Old Berkeley City Hall

Old Berkeley City Hall, also known as the Maudelle Shirek Building,[2] is a historic building in the Civic Center neighborhood of Berkeley, California, U.S.. It was originally located at 2134 Grove Street (now 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way).[3] It has is listed as one of the National Register of Historic Places under the name "City Hall" since September 11, 1981;[4][3] and listed as a Berkeley Landmark by the city since December 15, 1975.[5] It is one of the contributing buildings to the Berkeley Historic Civic Center District.[6]

City Hall
Old Berkeley City Hall is located in Oakland, California
Old Berkeley City Hall
Old Berkeley City Hall is located in California
Old Berkeley City Hall
Location2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way,
Berkeley, California, U.S.
Area0.4 acres (0.16 ha)
Built1907 (1907)
ArchitectJohn Bakewell Jr.,
Arthur Brown Jr.
Architectural styleBeaux-Arts
NRHP reference No.81000142
BERKL No.1
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 11, 1981[1]
Designated BERKLDecember 15, 1975

History

The design of the Berkeley City Hall was derived from the Town Hall at Tours, France, designed by Victor Laloux.[3] The building design by architects John Bakewell Jr., and Arthur Brown Jr. for the old city hall was selected as the winner of a 1907 competition to replace the original Town Hall which had burned to the ground in 1904 (designed by Samuel and Joseph Cather Newsom, 1884).[3] The old city hall building has a grand marble entrance, a cupola, a spire and a curving staircase with wrought-iron banisters.[2] A few years later in 1915, the same two architects designed San Francisco City Hall, which has similar features.[2] The Old City Hall is also the keystone of the Berkeley Civic Center, which was inspired by the concepts of the "City Beautiful movement", emphasizing broad vistas and important public buildings grouped around a central open space or park.[3]

In 1977, the city offices were moved to 2180 Milvia Street, which resulted in the name "old city hall".[3] The fate of the old city hall building has been in limbo since 2002, when Berkeley voters rejected a bond to repair it.[2] In 2007, the name of the building was changed to the Maudelle Shirek Building, after the former former Vice Mayor and eight-term City Council member Maudelle Shirek.[2]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. Jones, Carolyn (2007-03-21). "Berkeley / Unlikely allies seek to save Old City Hall / Building will be renamed after civil rights leader". SFGATE. Retrieved 2023-07-03.
  3. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: City Hall". National Park Service. September 11, 1981. Retrieved July 2, 2023. With accompanying pictures
  4. "City Hall". NPGallery, Digital Asset Management System.
  5. Thompson, Daniella (February 18, 2009). "Berkeley's City Hall Was Inspired by a Mairie on the Loire Civic Center Historic District, Berkeley, CA". Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA). Berkeley Daily Planet.
  6. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Berkeley Historic Civic Center District". National Park Service. December 3, 1998. Retrieved July 1, 2023. With accompanying pictures

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Park Service.

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