state of california department of parks and recreation … · 2009-01-15 · dpr523l *required...

DPR523A *Required information

of 7 *Resource Name or #: (Assigned by recorder) Mason-McDuffie Realty Co.

P1. Other Identifier: 2104 Addison St., Berkeley Guarantee Building & Loan, Mobilia Furniture

*P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County Alameda

and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.)

*b. USGS 7.5’ Quad Oakland West Date 1993 Township & Range No data c. Address 2101 Shattuck Ave. City Berkeley Zip 94704

d. UTM: (Give more than one for large and/or linear resources) Zone 10S; 564429mE/ 4191772mN

e. Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc., as appropriate) Assessor’s Parcel Number: 57-2032-11

Southeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street.

*P3a Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries)

*P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP6. 1-3 story commercial building

*P4 Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.)

P5b. Description of Photo: (View, date, accession #)

*P6. Date Constructed/Age & Sources:

Historic Prehistoric Both

*P7. Owner and Address:

*P8. Recorded by: (Name, affiliation, and

address)

F. Maggi, L. Dill, & S. Winder

Archives & Architecture, LLC

PO Box 1332

San Jose CA 95109-1332

*P9. Date Recorded: March 2, 2015

*P10. Survey Type: (Describe)

Intensive

*P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter “none”.)

*Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure and Object Record Archaeological

Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling State Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (List)

State of California – The Resources Agency Primary # DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #

PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial

NRHP Status Code 2S2 Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date

Rehabilitated in the early 1970s into a single building, the historic Mason-McDuffie

buildings are Contributors to the Shattuck Avenue Downtown Historic District.

The Mediterranean Revival main façades wrap the southeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and

Addison Street, with an altered main entrance on each block. Most of the original character-

defining design has been preserved, and the building continues today to represent the

evolution and expansion of a significant 1920s-era commercial business in the downtown core.

Built in 1928-1929 when Eclectic Revival design was at its height, the pair of commercial

buildings is inspired by Mediterranean designs, with stucco pilasters and capitals, stucco

arches, classical cornices, and red tile roofs.

(Continued on next page)

View facing southeast,

January, 2015.

1928, 87 years old, COB permit

files and Daily Pacific

Builder 9/24/1928.

Harvey Kameny

2832 Grey Fox Ct.

Pleasanton, CA 94566

Archives & Architecture LLC: Shattuck Avenue Commercial Corridor Historic Context and Survey, 2015.

DPR523L *Required information

of 7 *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Mason-McDuffie Realty

*Recorded by Franklin Maggi, Leslie Dill, & Sarah Winder *Date 3/2/2015 Continuation Update

(Continued from previous page)

View facing northeast from Shattuck Avenue.

The merged building sits within a historic setting of mostly older buildings that form the

primary corridor of commercial buildings lining Shattuck Avenue and the transit center that

connects the city with the University of California campus.

The Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street façades are separate, but related, compositions.

The corner building, at 2101 Shattuck Ave., is notable for its double-height engaged columns

and pilasters and classical revival roof design. The Shattuck Avenue façade includes three

bays divided by full-height engaged columns. The concrete columns are octagonal, and each

cast capital is unique. They include such features as Gordian knots, gargoyle faces and

figures, fleur-de-lis, and acanthus leaves. The Landmark nomination refers to the figures as

“cast-concrete Gothic” capitals and the figures as “carpenters-builders.”



CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial





View of rear building façade along Addison Street, facing southwest.

Along Addison Street, the structure is divided into five bays with double-height piers

bookended by quarter-pilasters. The pilasters are topped by cast capitals that include bears,

as well as acanthus and other floral tracery. An acanthus entablature wraps the tops of each

set of piers and pilasters. The columns and pilasters support a broad upper wall band that

has the proportions and elements of a Corinthian entablature. The cornice includes modillion

blocks, a convex, rounded dentil band, and narrow rope trim. The broad, flat fascia is

concrete with exposed board-forming, and the piers facing Addison also exhibit form marks,

creating a twentieth-century design feature within the classical framework. The cornice is

topped by a hipped red terra-cotta barrel-tile roof that conceals a partial flat roof at the

rear and side of the building.

The base of the design consists of a raised band of concrete that serves as pedestals for the

classical elements and as bulkheads within the openings. The original windows have been

replaced with anodized aluminum units; historic documentation indicates that the lite

patterns are similar to the original, but the mullions are modern in cross-section and

material. The front door appears to be original; however, it was relocated from the center

bay. It is wood and has two lower panels and a tall upper viewing lite. The east two bays of

this building incorporate a mezzanine level.








East on Addison Street, roughly mid-block, the rear portion of the building, or rear

building, has a gabled façade that features two-story Roman arches with cast capitals at the

spring of the arches. The ornate cast capitals are similar to those on the adjacent building.

These feature eagles (because of their extended beaks, possibly ravens), along with

decorative foliage and tracery. The face of the wall is rough-textured board-formed concrete;

a shallow stucco cornice with rope trim supports the red tile roof. The two-story arched

windows are accented by painted-steel French balconies at the second floor. The balconies

extend into centered half-circles in front of the doorways. The balusters feature hollow-

diamond forms and reeded knuckles.

The second story features original full-height bronze window frames with centered doors. At

the first floor, the original window frames were replaced with anodized aluminum, and the

main entrance was relocated to a new addition. Previous documentation indicates that the

bulkheads were once tiled. An entrance hyphen was added between the two buildings in about

1972; previously the space had been landscaped. It is set back slightly from the plane of the

street. The design of the addition has Brutalist influences. The façade of the stucco

addition consists of an unadorned square upper wall and an aluminum doorway recessed beneath

a diagonal overhang. The top of the hyphen and the awning band do not align with the original

building elements.

This building serves pedestrian traffic that flows along the primary commercial strip on

Shattuck Avenue and the more dispersed commercial corridor that stretches between Shattuck

Avenue and the University campus. The combined parcel is approximately 46 by 125 feet, and

the footprint of the building now covers the entire property.

Character-defining features include: two distinct façade compositions with connected party-

wall commercial building form; board-formed concrete texture; red terra-cotta barrel-tile

roofs; concrete base; ornate cast capitals. At the corner building: double-height engaged

columns and pilasters; Corinthian cornice with modillion blocks, dentil band, and rope trim;

hipped tile roof; relocated, wood front door. At the Addison Street building: two-story Roman

arches; gabled roof; shallow cornice with rope trim; painted-steel French balconies; second-

story full-height bronze window frames with centered doors. Alterations over time include the

windows of the corner building and first floor of the Addison Street building are anodized

aluminum replacements; the Shattuck Avenue main entrance was relocated from the center bay;

the Addison Street main entrance was relocated to the hyphen addition; tile bulkheads at

Addison Street openings removed; the entrance hyphen addition that connects the two building.

The historic elements of the building appear in generally very good condition.



DPR523B *Required information

of 7 *NRHP Status Code 5B *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Mason-McDuffie Realty

B1. Historic Name: Mason-McDuffie Realty

B2. Common Name: Scandinavian Designs

B3. Original use: Commercial B4. Present Use: Commercial

*B5. Architectural Style: Mediterranean Revival

*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations)

*B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date: n/a Original Location: n/a

*B8. Related Features:

B9a Architect: Ratcliff and Snyder b. Builder: Unknown

*B10. Significance: Theme Commerce and Architecture Area Downtown Berkeley

Period of Significance 1928-1958 Property Type Commercial Applicable Criteria A (1), C (3)

(Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity.)

B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) None

*B12. References:

B13. Remarks: Proposed historic district

*B14. Evaluator: Franklin Maggi

*Date of Evaluation: March 2, 2015


BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD

(See page 7)

Constructed 1928-1929 (City of Berkeley Building Permit #31463).

None

The Mason-McDuffie Building located at 2104 Addison St. (also addressed as 2106-2018 Addison

Street and 2101-2107 Shattuck Ave.) was constructed in 1928-1929, and opened in May of 1929.

It was built on Lot 6 of the Blake Tract Map No. 1, and replaced an earlier three-story

building.

Citations from the Daily Pacific Builder dated September 24, 1928 state that the building

was designed by the prominent local architect Walter Ratcliff, Jr. (based on an earlier

design by Edwin L. Snyder) at a cost of $50,759.

The real estate business of Mason-McDuffie had been located across Addison Street at the

Studio Building as business expanded for the company in the early twentieth century (real

estate, insurance, financing, construction). By the mid-1920s, the company was advertising

that it had added an architecture department headed by Masten & Hurd and later by Edwin

Lewis Snyder. Snyder is credited with the preliminary design concept for Mason-McDuffie’s

new headquarters building, but the actual execution of the design was by Walter Ratcliff,

Jr.


(This space reserved for official comments.)

DPR 523L * Required information






The building frontage was initially occupied by Mason-McDuffie, and the two-story space

along Addison Street was the home of Berkeley Guarantee Building & Loan.

Joseph John Mason began his real estate career in Berkeley in 1887. The Mason-McDuffie

Company was incorporated in 1905, when Mason joined forces with Duncan McDuffie, and the

company began to subdivide and develop the Claremont, Northbrae, and San Pablo Park

neighborhoods of Berkeley, in addition to various others.

Duncan McDuffie became the firm’s real estate sales manager, and directed the firm’s primary

interest, land development. The Mason-McDuffie Company’s development work included the St.

Francis Wood area of San Francisco and other projects in San Francisco and elsewhere.

McDuffie was also extensively involved with statewide conservation efforts during the early

twentieth century. He was a founding member of the Save the Redwoods campaign and the Sierra

Club, efforts that are recognized as a catalyst in the establishment of the California State

Parks system as we know it today. McDuffie served as the President of Save the Redwoods from

1944 until 1951.

Berkeley Guarantee Bank and Loan Association was established as the financial branch of

Mason-McDuffie in the early 1920s and occupied the building as a separate business. The two

companies maintained operations out of the same building and had almost identical Boards of

Directors, although Berkeley Guarantee had its President (Perry Tompkins) and Vice-President

(C. C. Young, who would go on to be the Governor of California in 1926). The connection

between the two entities continued through the end of the 1950s.

Mason-McDuffie continued to be located in the west wing of 2104 Addison St. for 42 years,

ending in the 1970s when the company moved to a new headquarters at Telegraph Avenue and

Oregon Street in Berkeley. By the late 1970s, Mason-McDuffie was operating 23 offices in

four states: California, Washington, Nevada, and New Mexico.

After Mason-McDuffie relocated, the Bank of America was an interim tenant, from 1970 to

1974, during the construction of their new building at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street.

Beginning in 1976, Mobilia Furniture occupied the entire building.

The east wing of the subject building was first occupied by the Standard Secretarial School

(upstairs), and the Berkeley offices of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper occupied the

downstairs portion. By 1934, architect Edwin L. Snyder was located in the upstairs portion,

along with a number of doctors’ offices.

Architect Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr.

Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr. (1881-1973) was a long-time Berkeley resident and considered one of

Berkeley’s most prominent architects. He was educated at the University of California,

Berkeley, graduating in 1903. He was a principal in his own firm beginning in 1909. His

notable projects include the Berkeley Day Nursery, Frederick H. Dakin Warehouse (1906),

several UC Berkeley buildings, and an extensive portfolio of commercial and residential

buildings located throughout Berkeley. Ratcliff also has the distinction of having been the

only person ever named as the City of Berkeley’s Chief Architect.

Integrity

The Mason-McDuffie buildings have integrity of location and setting in Downtown Berkeley,

design integrity of the Mediterranean Revival façades, and integrity of historic materials.

The pair of combined buildings continues to have visual associations with commercial

Berkeley from the 1920s and remains identifiable as a historic building within the greater

downtown core.


DPR 523L * Required information






Prior Surveys

The property was initially found eligible for the National Register in the late 1970s and

given a status code of 3S by the State Historic Preservation Officer. In 1985, the property

was designed a Landmark by the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission on the nomination

of Betty Marvin for Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. In 2006, the property was

determined eligible for the National Register by a consensus through the Section 106 process

and was listed on the California Register.

Evaluation

The building is historically significant due to its association with important patterns of

development in the downtown core, and for its distinctive architecture. The property has

previously been found individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and

is listed on the California Register of Historical Resources. It is a designated City of

Berkeley Landmark.

The property is a primary contributor to the establishment of a commercial historic district

in the greater Shattuck Avenue area. The building represents, at the street, commercial forms

and materials that were prominent in the downtown during the period of historical

significance for this building; from 1928-1958. The form and detailing of the building

maintains an important link to the past of downtown Berkeley.

(Continued from page 5, DPR523B, B12, Bibliography)

Berkeley building permits.

Berkeley Courier, 4/20/1929, 4/27/1929, 11/16/1929, 2/8/1930.

Cerny, S.D., Berkeley Landmarks, 1994.

Daily Pacific Builder, 9/24/1928.

Dumont, Donna. Historical Resources Survey, 1/1979.

Engbeck, J.H. State parks of California, from 1864 to the present, 1980.

Marvin, B., Application for Landmark Status, November 1984.

Minor, Woodruff. The Architecture of Ratcliff, 2006.

Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, 1929 and 1950.

state of california department of parks and recreation … · 2009-01-15 · dpr523l *required...

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