Berkeley Landmarks designated in 2008

Hezlett Silk Store Building (Courtesy of the Used Computer Store) 302. Hezlett’s Silk Store Building Charles F. Masten & Lester W. Hurd (1925) 2277 Shattuck Avenue Designated: 6 March 2008 This site housed an early telephone exchange, but in 1925 Pacific Telephone & Telegraph moved to Bancroft Way. The site’s new owners, San Francisco cardiologist Harry Spiro and his wife Ada, commissioned Mason-McDuffie Company’s architecture department to design a one-story building with basement and mezzanine, utilizing the latest ideas of storefront construction. At the time, Masten & Hurd were under contract to provide Mason-McDuffie’s architectural designs. The first tenant, Hezlett Silk Store, remained on the premises for 35 years. In 1960, the Tupper & Reed music store, located next door since September 1925, moved into this building, remaining until 2005. The building’s Mediterranean style, with beautiful tilework adorning the three mezzanine windows, nicely complements the Storybook-style Tupper & Reed building, creating an intimate, village-like cluster on busy Shattuck Avenue.

Copyright © 2003–2008 Daniella Thompson & BAHA. All rights reserved.