The blaze of Sept. 17, 1923, caught Berkeley firefighters completely unprepared, leaving nearly 4,000 homeless before a change in wind stopped it at the edge of downtown. Fire experts warn that a fire just as bad — or worse — could happen today.
Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association
Posted inObituaries
Remembering Margot Lind, editor, historic preservationist, loving mother and grandmother
Lind loved her children and grandchildren, local history, reading mysteries and researching family history and genealogy.
Posted inCity
UC Berkeley is getting a big gift: A $300M, 772-bed student dorm
The Helen Diller Family Foundation is paying for the complex, but building it may require evicting people from a rent-controlled building.
Posted inHousing & Development
Renters rally against UC Berkeley’s possible attempt to evict them from rent-controlled building
Cal is buying 1921 Walnut St. and may tear it down to make way for a student housing complex that can hold 850 to 1,000 students.
Posted inCommunity
Berkeley shut schools, required masks in 1918: Read a woman’s letters from that pandemic
One Berkeley woman’s 1918 letters to her husband reveal impacts of an influenza pandemic that feel quite familiar today.
Posted inHousing & Development
Berkeley home, formerly for sale for $1, demolished to make room for apartments
The developer and preservationists had hoped to save it, but the house was so large it would have to be cut in two to be brought through Berkeley streets.
Posted inHousing & Development
Property owner fights Berkeley landmark designation with lawsuit
A longstanding Berkeley-based commercial real estate firm is suing the city over its use of landmark status to protect a Northside housing complex, alleging “a lack of supporting evidence” to justify the designation, which raises the bar for structural changes once applied.
Posted inObituaries
Remembering Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny, artist, preservationist, and architectural historian,1940-2016
Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny. Photo: Courtesy family Susan Gaines Dinkelspiel Stern Cerny passed away peacefully on Dec. 1, 2016, after a long and brave battle with cancer. Born in San Francisco on September 28, 1940, she lived in Berkeley for more than 50 years. A graduate of Dominican High School in San Rafael and UC Berkeley […]
Posted inHousing & Development
Two historic Berkeley homes get a makeover
The John Woolley house is the blue-gray one and the Ellen Blood House is the yellow one. The owners, architect, and builder worked hard to restore the turreted window on the Woolley House. Photo: Frances Dinkelspiel Two historic Berkeley homes with a combined age of 263 years have been given a complete makeover, and their […]
Posted inHousing & Development
ZAB approves 2539 Telegraph EIR, postpones use permit
The Zoning Adjustments Board gave critical feedback to Patrick Kennedy, the developer of 2539 Telegraph Ave., about the outsize nature of the planned building. Photo: Panoramic Interests Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board earlier this month approved the Environmental Impact Report for a controversial 6-story apartment building proposed on Telegraph Avenue, but postponed a decision on the project’s use permit to ask […]
Posted inArts, Events
The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend
The oldest house in Elmwood Park, according to BAHA, whose Spring Tour is on Sunday May 3. Photo: BAHA BAHA SPRING TOUR/ELMWOOD Sunday brings the always popular Spring Tour of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. This year, the tour is centered on the storied Elmwood Park neighborhood. A total of 11 homes will be open to the public for the […]
Posted inBusiness, City, Housing & Development
Berkeley Zoning Board considers community benefits of proposed downtown high-rise
2211 Harold Way. Image: MVEI Architecture and Planning As Berkeley officials grappled with what the concept of “community benefits” actually means, the developer of the 18-story high rise at 2211 Harold Way announced at a Jan. 8 meeting of the Zoning Adjustments Board that he is willing to financially assist both the Habitot Children’s Museum and […]
