ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 1 of 40 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. 2511 Regent Street Landmark Application, Page 2 of 40 ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 3 of 40 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 2511 Regent Street Landmark Application, Page 3 of 40 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. 2511 Regent Street Landmark Application, Page 4 of 40 ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 5 of 40 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) 2511 Regent Street Landmark Application, Page 5 of 40 ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 6 of 40 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 2511 Regent Street Landmark Application, Page 6 of 40 ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 7 of 40 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 2511 Regent Street Landmark Application, Page 7 of 40 ATTACHMENT 1C LPC 09-04-14 Page 8 of 40 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.