Berkeley Landmarks designated in 2013

Joseph Esherick sketch, 5 Nov. 1958 (University of California College of Environmental Design Archive, Esherick Collection)

Entrance, Harold E. Jones Child Study Center (photo: Jane Perry)

316. Harold E. Jones Child Study Center Joseph Esherick (1958–1960) 2425 Atherton Street at Haste Street Designated: 6 June 2013 The Harold E. Jones Child Study Center is affiliated with the Institute for Human Development, an Organized Research Unit of the University of California at Berkeley. It houses two preschool classrooms with extensive outdoor laboratories and currently provides full-day child care services to university families through the campus Early Childhood Education Program, as well as facilities for researchers, teachers, and students of child development.

Courtyard (photo: Jane Perry)

Rear yard (photo: Jane Perry)

The building, with its play yards, was designed by Joseph Esherick, FAIA, a distinguished Bay Area architect, recipient of the prestigious AIA Gold Medal, and professor in the U.C. School of Architecture. It opened in 1960, replacing an earlier nursery school housed in the Institute of Child Welfare on Bancroft Way. Its presence in this South of Campus residential neighborhood is reflective of larger changes in the urban fabric. The Child Study Center complex expresses the quintessence of mid-20th century Bay Area modernism (often referred to as the Second Bay Tradition), emphasizing building and living in harmony with nature. Residential in character, it features a trellis in the entry-way, open courtyards with trees, and large windows. The architecture draws on traditions of “fresh-air schools” in the blending of indoor and outdoor spaces. The landmark application and related documents are available online.

McCormack House, 18 Alvarado Road (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2013) 317. Duncan W. & Josephine C. McCormack House Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr. (1910) 18 Alvarado Road Designated: 3 October 2013 Built for cattle dealer Duncan W. McCormack and his wife, this house is an excellent example of the Tudor Revival style. Among its many distinctive features of the style are the steeply pitched gabled roof forms with overhanging eaves, which are swooped outward at their tails; half-timbered second story transitioning to the first story with a plaster cove below a wood belt; wood windows with multiple divided lites; and clear oak entry door with true divided lites in the upper half, flanked by matching pairs of windows. The McCormack House is a notable work of prominent architect Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr. Its design is efficient and clear in its usage of form and material, and identified as Ratcliff’s first fully realized Tudor Revival residence. The property is an important contributor to the period character of the Hotel Claremont Tract. One of the earliest residences built in that neighborhood, the McCormack Residence is a large and distinctively designed period-style house. Its setting and architectural character add exceptional value to the neighborhood fabric. The landmark application and related documents are available online.

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