27 October 2014

BAHA’s 40th Anniversary Celebration

Sunday, 23 November 2014
2 pm–4 pm

First Church of Christ, Scientist
2619 Dwight Way, Berkeley

Free admission

Join us to celebrate 40 years of preservation advocacy, education, and activism.

We welcome the entire community to this free event, which also celebrates the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance and the many struggles to preserve the heritage and texture of Berkeley.

Program
  • Organ Selections — William Ludtke

  • Greetings and Introductions — John McBride

  • Welcome — Fred Porta, Friends of First Church Berkeley

  • Before BAHA — Shirley Dean

  • Drafting the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance — Carl Bunch (introduced by Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny)

  • Early Days of BAHA — Trish Hawthorne

  • BAHA Goes to Washington to Save Ocean View — Stephanie Manning

  • Why Preservation Awards? — Mary Lee Noonan

  • Landmarks Preservation Commission Today —Austene Hall

  • Wins & Losses: Taking Stock of 40 Years — Daniella Thompson

  • Preservation is a Constant Surprise — The Committee to Save the Jess Murals & the Kael/Basart House

  • A Special Tribute to Sara Holmes Boutelle & Julia Morgan — Neale McGoldrick (research associate) along with members of Sara’s family

  • Cutting of the Birthday Cake in the Fireside Room

  • BAHA 40th Anniversary Wish

RSVP by e-mail or by phone (510) 841-2242.

BAHA History, Year by Year

We’re marking BAHA’s 40th anniversary with a new Web series, BAHA History, Year by Year.

The highlights of the first year, 1974–75, are already published on the BAHA website.

10 October 2014

BAHA’s 40th Anniversary and Measure R


Photo: Daniella Thompson, 2009

Dear Members,

This year, BAHA is celebrating 40 years since its incorporation (invitations will be sent shortly).

Throughout BAHA’s four decades, we have been closely involved in preserving Berkeley’s historic downtown, which retains one of the few surviving Main Streets in California.

BAHA conducted the first Downtown Survey in the late 1970s. A few years later, we formed the Downtown Steering Committee with local merchants and city government. Out of that committee came the Downtown Design Guidelines, as well as the Downtown Berkeley Association.

In the mid-1980s, BAHA board members Susan Cerny and Arlene Silk drew up the Preservation Element for Berkeley’s Downtown Plan. In 1991, Berkeley joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street program. More recently, our members were closely involved in the long deliberations of the Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC).

Which leads us to Measure R.

BAHA endorses Measure R for the same reasons that led us to oppose the 2010 Measure R.

The current Measure R offers the only avenue for rolling back some of the more harmful elements of the 2010 Measure R, including oversized development that offers no benefits to the community.

Major developers, who stand to be the principal beneficiaries if Measure R loses, are financing the No on R campaign, just as they financed the original Measure R four years ago. The current No on R campaign is as deceitful as the 2010 Yes on R campaign was. The much-ballyhooed “green vision” Berkeleyans voted for in 2010 has turned out to represent nothing more than the color of money that developers stand to reap from 18-story towers full of overpriced apartments.

We urge you to read the arguments for Measure R. It is also highly instructive to read what open-eyed BAHA members like Jacquelyn McCormick and Becky O’Malley have to say about this important issue.

Thank you for your attention.

04 October 2014

Three newly designated landmarks


2503, 2509 & 2511 Regent Street (photo; Daniella Thompson, 2014)

On 2 October 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 2503, 2509, and 2511 Regent Street as City of Berkeley Landmarks, Structures of Merit. All three buildings were designed by the noted architect A. Dodge Coplin (1869–1908) in 1902–1903 and represent his earliest residential work in Berkeley.

The immediate area is rich in history and historic resources. Within a block and a half of the three houses there are nine other designated structures (including Berkeley’s only National Historic Landmark, the First Church of Christ, Scientist) and a designated site (People’s Park). An 11th landmark—the Woolley House—is scheduled to be moved to the parcel directly across the street by the end of 2014.

With the designation of the three Coplin houses, the north end of Regent Street has become a de facto historic district.

Find out more about these new landmarks here.