The Berkeley City Council has rejected an attempt to landmark a 139-year-old building that is expected to be replaced by a 20-story apartment tower in Southside, Berkeley. The Laura Tull property was built in 1886 at 2421 Durant Avenue, and is one of only a few remaining examples of Stick style architecture in the UC Berkeley campus area. Future plans for the site are expected to provide 169 apartments, including 19 units of replacement affordable housing. Qian Wang of Collabhome is the project developer.
2425 Durant Avenue, rendering by Yes Duffy Architects
The existing two-to-three-story Stick-style Victorian home was constructed at 2421 Durant Avenue in 1886, and is “a rare surviving example of a residential building constructed by the Berkeley Village Improvement Association, led by James L. Barker,” according to the landmark preservation commission document prepared by city staff. The rear of the lot includes a cottage originally built in 1906 and expanded into a duplex in 1925. The structure at 2425 Durant Avenue was built in 1905 as a Colonial-revival home with Shingle-style elements.
The Berkeley Landmark Preservation Commission recommended that the city council designate the oldest building on the site, 2421 Durant Avenue, as a City Landmark. During the City Council meeting earlier this month, Councilmember Mark Humbert expressed that “the fact that this property was not the subject of such a landmarking designation prior to the project application, despite Berkeley’s very liberal approach to the designation of landmarks, is a very telling factor.”
2425 Durant Avenue facade elevations, illustration by Yes Duffy Architects
2425 Durant Avenue, image via Google Street View
Speaking with YIMBY, the project’s land use consultant, Mark Rhoades of Rhoades Planning Group, described the landmarking attempt as a violation of the preliminary application protections promised by Senate Bill 330, which “prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible.” According to reporting by Nico Savidge for Berkeleyside, Rhoades claimed the landmarking has delayed the project by around four months, adding that if the landmarking had been approved, financing and insurance would have become more challenging.
The 20-story project is now expected to create 169 units, a substantial increase from initial plans for 117 units. This will include 26 units of affordable housing, of which 19 will be designated as replacement below-market-rate housing. Yes Community Architects is responsible for the design.
The ground-level floor will include a furnished lobby with a mini-bar and cafe seating, a package room, and bike parking. Additional residential amenities will be spread across the structure on the 8th, 13th, 17th, and 20th floors. The latter amenity space will be connected to the rooftop deck, offering views south towards Downtown Oakland and San Francisco.
2425 Durant Avenue site map existing (left) and proposed (right), illustration by Yes Duffy Architects
The 0.22-acre parcel is located between Dana Street and the busy Telegraph Avenue. The UC Berkeley campus’s primary southern entrance is just a block away, once on Telegraph Avenue. The project is currently the second-tallest proposal in the Southside neighborhood, after the university-owned dorms proposed at 2200 Bancroft Way.
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I would hope some of the architectural details could be saved. Where I live, such buildings would be preserved.
The end of paragraph 3 is absolute gold.
Good on Berkeley for taking its highly educated populace and doing something of common sense. The more recent pro-YIMBY expressionism is helping to keep the Bay Area relevant. At a certain point, we become so smart that we start to become dumb. Preventing development in a growing city couldn’t be a more perfect example of such. Next best is preferring the leveling of neighborhoods for highway expansion instead of Investing in mass-transit infrastructure.
Whatever you say dear.
Everyone on this site knows you’re pathetic, Mr. Whiskers. (aka Frisky) You’re not that cheeky with the childish name-calling.
And maybe freshen up on a high school ECON course.
Sniff. Trust me, I really care a lot about what you think Dr. Drewl.
Sad to see Berkeley losing it’s architectural heritage.
Good decision. Even if this house were a unique and beautiful example (which, IMHO, it isn’t), it is situated a block from campus next to an ugly little shopping “mall” (where Yogurt Park is) and is currently largely by other junky buildings. It does nothing to establish a neighborhood feel. If people really wanted to preserve it, it could be moved (and remodelled) to a lot on a West Berkeley block that is improving (there are many). Given the existing vast architectural diversity of Berkeley’s residential neighborhoods a little bit further from campus, I doubt it’s worth it. (The exterior look would be pretty easy to replicate on many Berkeley houses, even if it weren’t authentic example of “Stick architecture”.) In contrast, denser housing near campus on Durant is more likely to lead to upgrades in the commercial environment of the currently seedy Durant/Telegraph. You can already see this happening near some of the recently built housing complexes.
Honestly, the best approach here would be to move the Victorian to a lower-scale residential area and build yer tower here. That’s a really nice house and this style is rare in Berkeley. If that isn’t a landmark, I don’t know what is.
The two comments about heritage and preservation are more nostalgic than actually considerate of any valid historic preservation. These homes are so out of place in their current location and typical of homes still ‘preserved’ (actually owned and occupied) elsewhere that it’s silly to make this an issue here. By making a stand to preserve these two properties makes the BLPC look more like a tool for NIMBYs than an actually valid commission to help preserve worthy landmarks.
Instead of wasting time and capital to landmark and fight development, these coalitions should try to relocate the building themselves if they care about it so much.
I wonde if the replacement will last 139 years
Certainly not. It’s gonna look bedraggled and haggard in about 15 years, which is typical for almost all new construction.
Out with the old, in with the new. Exciting times for Berkeley
Okay?