FACILITIES SERVICES BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94720-1380

March, 2013 TO: City of Berkeley Landmarks Commission, meeting of April 4, 2013 FR: Jennifer McDougall, Principal Planner, UC Berkeley RE: Girton Hall move to UC Botanical Garden In order to meet academic needs of the Haas School of Business for instructional, event, and programmatic spaces, the School has proposed a new building at a nearby site that includes the current footprint of historic Girton Hall, designed by Julia Morgan. Girton Hall was previously moved to its current location, as discussed further below. Girton Hall is listed on the National and California Registers, and is a City of Berkeley landmark. Its identified historic significance is based on its association to “social history,” and for its being the work of an important architect, Julia Morgan. Girton Hall is in fact the only building entirely of her authorship constructed for the campusi. For additional information about Girton Hall, please see the Historic Structures Report on the web at http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/CP/PEP/History/planninghistory.html. UC Berkeley has hired the firm of Siegel and Strain, and is working with architect Burton Edwards to develop plans to move Girton Hall to a site near the recently updated front entrance of the UC Botanical Garden, in an area currently occupied with planting from the Garden’s Mexican collection. The site has been considered a building site in several earlier architectural designs for a new Garden entrance. As a result the plantings in the proposed site are largely duplicated in other collection areas within the Garden; many of the most important components are also amenable to transplantation. The relocated building would be used as a second conference center within the Garden. Background

• Girton Hall was designed and constructed in 1911 to provide a meeting and social hall dedicated to women students and their activities. It served those purposes, in a waning capacity, between 1911 and 1969, when the building was repurposed for child care.

• Prior to 1923, Girton Hall stood on a bucolic, wooded site overlooking Strawberry Creek and along a narrow lane heading up to Strawberry Canyon. In 1923, the University’s football stadium was constructed in the adjoining natural area to the south of Girton Hall. The roadway past Girton Hall was then turned into a stadium loop connecting to Piedmont Way off the northwest corner of the new stadium. Girton was moved to its current site in 1946.

• The placement at the Botanical Garden calls for the elevated back (deck) side of the building to overlook the Garden’s extensive native California plant collection; a native California setting next to Strawberry Creek would be highly appropriate for a Julia Morgan rustic structure, in terms of design and her history in the Bay Area.

At the Botanical Garden, Girton Hall would house:

• Garden sponsored academic and administrative events • Campus (and LBNL) related seminars

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

BERKELEY • DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY GIRTON HALL MOVE TO UC BOTANICAL GARDEN

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• Professional societies or nonprofit garden-related group meetings (e.g., Carnivorous Plant Society, Aroid Society, local garden clubs, California Fish & Game, Center for Plant Conservation, etc.)

• Departmental retreats • Cal alumni events • Conferences and retreats serving the local business community • Private events such as family celebrations of weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and memorials.

The relocated Girton Hall would also serve as a resource for the Garden’s extensive educational outreach programs, including child and adult tours. Typically, these groups attend the Botanical Garden during the academic year in fall-winter-early spring, when inclement weather is to be expected. As a weather contingency, the Botanical Garden would use this inside ‘retreat’ space. Weather-contingent space would minimize income-loss due to cancellation. CEQA Review: The campus expects to complete an addendum or findings of consistency with the 2020 LRDP EIR for this project. Preliminary schedule: Preparatory work for the move has begun, with the actual relocation taking place in late summer or early fall, 2013. Further questions: Please contact Jennifer with any questions or concerns at (510)642-7720 or jmcdougall@berkeley.edu. Attachments: Project graphics package, including preliminary site plan from Siegel & Strain. (Girton Hall Historic Structures Report on the web at http://www.cp.berkeley.edu/CP/PEP/History/planninghistory.html.) i Morgan also designed 2232 Piedmont, a private off-campus home that was later purchased by the University and incorporated into campus.

University of California Berkeley

Haas School of Business

GIRTON HALLRELOCATIONSTUDY

November 2011

Haas School of Business :November 30, 2011

Girton Hall Relocation Study

‘Girton Hall, formerly Senior Women’s Hall, is the small-est and least known of Morgan’s campus buildings, but it exempli�es those qualities of planning, harmony and proportion which “bring pleasure to the eye and peace to the mind” ‘ (excerpt from “Girton Hall: The Gift of Julia Morgan” by Margaretta J. Darnall)

Senior Women’s Hall c 1910 by Julia Morgan

Orginal Floor Plan

West Elevation

Girton site on left from the entrance driveway to the Garden

Approximate site for Girton, on side of road, opposite California collection

Site view from inside Garden

Area to be occupied by Girton