Senior Hall - Berkeley, CA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"In 1905, only five years after it was founded, the Order began to plan for a permanent meeting place on campus. The University granted permission to build a student hall, and the Order raised money to construct what became known as "Golden Bear Lodge", "Senior Men's Hall" or, today, simply "Senior Hall" in 1906. This building contained two rooms, one for the use of all the men of the Senior Class, and a second for the exclusive use of the Order for its meetings; it thus became, in a way, the first "student union" on campus. The rustic structure, designed by the University's Supervising Architect John Galen Howard, still survives as the "log cabin" located along Strawberry Creek upstream of the Faculty Club. Howard also designed the Hearst Memorial Mining Building, Doe Library, Wheeler Hall, and the Campanile. His intent was to reflect "characteristic California Architecture" and he accepted no fee for his work. Funding for the building came from private donors, including Phoebe Hearst. In its early days Professor of History Henry Morse Stephens likened Senior Hall to the "heart" of the University, situated close to the "mind" of the Faculty Club. Inside, the building retains its original decor and furnishings.

Over the decades Senior Hall became a favorite place for male student gatherings including weekly "senior singings" and talks by athletic coaches about their team prospects. A number of student organizations also used the building for their traditional events and meetings. Women students, excluded from the building in the early days, quickly responded by raising their own funds and commissioning architect Julia Morgan to design "Senior Women's Hall" on campus (now Girton Hall, the childcare center next to the Haas Business School complex). By the 1970s Senior Hall had physically deteriorated and there was a proposal to demolish it to allow the Faculty Clubs to expand. Campus and community resistance arose, and the building was reprived from destruction and placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1980s the Order raised money to rehabilitate the building and reopen it for limited use. Currently an effort is underway to raise the funds necessary to complete the renovation and fully restore the building as a student meeting place and center of campus life and activities. In 1974 the Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and has landmark status."http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~ogb/senior.php

Street address: University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA USA County / Borough / Parish: Alameda Year listed: 1974 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1900-1924 Historic function: Social Current function: Vacant Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Privately owned?: Not Listed Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 1: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   01/04/2008 ucdvicky visited it

View all visits/logs