2016 BAHA Preservation Awards

UC Theater (photo: Carrie Olson, 2016)

At the BAHA Annual Meeting on 26 May 2016, twelve rehabilitation projects received our Preservation Awards for renewing the life of historic properties in Berkeley.

See the winners and read about them on the BAHA website. 

The Berkeley Unitarians and Architectural Innovation

First Unitarian Church (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2004)

The Hillside Club Round Table Presents
A lecture by Daniella Thompson

The Hillside Club
2286 Cedar Street, Berkeley
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
7:30 pm

In the late 19th century, several religious denominations founded vigorous congregations in the neighborhoods around the UC Berkeley campus. Early Berkeley Unitarians, whose membership included the Maybecks, the Keelers, and fellow founders of the Hillside Club, held a progressive view of architecture. Their first church building at Bancroft Way and Dana Street, designed by A.C. Schweinfurth and completed in 1898, incorporates startling architectural features and has been characterized as a “powerhouse.”

In her illustrated lecture, Daniella Thompson will trace the history of the Unitarian community in Berkeley, introduce its cast of leading characters and the significant houses they built, and discuss the links between culture and nature embodied in its church buildings. Many rare images will be shown.

For information about the Hillside Club Round Table, please see this page.

Visit us at the Bay Area Book Festival

Photo: Steven Finacom

Saturday & Sunday
4 & 5 June 2016
Berkeley Civic Center

Look for the joint BAHA/Berkeley Historical Society booth on Allston Way, in front of the Downtown YMCA and across from the Post Office.

We will offer dozens of titles of history and fiction about Berkeley, including many hard-to-find or out-of-print BAHA and BHS publications.

Authors’ book-signing schedule

Saturday, 4 June 2016

10 am–12 pm

• Burl Willes, author of Tales of the Elmwood and lead author of Picturing Berkeley: A Postcard History.

• Diane De Pisa, author of Berkeley Then: A Photo Diary of the Sixties Scene, featuring the photographs of her husband, Elio De Pisa, who managed the Cafe Med on Telegraph Avenue.

12 pm–2 pm

• Lyndon Comstock, author of On Parker Street: The Evolution of a Berkeley Neighborhood 1855–1965, an in-depth history of the south Berkeley block where he lived.

• Sue Austin, author of The Bamboo Garden, a gentle children’s novel about life and interracial friendship in 1923 Berkeley at the time of the great Berkeley Fire.

2 pm–4 pm

• Sal Levinson, author of Butterfly Papercrafts, signing her book and also representing her brother, Bill Levinson, whose book, Firecats! is a children’s novel about the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley Hills Firestorm.

2 pm–3 pm

• Aleta George, author of Ina Coolbrith: The Bittersweet Song of California’s First Poet Laureate.

3 pm–4 pm

• Richard Di Giacomo, author of Historical Gems of the San Francisco Bay Area, a guide to local museums and historical sites.

Sunday, 5 June 2016

10 am–12 pm

• Wendy Markel, author of Berkeley, California (Arcadia Postcard History series).

12 pm–2 pm

• Alan Bern, career staffer at the Berkeley Public Library and poet, author of Waterwalking in Berkeley.

• Harvey Smith, local historian and activist, author of Berkeley and the New Deal.

2 pm–4 pm

• Susan Dinkelspiel Cerny, author of Berkeley Landmarks and An Architectural Guidebook to San Francisco and the Bay Area, and co-author of Picturing Berkeley: A Postcard History.

3 pm–4 pm

• Anthony Bruce, executive director of BAHA, signing Home to Berkeley in 1912: A Centennial Remembrance, detailing the story of his family’s life in early 20th-century Berkeley through letters, postcards, and photos.