Presentation from Shattuck Survey Consultants
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PO Box 1332 San Jose CA 95109-1332 1.408.297.2684 OFFICE 1.408.228.0762 FAX 02/26/2015 Landmarks Preservation Commission Department of Planning and Development City of Berkeley 2010 Milvia Street Berkeley, CA 94704 Attn: Sally Zarnowitz, Principal Planner Secretary to the Landmarks Preservation Commission Members of the Commission: Please find attached a copy of the evolving DRAFT Context Statement for the Shattuck Avenue Commercial Corridor Context Statement and Resource Survey. We believe all the components are set in place, although this version only contains parts that we feel comfortable at this point in releasing, as the rest is in working form. We have completed our field work, continue to do research at local archives, and are in process of building the recording forms for individual properties, starting from prior recorded information, and including our own research and evalutions. The "boundaries recommendation" is not yet included; we are developing a graphic representation which we will present at the meeting. We look forward to input from the Commission on this. The first section of the historical narrative is provided for the Commission to get a sense of the narrative style we are proceeding with for this study. We are presently only showing the narrative context up to the beginning of the twentieth century, as we are still in “working" mode for the rest. The discussion regarding the character-defining features of these eras will be folded in as a part of our final narrative. Maps, images, will be inserted later once the narrative nears completion. Examples of the DRAFT DPR523 forms will also be provided to the Commission at the meeting. The District Record will be created at the completion of the final draft of the context statement. Franklin Maggi, Architectural Historian www.archivesandarchitecture.com Shattuck Avenue Commercial Corridor Historic Context and Survey Prepared for: City of Berkeley Department of Planning and Development City of Berkeley 2120 Milvia St. Berkeley, CA 94704 Attn: Sally Zarnowitz, Principal Planner Secretary to the Landmarks Preservation Commission 02.26.2015 DRAFT ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE, LLC PO Box 1332 San José, CA 95109-1332 http://www.archivesandarchitecture.com Shattuck Avenue ACKNOWLEDGMENT The activity which is the subject of this historic context has been financed in part with Federal funds from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, through the California Office of Historic Preservation. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior or the California Office of Historic Preservation, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Department of the Interior or the California Office of Historic Preservation. Regulations of the U.S. Department of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination in departmental federally‐assisted programs on the basis of race, color, sex, age, disability, or national origin. Any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of Federal assistance should write to: Director, Equal Opportunity Program U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service P.O. Box 37127 Washington, DC 20013‐7127 Cover image: USGS Aerial excerpt, Microsoft Corporation ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE 2 Shattuck Avenue Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 5 Background to this Study ............................................................................................................ 5 Study Area .................................................................................................................................. 6 Setting ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Aerial View of Setting .............................................................................................................. 8 Previous Resource Studies ........................................................................................................ 9 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................ 10 District Boundaries.................................................................................................................... 11 Historical Background ............................................................................................................... 14 Early History ......................................................................................................................... 14 Evolution of the City .............................................................................................................. 19 Methodology of Cultural Resource Management ...................................................................... 22 General Framework .............................................................................................................. 22 Project Methodology ............................................................................................................. 23 Regulatory Framework ............................................................................................................. 25 City of Berkeley Policies and Regulations ............................................................................ 25 Other Registration Programs ................................................................................................ 28 Recommendations .................................................................................................................... 30 Sources of Information (preliminary) ......................................................................................... 31 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................... 31 Governmental Guidelines and Standards ............................................................................. 31 Governmental Plans, Surveys and Inventories ..................................................................... 32 Published Resources ............................................................................................................ 32 Maps ..................................................................................................................................... 34 Websites ............................................................................................................................... 34 Appendices ................................................................................................................................... 35 Map of intensive level survey area with surveyed parcels ........................................................ 35 Table of Properties ................................................................................................................... 35 DPR523D District Record ......................................................................................................... 35 DPR523 series forms for individual properties .......................................................................... 35 ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE 3 Shattuck Avenue (This page left intentionally blank) ARCHIVES & ARCHITECTURE 4 Shattuck Avenue Introduction Background to this Study Berkeley’s downtown is as vibrant today as it has been for over a hundred years. The compact core of commercial buildings has remained intact for a millennia, and maintains the sense of a special urban place that is clearly understood as “Downtown Berkeley.” This exists today, notwithstanding changes that have occurred to individual properties since World War II; changes that has modernized and rehabilitated many of the aging buildings built during the early parts of the twentieth century. The introduction of the Bay Area Rapid Transit to the city’s core forty-five years ago helped to avert a decline that was occurring in other older San Francisco Bay Area downtown city centers. The post-war period of rapid suburbanization within the Bay Area metropolitan communities saw many downtown areas of older cities, such as Oakland, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sunnyvale, gutted of their historic identity. The transit hub, serving both the residents of Berkeley and commuting students enrolled at the University of California, has kept the commercial core populated and active. While other medium to large cities throughout the nation lost their historic urban cores during the years of federally funded Urban Renewal, or state enabled redevelopment financing programs, Berkeley continues to enjoy an intact urban setting that is rooted in the origins of the city. Within the downtown core area, the historic setting has evolved incrementally with the evolution of the city as a whole, rather than through drastic changes brought on by the boom and bust cycles of the economy. This study, initially described in grant applications as the Downtown Shattuck Avenue Commercial Corridor Refined Historic Context and Intensive-level Survey Project, derived from Berkeley’s Downtown Area Plan Environmental Impact Report. As a part of that 2012 adopted Plan, the section Historic Preservation and Urban Design Policy HD-2.2: Historic Subareas specifically recommends