Trinomial NRHP Status Code 3S Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Trinomial NRHP Status Code 3S Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date"

Myra Simon
5 years ago
Views:

PRIMARY RECORD Page 1 of 6 *Resource Name or #: (Assigned by recorder) F.D. Chase Building P1. Other Identifier: Opal Theater, Hotel Crail, Vernon Hotel, Hotel Alexander, California Terrace Inn *P2.

1 PRIMARY RECORD Page 1 of 6 *Resource Name or #: (Assigned by recorder) F.D. Chase Building P1. Other Identifier: Opal Theater, Hotel Crail, Vernon Hotel, Hotel Alexander, California Terrace Inn *P2. Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County Alameda and (P2b and P2c or P2d. Attach a Location Map as necessary.) *b. USGS 7.5 Quad Oakland West Date 1993 Township & Range No data c. Address Shattuck Ave. City Berkeley Zip d. UTM: (Give more than one for large and/or linear resources) Zone 10S; mE/ mN e. Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc., as appropriate) Assessor s Parcel Number: ; East side of Shattuck Avenue between Addison and Center Streets. *P3a Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries) *P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) NRHP Status Code 3S Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date An excellent example of mixed-use design from the early twentieth century, the F.D. Chase Building at Shattuck Ave. is a Contributor to the Shattuck Avenue Downtown Historic District. Altered in the late 1920s, the façade of the building has gained significance in its own right over time, and relatively few historic elements have been altered since then. The five-story building, with its four-story angled bay windows, brick structure and subtle classical and Art Deco detailing, continues today to serve as a clear example of historic construction in the downtown core. The apartment building sits within an historic setting of mostly older buildings that form the primary corridor of commercial buildings lining Shattuck Avenue and the transit center that connects the city with the University of California campus. HP3. Multiple family property *P4 Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.) P5b. Description of Photo: (View, date, accession #) View facing east, January *P6. Date Constructed/Age & Sources: Historic Prehistoric Both 1909, 106 years old, *P7. Owner and Address: Charles A. & Jeanne Bettencourt 2115 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley, CA *P8. Recorded by: (Name, affiliation, and address) F. Maggi, L. Dill, & S. Winder Archives & Architecture, LLC PO Box 1332 San Jose CA *P9. Date Recorded: March 30, 2015 *P10. Survey Type: (Describe) Intensive *P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter none.) Archives & Architecture LLC: Shattuck Avenue Commercial Corridor Historic Context and Survey, *Attachments: NONE Location Map Sketch Map Continuation Sheet Building, Structure and Object Record Archaeological Record District Record Linear Feature Record Milling State Record Rock Art Record Artifact Record Photograph Record Other (List) DPR523A

2 Page 2 of 6 *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) F.D. Chase Building From 1908 through 1938, the block of Shattuck between Addison and Center Streets faced an open square that housed the Southern Pacific tracks and the Berkeley train depot. The Chase Building was constructed and altered when the station was still active in the city. The roughly symmetrical first floor features three large openings separated by a pair of cast-iron pilasters and flanked by painted brick piers that support the brick upper levels. The three storefront bays share similar large, square transom windows above horizontal spandrel panels; the transoms are wood, and some of the sash are operable. The southern and central bays open into one large restaurant space. Each of these two altered storefronts consists of a pair of outer display windows that flank a central entrance. The northern opening has the matching transom windows, but an asymmetrical recessed entrance door and residential-style double-hung windows at the storefront. The wood 1-lite door appears to date from the 1920s. Because they are elements common to the early twentieth century, the castiron pilasters and large upper transoms might date to the original building design; if so, they were integrated into the 1920s design. The upper floors also consist of three architectural bays; these vertical elements are symmetrical and evenly spaced, and align with the ground-floor openings. The two cantilevered four-story bay windows are prominent features of the upstairs façade. Each bay window is supported on a pair of brackets and topped by a flat roof with a classical cornice. The bay windows are of wood construction, and the window units are separated by spandrel panels with flat-panels within framed outlines. The upper panels include a decorative tab detail and the lowest pair of spandrels feature a pediment and a dentil band that tops the lower windows. A multi-lite (2x5) casement window is at the outer sides of the bays. The center sash consist of fixed picture windows. The upper wall face features a slightly recessed vertical bay in the center of the upstairs wall, and the wall is topped by a horizontal corbelling pattern at the parapet. The recessed center bay surrounds a vertical band of small windows, two per floor. The levels are set apart by shallow trim bands. The southern column of windows has been replaced with aluminum units. The northern column of windows appears to be original wood casements. In front of these windows is a wrought-iron fire escape. The angled ladders are supported on half-oblong slatted metal landings with wrought-iron handrails. This building serves pedestrian traffic that flows along Shattuck Avenue to related downtown urban uses. The parcel is roughly an asymmetrical rectangle, with 40- and 41-foot widths and unequal sides over 125 feet deep, and the footprint of the building covers the entire property, with side insets that serve as light wells for the upper floors. Character-defining features include: false-front and party-wall commercial building form; brick side walls and painted brick at the front façade; historic painted sign on the south brick side wall; three-bay first-floor composition; large wood transom windows above the storefronts; cast-iron storefront pilasters; three-bay upper-wall composition with symmetrical cantilevered four-story bay windows; brackets at the base of the bay windows; pediments at the second floor bay windows; tab design of the upper bay-window panels; baywindow cornices; original wood windows as noted; corbelled building cornice; wrought-iron fire escape. Identified alterations include the replacement storefront designs and some replacement windows at the upper stories. The historic elements of the building appear to be in very good condition. DPR523L

3 Page 3 of 6 *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) F.D. Chase Building Detail view of upper façade, viewed facing southeast. Detail view of storefronts, viewed facing east. DPR523L

4 Page 4 of 6 *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) F.D. Chase Building South wall elevation from adjacent parking lot, viewed facing northwest. DPR523L

5 BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD Page 5 of 6 *NRHP Status Code 5B *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) F.D. Chase Building B1. Historic Name: F.D. Chase Building B2. Common Name: Chase Building B3. Original use: Mixed-use Residential/Commercial B4. Present Use: Mixed-use *B5. Architectural Style: Classical Revival *B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations) Original construction Altered in 1915 for use as a hotel. Bay windows added in Remodeled in 1977 and *B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date: n/a Original Location: n/a *B8. Related Features: None. B9a Architect: William Wharff b. Builder: A. M. Poulsen *B10. Significance: Theme Commerce and Architecture Area Downtown Berkeley Period of Significance Property Type Commercial Applicable Criteria A (1), C (3) (Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity.) The 1909 F.D. Chase Building at Shattuck Ave. is a Berkeley Structure of Merit. Initially intended for use as an office building for the F.D. Chase Real Estate Company, the five-story building towers over the rest of the block and Berkeley Square located directly across the street to the west. At sixty feet in height, at the time of construction it was one of Berkeley s tallest buildings. The building has served a succession of hotels for the majority of its life, featuring 64 rooms on the four upper floors until the building was remodeled in the 1970s, at which time the upper floors were remodeled to into 32 apartments. The F.D. Chase Building was constructed just after the building boom experienced by Berkeley in the early 1900s, which can be partly attributed to the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and subsequent exodus of people from San Francisco to across the Bay and an expansion of the University of California. The site had a proximity to the railway terminus on Shattuck Avenue, and provided commercial support to the University population. B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) Hp7. 3+ Story Commercial Building *B12. References: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assoc, clipping files. Cerny, S., Berkeley Landmarks, Donogh Files, Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assoc. Marvin, B., Historic Resources Survey, BAHA, Novosel, J., & E. Schneider, City of Berkeley Landmark Application for F.D. Chase Building, B13. Remarks: Proposed historic district *B14. Evaluator: Franklin Maggi *Date of Evaluation: March 30, 2015 (This space reserved for official comments.) DPR523B

6 Page 6 of 6 *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) F.D. Chase Building Designed by architect William Wharff, the building replaced a saddle and harness shop on the site, and is one of two buildings in the downtown core designed by Wharff. The building was constructed directly across from what was the Southern Pacific Railway station, a transport hub in Downtown Berkeley. The property is Lot 5 of Map No. 1 of the Blake Tract. F.D. Chase initially utilized the upper floors of the building for offices, while the ground floor housed a pool hall and the Opal Theatre (a moving picture theater). In 1915, the upper floors were converted from office use to boarding rooms for the Newland Hotel. Since that time, the upper floor hotel has been operated as the Hotel Crail, the Vernon Hotel, Hotel Alexander, and the California Terrace Inn. During the 1960s and early 1970s, as the building suffered from deferred maintenance, the property was subject to a series of code enforcement actions, condemnations, rent strikes, nine fires, and several attempts at rehabilitation projects by a series of owners (as well as the City of Berkeley, who attempted to make the building the new headquarters for a project of the Berkeley Public Health Department). In 1977, the upper floors were extensively remodeled by a new owner and have served as residential apartments ever since. The building was again remodeled in 2001, by architect Jim Novosel of The Bay Architects. Architect William Hatch Wharff was born in Maine. He never received formal architectural training, but instead learned carpentry from his maternal uncle, Hiram Hatch. In 1860, he became a master carpenter and his uncle s business partner. The Wharff family moved to San Francisco in 1875, where Wharff worked as a draftsman, architect, contractor, and builder. The majority of Wharff s pre-1906 buildings in San Francisco were destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and fire. Wharff moved to Berkeley in 1899, and his career expanded in his later years as the demand for his services in Berkeley grew. Wharff lived to be 99 years old, becoming for a time the oldest living Mason (in 1905, he designed their new headquarters) in the United States according to newspaper resources. Integrity The F.D. Chase Building has integrity of location and setting in Downtown Berkeley, integrity of its 1920s altered façade, including many ground-floor elements and the cantilevered upstairs bay window materials, original brick and decorative workmanship, as well as integrity of visual associations with commercial and residential Berkeley from the early 1900s. It continues to be readily identifiable as an historic building within the greater downtown core. Prior Surveys The property was surveyed in 1978, and found eligible for the National Register and given a status code of 3S by the State Historic Preservation Officer. In 2000, the property was nominated for Berkeley Structure of Merit status and was listed on January 3, Evaluation The building is historically significant due to its association with important patterns of development in the downtown core and its distinctive architecture. The property is an important contributor to the establishment of a commercial historic district in the greater Shattuck Avenue area. The building represents forms and materials that were prominent in the downtown during the period of historical significance for this building; from The form and detailing of both the building and its commercial storefronts maintain an important link to the past of downtown Berkeley. DPR 523L * Required information

Trinomial NRHP Status Code Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date

Trinomial NRHP Status Code Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date PRIMARY RECORD NRHP Status Code Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date Page 1 of 6 *Resource Name or #: (Assigned by recorder) Brooks Apartments P1. Other Identifier: Amherst Hotel, Lawson s Stationery,