Live & On-Line Talk by UCB Prof: Building Berkeley’s Northbrae Neighborhood

This talk by UCB Prof. Margaretta Lovell grows out of an ongoing project to research and document the core section of Northbrae, a development laid out by Mason McDuffie Co. in 1907. From rolling grassland threaded by creeks with an open canopy of sparse oaks, this now densely-built residential neighborhood, a mile north of the University, was conceived and created by real estate entrepreneurs, the Central (Southern) Pacific RR, creative designers, talented craftsmen, and ordinary householders. Working together and individually they created homes and unique streetscapes that are extraordinarily various but also, overall, coherent aesthetic achievements that have supported generations of families. Plumbers and grocerymen, clerks and professors, a tennis star, and scores of musicians created community here in the first half of the twentieth century. Prof. Margaretta Lovell, together with cohorts of students and community volunteers, have been working to learn—on a house-by-house basis—Northbrae’s architectural and social history. This talk describes this special project about one of Berkeley's unique areas!

Note: There will be appetizers and a no host bar!

Photo courtesy of A. Bruce.

Host or Publisher Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association