Piedmont Avenue (1905)
Fig. 51. Roy Block House, 2920 Hillegass Avenue (1906)
Coplin’s Berkeley clients were well-to-do and prominent in East Bay society. The owners of the houses illustrated in Fig. 42–45 were, respectively, Harry Ramsey, a mining magnate who had made his fortune in Tonopah; Charles A. Westenberg, a Methodist minister turned capitalist; Adolphus Barnicott, a manufacturer of artificial stone (used in the construction of his residence’s front porch); and Roy Block, owner of the Manasse-Block Tannery. Ramsey, who had purchased a 1902 Coplin-designed brown-shingle house at 2412 Piedmont Avenue from Catharine A. Hathaway, commissioned Coplin in 1905 to expand the house. The following year, in the aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake, he retained Coplin again to design an adjacent earthquake-
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proof house in the Mission Revival style. The Oakland Tribune reported on the progress of these houses four times between August 1905 and October 1906.33
Coplin’s civic activities A believer in the East Bay’s growth potential even before the 1906 earthquake, Coplin led a club called the Oakland Boosters whose objective was to engineer passage of municipal bond measures “for the beautifying of the city and the consolidation of Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda into a greater city.”34 In this endeavor, Coplin was allied with many prominent Oakland businessmen and was a key member of the Progress Federation, which was the major driving force behind the bond election of 1904. Eleven separate municipal bonds on the September ballot would have financed parks, boulevards, sewers, street improvements, a polytechnic high-school, completion of the public library, a new city hall, and other infrastructure-related items.35 The voters, however, rejected the entire package.36
Fig. 52. Coplin as Grand High Booster (San Francisco Call, 28 March 1904)
Personal life In 1895, Coplin married Luella Wagor (1871–1946), a concert singer. Two children were born to the couple: Laurence Keith Wagor Coplin (1898–1983) and Miriam Coplin Saal (1899–1990). In October 1901, Luella divorced Coplin on grounds of cruelty. She obtained custody of the children and thereafter supported herself as a music teacher. After the divorce, Coplin became “a man
33 Four articles in the Oakland Tribune: “Will Beautify Ramsey Home” (15 Aug. 1905); “Miner’s Wife to Build New Home” (25 June 1906); “Fine Residence for Berkeley” (28 June 1906); “Money Comes from Tonopah: H Ramsey, Capitalist, Invests Earnings in Palatial Modern Home” (20 Oct 1906). 34 “Boosters Hold Demonstration.” San Francisco Call, 23 March 1904. 35 “Bond Campaign Now Underway.” San Francisco Call, 1 September 1904. 36 “Oakland Voters Defeat Eleven Bond Propositions by Majority That Astonishes All Classes.” San Francisco Call, 28 September 1904.
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about town.”37 In November 1902, Mrs. Coplin filed an affidavit in court to stop her ex-husband from harassing her.38 By August 1905, Coplin’s architectural practice was flourishing enough to warrant a move to the new Flood Building at Powell and Market streets in San Francisco.39 The announcement in the Oakland Tribune included information that “Heretofore this architect has specialized on a high grade of residential work, and many artistic homes along the east bay shore for the better classes have been built from his designs and supervision.” The same article informed that the architect, “formerly of New York and recently of this city,” had taken abode in Cloyne Court, “the newly finished apartment hotel just north of the University campus.” The residence at Cloyne Court was brief; in December 1905, Coplin embarked on a journey to the East Coast and possibly abroad, returning in June 1906. The Flood Building having burned in the San Francisco Fire, Coplin established a new office in the Bacon Block, 428 11th Street, Oakland. Large projects The most ambitious commission Coplin received in Berkeley was the design of a projected 32-unit apartment building for G.W. Bryson of Grand Rapids, Michigan. This $48,000 building was to be constructed “in close proximity to Berkeley’s new business center […] at Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue.”40 “The exterior, being of a type peculiar to scenic California, will receive a cementive pebble dash finish done off in a light zinoleth buff. The other features will be consistent and complimentary in tone and the whole will be rendered in character peculiar to Mr. Coplin’s work. Inside the apartments will be assorted from four and five rooms to six and seven rooms,” reported the Oakland Tribune on 20 October 1906. In its issue of November 1906, The Architect and Engineer of California reported that G.W. Bryson had contracted for this “fashionable apartment house.” Nothing further was published about this project.
Fig. 53. Leonore Apartments for G.W. Bryson (Oakland Tribune, 20 Oct. 1906)
37 “Tragic Death of Architect Coplin.” Western Architect and Engineer, March 1908, p. 75. 38 “Architect’s Former Wife Says Husband Is Annoying.” San Francisco Call, 15 November 1902. 39 “A. Dodge Coplin Has New Office.” Oakland Tribune, 7 Aug. 1905. 40 “Elegant House in Berkeley.” Oakland Tribune, 20 Oct. 1906.
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Also in 1906, Coplin was commissioned to design two commercial buildings on the corner of San Pablo Avenue and 18th Street in Oakland. The client was the widow of Pierre-Nicolas Remillard, principal owner of the Remillard Brick Company. The first structure was to be a $90,000, six-story retail/wholesale building, clad in semi-glazed terra-cotta tile brick, with trimmings and lamps in copper. It was described as “an innovation in the way of a clean cut, up-to-date and sharply defined business structure,” was to “represent the most advanced structural methods,” and to be “unique and the first [of its type] to go up in this city.” 41 Coplin’s sketch for the Remillard Block (Fig. 54) was published in the Oakland Tribune three times between October 1906 and April 1907. The building opened in October 1907 as a four-story structure,42 but otherwise adhering to Coplin’s design. It was torn down in 1989-90.43
Fig 54. Remillard Block (Oakland Tribune, 20 April 1907)
Early death Coplin’s life was cut short on 22 March 1908 by an accidental shot from his own revolver. The architect, then aged 38, had gone for a drive to Lafayette with a young Oakland woman. On their return that evening, they stopped on a side street off Tunnel Road to give the engine a rest. Coplin had a gun in his coat pocket, and as he got out of the car to crank the engine, the gun fell out of his pocket and a bullet was discharged into Coplin’s head. He was taken to Roosevelt Hospital and died the following morning without regaining consciousness.
41 “New Building to Go Up Soon on San Pablo Avenue.” Oakland Tribune, 6 Oct. 1906. 42 “Avenue Grows Greater.” San Francisco Call, 21 Oct. 1907. 43 Information from Betty Marvin, Oakland Cultural Heritage Survey, via e-mail, 28 July 2014.
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Fig. 55. Oakland Tribune, 23 March 1908
His death was widely reported throughout California, and the Associated Press carried the story nationally. When approached for a comment, Mrs. Coplin said only, “I am too busy teaching to talk about Mr. Coplin. […] I am preparing my pupils for a recital to be given April 26 in my studio and you see that it takes up all my time. I will not take the time of my pupils to talk about Mr. Coplin.”44
16. Significance:
The William Wilkinson House, consistent with Section 3.24.110.A.1.c., is worth preserving for the exceptional values it adds as part of the neighborhood fabric. The 2500 block of Regent Street is particularly vulnerable owing to its proximity to the UC campus and to Telegraph Avenue. Close to half of the buildings that stood on this block in 1911 were demolished to make way for modern apartment buildings. There are now ten apartment buildings on the block, of which seven were constructed between 1958 and 1966. The William Wilkinson House stands in a row of four Colonial Revival houses that survived the wave of mid-century apartment construction. The William Wilkinson House is an essential element in this historic row, which is distinctive and highly visible owing to its location on the corner of Dwight Way and across from People’s Park, where nearly an entire block of historic houses was razed in 1968. Although compromised by alterations, the William Wilkinson House possesses architectural value as its architect’s distinctive variant on the conventional Colonial Revival foursquare format. The William Wilkinson House, consistent with Section 3.24.110.A.4., possesses historic value as one of the oldest surviving houses on its block and one of the oldest surviving houses designed by the notable architect A. Dodge Coplin in Berkeley. It was constructed in early 1903, when the blocks south of Dwight Way were just beginning their transformation from farmland to suburban neighborhoods.
44 “A. Dodge Coplin Is Mysteriously Shot.” Oakland Tribune, 23 March 1908.
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The William Wilkinson House possesses a rich history that mirrors the chronology of Berkeley and the Southside over the past century. Its chain of owners and residents comprises a diverse group of individuals representing a cross section of Berkeley society in the 20th century. The William Wilkinson House, consistent with Section 3.24.110.B.2.a(1), is contemporary with several designated landmarks within its neighborhood and close vicinity, including the Mary J. Berg House (William G. May, 1901) at 2517 Regent Street; Alexander C. Stuart House (Pissis & Moore, 1891) at 2524 Dwight Way; Mrs. Edmund P. King Building (A. Dodge Coplin, 1901) at 2502 Dwight Way/2501 Telegraph Ave.; and Needham-Obata Building (1907) at 2512–16 Regent St./2525 Telegraph Avenue. Two older landmarks, the George Edwards House (A.H. Broad, 1886) at 2530 Dwight Way and the Soda Water Works Building (E.A. Spalding, 1888; Henry F. Bowers, 1904–05) at 2509–2513 Telegraph Ave., are also located in the immediate vicinity. The William Wilkinson House, consistent with Section 3.24.110.B.2.b., is compatible in size, scale, style, materials and design with the landmark Mrs. Edmund P. King Building (Albert Dodge Coplin, 1901) at 2502 Dwight Way/2501 Telegraph Avenue and the Mary J. Berg House (William G. May, 1901) at 2517 Regent Street, as well as with the two houses (2503 and 2509 Regent Street) to its north, designed by A. Dodge Coplin in 1902. The William Wilkinson House, consistent with Section 3.24.110.B.2.d., has historic significance to the neighborhood, block, street frontage, and group of buildings. It helps preserves historic fabric on this extremely fragile block of Regent Street and the northern edge of the Willard neighborhood. The William Wilkinson House retains integrity of location, design, materials, setting, feeling, and association and would be recognizable by someone who knew it during its early years.
Historic Value: City Yes Neighborhood Yes Architectural Value: Neighborhood Yes
17. Is the property endangered? No.
18. Reference Sources:
Building contract notices and completion notices. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). Building permits. BAHA, City of Berkeley. Alameda County assessment records. BAHA. Berkeley and Oakland directories. BAHA, Berkeley Historical Society, Ancestry.com. Block files. BAHA. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. BAHA. Assessor’s block maps. Alameda County Assessor’s Office. US Census and California Voter Registration records. Ancestry.com. Hillegass Tract deed. 1 May 1886. A. Dodge Coplin file. BAHA.
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Ormsby Donogh files. BAHA. Landmark applications for the Needham-Obata Building; the Mrs. Edmund P. King Building; the Alexander C. Stuart House; the Soda Water Works Buildings; the George Edwards House; and the Mary J. Berg House. Thompson, Daniella. “Westenberg House: The Grande Dame of ! Benvenue Avenue. ” East Bay: Then and Now. BAHA website. 27 April 2008. http://berkeleyheritage.com/berkeley_landmarks/westenberg.html Nelson, Marie. Surveys for Local Governments—A Context for Best Practices. California Office of Historic Preservation, 2005. http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1054/files/Survey Savvy CCAPA.pps
20. Recorder:
Daniella Thompson 2663 Le Conte Avenue Berkeley, CA 94709
Date: 10 August 2014
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