State of California DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION …new_site_m… · 15/01/2009 · A subsequent 1998 remodeling altered the Moderne façade elements. The 1998 renovation also

DPR523A *Required information

Page 1 of 6 *Resource Name or #: (Assigned by recorder) Hinkel Block

P1. Other Identifier: Hulbert Block /Havens Block / Edy’s Creamery / KPFA Radio Station

*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 Location: Not for Publication Unrestricted *a. County Alameda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 2108-2112 Allston Way (2201-2217 Shattuck Ave.) City Berkeley Zip 94704

d. UTM: (Give more than one for large and/or linear resources) Zone 10S; 564431mE/ 4191555mN

e. Other Locational Data: (e.g., parcel #, directions to resource, elevation, etc., as appropriate) Assessor’s Parcel Number: 57-2030-1;

Southeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way.

*P3a Description: (Describe resource and its major elements. Include design, materials, condition, alterations, size, setting, and boundaries)

*P3b. Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) HP6. 1-3 story commercial building

*P4 Resources Present: Building Structure Object Site District Element of District Other (Isolates, etc.)

P5b. Description of Photo: (View, date, accession #)

*P6. Date Constructed/Age & Sources:

Historic Prehistoric Both

*P7. Owner and Address:

*P8. Recorded by: (Name, affiliation, and

address)

F. Maggi, L. Dill, & S. Winder

Archives & Architecture, LLC

PO Box 1332

San Jose CA 95109-1332

*P9. Date Recorded: May 15, 2015

*P10. Survey Type: (Describe)

Intensive

*P11. Report Citation: (Cite survey report and other sources, or enter “none”.)

*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)

State of California – The Resources Agency Primary # DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI #

PRIMARY RECORD Trinomial

NRHP Status Code 2S2 Other Listings Review Code Reviewer Date

A Streamline Moderne two-story commercial building that anchors the intersection of Shattuck

Avenue and Allston Way at its southeast corner, the 1895 Hinkel Block is no longer evident in

the 1941 modernized version of the earlier building. The Hinkel Block had originally been

built as a two- and possibly three-story building and was detailed in a Mission Revival-

inspired Victorian style with features such as Spanish tile and arched openings.

The 1941 reworking of this building included removal of the projecting bays of the facades,

as well as creation of a new storefront that wraps the corner. A subsequent 1998 remodeling

altered the Moderne façade elements. The 1998 renovation also included deconstruction of the

interior, roof, and east wall, and replacement of the storefronts.

(Continued on next page)

View facing east, January

2015.

1895/120 years old, based

on newspaper articles.

2108 Allston LLC

200 Pine St. 8

San Francisco, CA 94104

Archives & Architecture LLC: Shattuck Avenue Commercial Corridor Historic Context and Survey, 2015.

DPR523L *Required information

Page 2 of 6 *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Hinkel Block

*Recorded by Franklin Maggi, Leslie Dill, & Sarah Winder *Date 5/15/2015 Continuation Update

(Continued from previous page)

The 1941 remodeling maintained the earlier roof structure, which included a variety of

pitched roofs and gable ends abutting the façade. The 1998 remodeling reconstructed the roof

into the flat envelope that exists today, which is hidden by a simple parapet that rises

above aluminum trim bands. The building today features stucco cladding and aluminum trim

curved at the corner, with large glazed storefront panels.

The 1997-1998 remodeling included a seismic upgrade of the brick walls and their footings,

and a new interior structural system and wall elements. The storefronts, which had partially

changed over time in a piecemeal way, were replaced in 1998 with a unified solid glass

storefront system, and fixed awnings were attached above that wrap the corner of the building

at the street intersection. The fenestration at the upper wall facades also were modified to

a minor degree, but maintaining the general configuration from the 1941 remodeling.

The building today appears to be in excellent condition.

Shattuck Avenue façade, viewed facing north.



CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial

DPR523L *Required information




Detail of storefront at street corner, viewed facing east.

Allston Way frontage, viewed facing southwest.



DPR523B *Required information

Page 3 of 6 *NRHP Status Code 6z *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) Hinkel Block

B1. Historic Name: Hinkel Block

B2. Common Name: FedEx Office / Verizon Wireless

B3. Original use: Commercial B4. Present Use: Commercial

*B5. Architectural Style: Streamline Moderne

*B6. Construction History: (Construction date, alterations, and date of alterations)

*B7. Moved? No Yes Unknown Date: n/a Original Location: n/a

*B8. Related Features:

B9a Architect: William Koenig (1895), Bliss and Fairweather (1941) b. Builder: Williamson Bros.

*B10. Significance: Theme Commerce Area Downtown Berkeley

Period of Significance 1895-1958 Property Type Commercial Architecture Applicable Criteria N/A

(Discuss importance in terms of historical or architectural context as defined by theme, period, and geographic scope. Also address integrity.)

B11. Additional Resource Attributes: (List attributes and codes) None

*B12. References:

B13. Remarks: Proposed historic district

*B14. Evaluator: Franklin Maggi

*Date of Evaluation: September 1, 2015


BUILDING, STRUCTURE, AND OBJECT RECORD

Allen-Taylor, D., Berkeley Daily Planet, “Eddie Bauer

Closure Marks Sad Saga’s End,” 1/13/2004.

Berkeley Gazette, “To Modernize Havens Block: $20,000

Shattuck Av. Project.” 7/9/1941.

Herrick, J., DPR523 Update Sheet, Map No. 01-22, 2005.

Marvin, B., Historical Resource Survey, 1978.

Constructed 1895. Remodeled 1941. Mostly deconstructed 1998.

None.

The original Hinkel Block was constructed in 1895 on a property originally subdivided as the

Blake Tract Map No. 3. Designed by architect William Koenig in a distinctive Victorian-era

implementation of Mission Revival styled forms and details, the building was modernized in

1941 by the architectural firm of Bliss and Fairweather of San Francisco.

An early large-scale commercial building within the downtown core, this building withstood

the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. It was remodeled in 1941 as a part of the modernization

program that began during The Great Depression, promulgated by the Berkeley Chamber of

Commerce with low-interest loans obtained from FHA in a program called “Modernization for

Profit.” The 1941 version of the building has been found to be historically significant due

to its architectural character and importance within patterns of development in downtown

Berkeley.

The building has housed a large cross-section of downtown businesses, including children’s

clothing, gourmet cooking equipment, travel services, groceries, toys, creamery, shoes, dry

goods, restaurants, and a Montgomery Ward store. The most memorable commercial occupant was

Edy’s Creamery.


(This space reserved for official comments.)

DPR 523L * Required information






The site is also significant as the first location of radio station KPFA, first of the

Pacifica Foundation nationwide listener-sponsored stations, which was founded in Berkeley in

1949 by Elsa Knight Thompson and others as a voice of freedom during the Cold War era. The

station has been identified with the Berkeley liberal-radical movements beginning with the

U.C. loyalty oath controversy of the 1950s, Free Speech Movement, Third World Strike,

People’s Park, and the Anti-War Movement into the 1970s, as well as other social and

political issues.

The architects of the 1941 remodel, Bliss and Fairweather, began working together in 1925.

Walter Danforth Bliss interned with McKim, Mead and White in New York after graduating from

MIT, and for 30 years partnered with William Baker Faville in San Francisco. Bliss’s early

career with Faville and his later career with J. Stewart Fairweather produced a number of

significant architectural works in the Bay Area, including Depression-era post offices in

Hayward and Stockton, San Francisco’s Balboa Building, Metropolitan Club, 1922 State Office

Building #1 and Columbia Theater, libraries, and banks.

The 1998 renovation was locally controversial. In 1997, permits were sought to bring the

Eddie Bauer store into downtown Berkeley. The remodeled store was designed by architect

Marcy Wong, who proposed to retain the façade and replace the storefronts. The City of

Berkeley found the renovations to be under the City’s threshold that would have required a

Use Permit. The Design Review Committee approved the design modifications at their meeting

of March 17, 1997. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association appealed the decision to the

Zoning Adjustments Board without success in changing the proposed project. By the end of

1997, the controversy erupted further when the demolition of the interior became evident at

the construction site. On February 17, 1998, current Planning Manager Robert M. Brown found

the façade work under the 50% threshold and clarified for the City of Berkeley that the

project did not constitute “demolition” under the zoning ordinance.

Prior Surveys

The building was initially evaluated in 1978 by Betty Marvin for Berkeley Architectural

Heritage Association prior to the 1998 renovations and listed in the State Historic

Resources Inventory at that time and with a status code of “3S,” which indicated that it was

eligible for listing in the National Register as a separate property.

In 2005, JRP Historical Consulting reevaluated the property for the East Bay Bus Rapid

Transit Project. They field-checked the building and reviewed permit data. Evaluator Jessica

Herrick found the alterations since the 1978 survey to be in keeping with the building’s

Moderne style, and thus they did not recommend any change in the historic status of

eligibility for the National Register. This evaluation was forwarded to the Keeper of the

National Register. The property was given a new status code of 2S2 on 15 March 2006 under

Criteria A and C (Individual property determined eligible for the NR by a consensus through

Section 106 process), and OHP listed of the property on the California Register of

Historical Resources.

Integrity

The 1941 design of the Hinkel Block has not undergone significant modification since last

evaluated in 2005. It has integrity of location and setting in Downtown Berkeley, but the

integrity of the 1941 design was compromised in 1998, with significant parts now missing. It

continues to have some visual associations with commercial Berkeley from mid-century.

Evaluation

The site is historically significant due to its association with important patterns of

development in the downtown core and its architecture, however the building as it exists

today is no longer readily identifiable as an historic entity within the downtown core.


DPR 523L * Required information






The property does not appear to be a Contributor to the establishment of a Shattuck Avenue

Downtown Historic District. The building does not adequately represent, at the street,

commercial forms and materials that were prominent in the downtown during the period of

historical significance for this site, from 1995-1958.

Early twentieth century postcard showing Hinkel Block in foreground to left.

Documents

State of California DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION …new_site_m… · 15/01/2009 · A subsequent 1998 remodeling altered the Moderne façade elements. The 1998 renovation also