Download 2017-03-02_LPC_ATT1_2526-2530

ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 1 of 62
City of Berkeley Landmark Application for
2526-32 Shattuck Avenue:
Olive Stewart / “University Laundry” Building
Land Use Planning
Received
Submitted February, 2017
February 22, 2017
Steven Finacom, author
Figure 1, above. Early 20th century view of 2026-30 Shattuck. From California Japantowns website, courtesy of
Uchida family.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 1
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 2 of 62
Acknowledgements:
The author is indebted to Anthony Bruce for his astute research assistance, the
Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) and the Berkeley Historical
Society for their extensive records of Berkeley history and architecture, and to
earlier researchers, including Robin Freeman, who prepared the 1979 SHRI
evaluation of the building. I also want to acknowledge the superb work of
Berkeleyan Donna Graves and her California Japantowns team that documented
the history of the “University Laundry” and the important connections of this
building to Japanese-American history in Berkeley and the Bay Area.
Unless otherwise noted in the Figure credits, all photographs are by the author
and are copyright by him. Reproduction or reuse of these images is prohibited
without permission from the author, except as part of the City of Berkeley’s
landmark review process.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 2
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 3 of 62
Executive Summary:
This landmark application documents the history, and proposes landmark
designation for, 2526-30 Shattuck Avenue, a two story residential / office
over commercial building at the corner of Shattuck and Blake.
Constructed in 1897, this 120 year-old building is a rare survivor of
Berkeley’s early commercial era, when what was then a small town was
dotted with one and two story wood frame, “pioneer” or Victorian
commercial buildings. Only a small number of these early buildings now
survive, citywide, and 2526-30 Shattuck is unique among them for certain
architectural characteristics including its roof form.
Although many exterior features, including the original storefronts, have
been removed or altered, the building retains (beneath a coat of stucco)
its original wood exterior and many of its original windows, and the early
architectural character is still discernible and would be restorable.
The building anchors one end of a nearly intact late 19th century / early
20th century low-rise block front of commercial and commercial /
residential buildings dating from the 1890s to the early 1920s and is an
important contributor to that ensemble of buildings.
The building is particularly historically important for its associations with
Berkeley’s pre-World War II Japanese-American community, as the site of
the “University Laundry” which was a prominent immigrant-run business
for nearly three decades.
It has secondary historical importance for its association with a prominent
Berkeley car dealership owned by Gil Ashcom and its use as office space
for the “Berkeley Creators Association” in the 1960s.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 3
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 4 of 62
Landmark Application for 2526-30 Shattuck Avenue
(Figure 2, above. City of Berkeley property records)
1. Street Address: 2526-30 Shattuck Avenue. County: Alameda City: Berkeley
2. Assessor’s Parcel Number: APN: 055 182200600
Cross Streets: Northwest corner of Shattuck Avenue / Blake Street.
3. Is property on the State Historic Resource Inventory? No.
Is property on the Berkeley Urban Conservation Survey? Yes.
4. Application for Landmark Includes: Building and parcel.
a. Building(s): Yes Garden: N/A Other Feature(s): N/A
b. Landscape or Open Space: no.
c. Historic Site: No
d. District: No
e. Other: Entire Property
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 4
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 5 of 62
5. Historic Name: 2526-2530 Shattuck / Business name, “University Laundry”
Commonly Known Name: by street address and by names of businesses
6. Date of Construction: 1897 (factual)
Factual: Yes
Source of Information: period newspaper article.
7. Architect: William A. Young (SHRI form)
8. Builder: William A. Young (SHRI form)
9. Style: Victorian commercial, with “pioneer” elements
10. Original Owners: Olive J. Stewart (factual).
Original Use:
French Laundry downstairs / residential rooms upstairs.
11. Present Owner: Tsui Shen and Yeu B. Wu, Kensington, California.
Occupant:
2526: apparently vacant. (upstairs rooms)
2528: storefront. Apparently vacant.
2530: storefront. Vacant.
12.
Recent Use: Downstairs, laundry. Upstairs, offices (implied)
Current Zoning: C-SA Adjacent Property Zoning: C-SA
13.
Present Condition of Property: Some recent renovations. Entire property
appears vacant, although there are workers on site periodically.
Exterior: Walls and Roof. Good.
Windows: poor.
Interior: From exterior, visible only through windows, interior appears
vacant.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 5
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 6 of 62
Has the property’s exterior been altered: yes. stucco applied over
original board siding. Chimneys removed. Storefront ensembles replaced.
Most alterations appear to have been circa 1959, with some changes
since.
(Figure 3, above. City of Berkeley staff report to LPC for landmark initiation)
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 6
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 7 of 62
Figure 4, top, current appearance. Figure 5, bottom, aerial view (Google Earth)
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 7
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 8 of 62
Property includes both building, at right, and parking lot, at left.
14: Description:
Architectural Description
Exterior:
The building is a two story, rectangular 1897 Victorian-style structure with commercial space on the ground floor and rooms (originally living quarters) on the
second floor. It is about 40 feet wide and about 65 feet long / deep (dimensions
estimated from Sanborn maps and drawings in BAHA Archives, not measured).
The rear half of the property is a surfaced parking lot.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 8
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 9 of 62
The exterior has horizontal board siding (concealed under a later addition of
stucco on the street elevations). The shallow, shingled roof is hip with the top
flattened, creating a flat space that runs about one third the width of the building.
Unlike many other commercial buildings of its era, the roof is not concealed
behind a false front, parapet, or turrets. It is clearly visible in its present form in
the only early picture located. However, the pitch is shallow so the building
appears to have a flat roof when viewed from the adjacent street parking bay.
As a street corner building this structure has two primary facades, facing east
and south. The north and west elevations are secondary.
The main facade, facing onto Shattuck Avenue on the east, has two storefronts
at left and center, and at north a single door with transom above to a staircase
that leads to the upstairs (Figure 6, above).
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 9
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 10 of 62
This storefront layout reflects the
original configuration of the building,
although visible architectural details
have been removed and the
storefronts rebuilt, most likely in the
1950s. The southern storefront is
larger, occupying about half of the
facade; the northern storefront is
smaller, occupying about 40 percent.
Both storefronts are inset at an angle,
starting near the plane of the facade
on the left (south) and running
diagonally inward to their entrance
doors at the right (north) ends. This
creates a narrow wedge of additional
sidewalk in front of each storefront
below the overhang of the facade.
Both storefronts have a shallow
bulkhead of brick, currently painted.
The south storefront (Figure 7, left
below) has three plate glass windows
divided by wooden mullions below
fixed clerestory windows; the northern
storefront has two plate glass panels
divided by a narrow vertical metal
mullion. It has no clerestory. The
south storefront (Figure 8, left above)
has an entrance door, not original,
below a fixed transom window; the
northern storefront entrance door has
a louvered transom.
The northern storefront most likely
reflects the 1950 remodels while the
southern one is a more recent
renovation but retains 1950s elements
such as the brick bulkhead.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 10
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 11 of 62
The wall above the
storefronts is blank
stucco, but two to
three feet above the
store-fronts there is a
faint horizontal line or
bulge in the stucco.
This is about the
elevation where the
clerestory
of the
original storefront
would have met the
upper wall.
The second floor on
the main east facade
has four narrow, tall,
double hung windows, spaced at
intervals. The sashes appear to be original; the exterior trim was added in recent
years.
(Figure 9, above, southeast corner, showing south
storefront.)
(Figure 10, right, original window sash on south
facade, with recently applied exterior trim.)
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 11
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 12 of 62
The second primary facade (Figure 10, top below, and Figure 11, bottom,
below) borders Blake Street and is also stuccoed. The blank wall comes down to
the sidewalk on the western (rear) portion of the wall, while on the eastern half of
the first floor there is a window above a painted brick bulkhead at the corner, and
three horizontal fixed windows inset in the wall about five feet above the
sidewalk. A large
louvered vent in this
wall just left of center on
t h e g r o u n d fl o o r
matches the spot where
there was a window
prior to the 1950s
renovations.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 12
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 13 of 62
The second floor on this elevation has five narrow, tall, double hung windows,
evenly spaced and matching those on the main (east) facade, and a slightly
smaller double hung window near the west end. The glass is missing or broken in
portions of three of the windows, and the sash appears damaged in one.
The ground level of the rear (west) end of the building (Figure 11, above) has
various utilitarian entrances to the main commercial floor, including at least three
doors and a recessed, double-width, opening above a concrete ramp; this
opening is currently infilled with plywood. There are three windows on the second
floor, one covered with plywood, one with an arrangement of three sashes, two of
them with eight divided lites each, and one of them a conventional double hung.
The rear elevation also has an exterior staircase leaving to an upper door a large
exterior metal flue that penetrates the wall of the larger storefront next to a
louver. The second level of the rear elevation has a shed roof. The SHRI
evaluation in the 1970s indicates that this was a porch level that was later infilled
to create an apartment.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 13
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 14 of 62
The
north
elevation (Figure
12, right) of the
b u i l d i n g
immediately
adjoins the one
a d j a c e n t
commercial
structure to the
north, and is not
visible, except for
a small portion
that can be seen
from Sh a ttu c k
Avenue looking south towards the
building. Significantly, this visible
portion has clapboard siding that
matches that on the exterior of the
entire building in the early
photograph. In aerial view (Figure
13, at left) two windows are also
visible on the second floor level,
possibly with non-original
sashes. There also appear to
be two locations where
windows may have been
removed. The roof is
composition shingle over
plywood (recently applied) but
retains the form and character
of the original roof.
(Figure 14, right, northeast corner)
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 14
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 15 of 62
Interior Description:
The interior has not been visited. The description below is based on exterior
observation or archival records at BAHA.
The building has approximately 12 foot high commercial spaces on the ground
floor and a second floor nine feet, nine inches high on the interior (source: SHRI
form), giving a facade height below the roof, including joists, that can be
estimated at about 25 feet.
The interior of the ground
floor appears to be divided
lengthwise by a bearing
wall that also separates the
two storefronts.
The southern storefront
(Figure 15 right) viewed
through the front windows
is where the primary
commercial laundry and,
l a t e r, c o i n o p e r a t e d
laundry, were located.
There is a double door with
divided lites at the rear, apparently opening
to the plywood covered access to the
parking lot. (Figure 16, left) The doors
appear to be older than the remainder of the
interior finishes.
The upstairs contained, according to early
descriptions, at least six bedrooms and
common living quarters. An apartment was
added in the back porch area. The current
interior configuration is unclear, but some
architectural detailing, including door
casework from the street through the
second floor windows, appears to remain
and be Victorian-era in appearance.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 15
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 16 of 62
Remainder of Site:
Currently, the rear / west portion of the property has no above ground structures.
It is asphalted, and used as a parking lot. The 1911 Sanborn map (Figure 16,
below) shows that there were a number of secondary structures in this area in
the early 20th century including a windmill / water tank, fuel storage in a one
story shed attached to the rear of the building, and a freestanding barn structure
at the far western edge of the lot.
“The property also included a fenced yard, a large-capacity water tank mounted
high on a tower, and a long barn at the rear of the yard. In its loft area, the barn
included barracks-like living quarters.” (John Fujii memoir description). Horses
for the laundry delivery wagon(s) were originally stabled in the barn.
These structures were later removed, probably during the 1940s or 50s. Since it
that era it was not typical to dig out all below-ground features of a “cleared” site, it
is possible that foundations, well, or other fragmentary features remain below
ground. If there is construction in the rear parking area, the work should take this
possibility into account.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 16
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 17 of 62
The Original Building, Prior to Alterations
Only one photograph of 2026-30 Shattuck could be located (Figure 17, above.
California Japan-town’s website, Uchida family photo) from before the 1950s
exterior remodeling appears to be available. It is undated, but it shows a rather
early 20th century automobile and the name “University Laundry” on the exterior
wall, so can be estimated to date to after 1914, when we know the University
Laundry was on the property, but prior to the 1930s, based on the automobile
and clothing of two men in the photograph. The late ‘teens or early 20s is a good
educated guess for the period the photograph was taken.
Although this is a single picture, it shows the primary east and south elevations,
and is extremely informative about the early / original character of the building.
The roof form is the same as today. The second floor fenestration is exactly the
same. The arrangement of storefronts on the ground floor, with flanking entrance
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 17
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 18 of 62
to upstairs, is the same. Fenestration and the openings on the ground floor south
facing wall have been altered, but the current windows and openings are in
similar locations to the original.
The windows show very simple trim and detailing. They are not hooded or
capped with decorative elements, but do have trim above and on the sides, and
small architectural ornaments below.
The exterior walls have painted wooden clapboard siding, similar to what is still
visible on the north wall of the building and what is concealed beneath the stucco
on the east and south elevations.
The building shows two apparently wooden storefronts facing Shattuck Avenue,
the south one larger and the central / north one smaller. These are in the same
positions as the current storefronts.
Both were indented in a traditional pattern, and had large plate glass windows
flanking double wooden entrance doors with large glass panes matching the
height and placement of the show windows. There are glass clerestories above
the windows and glass transoms bearing address numbers above the entrance
doors. There are low wooden bulkheads with apparently inset wooden panels
below the show windows.
The building has at least three visible brick chimneys, all of which are now
removed, at least above the roof line.
Architecturally, the building is an uncomplicated Victorian mixed-use structure,
reflecting Berkeley’s early “frontier” or “pioneer” development.
The architectural style can probably be characterized as an extremely simple
variation on “Pioneer” or “Stick” Victorian architecture, where wooden boards are
applied to the exterior to add decorative detail. Unlike many Stick buildings,
however, there is no exuberant detailing on this structure such as hoods or
awnings over windows, elaborate decorative trim or millwork applied simply for
ornamental purposes. The storefronts are handsome and generous, but simple.
This appears to be a building constructed on a reasonable budget to
accommodate serviceable uses, without a large amount of ostentation or
ornamentation. Unlike many contemporary Victorians it did not have a false front
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 18
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 19 of 62
that exaggerated the height and visibility of the main facade, and it appears to
have been built without extensions such as turrets or projecting bays.
(It is possible that the flat central roof of the building was originally used by the
laundries as a drying area. This was a typical use of laundries, and was used
elsewhere in Berkeley. For example, washed carpets were dried on the flat roof
of the Tulanian Rugs building on College Avenue in the Elmwood.)
In the 19th century this building would have fit in well with the many commercial
or mixed use wooden buildings on several of Berkeley’s early commercial streets
such as Shattuck Avenue (downtown or north Shattuck), Telegraph Avenue, San
Pablo Avenue, or Adeline Street. Most of those early structures are now gone.
By the 1920s, commercial buildings of this type in Berkeley were either being
replaced by larger structures as retail districts grew and expanded, or by
masonry commercial buildings with ornamental brick, tile, and terra cotta
exteriors rather than wood detail.
In preparing this application, the author viewed dozens of late 19th / early 20th
century Victorian-era commercial or mixed use buildings in Berkeley to compare
them to 2026-30 Shattuck.
2526-30 is distinctive within Berkeley in three respects.
(1) First, it appears to be the only Victorian-era commercial building surviving in
Berkeley with the distinctive roof form of a “truncated hip”, where the top /
center portion of the roof is visibly and intentionally flat.
(2) Second, it may be the only surviving Victorian commercial building on
Shattuck Avenue between Downtown Berkeley and the junction of Shattuck
and Adeline (further research needs to be undertaken on one other building
on the same block, at 2506-12 Shattuck).
(3) Third, it appears to be the only surviving Victorian commercial building in
Berkeley with more than one floor but without a false front and without turrets
or projecting bays on the facade(s). It is almost certainly the only such
building on an intersection corner with these characteristics. Its simplicity is
rare, from an age when ostentation was common on buildings.
Starting on page 21, below, is a photographic sampling of other Victorian-era
wooden commercial buildings surviving in Berkeley.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 19
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 20 of 62
This documentation is presented to show both the range of surviving commercial
or mixed use buildings from the same era and the extent to which some of these
other buildings have been altered but still retain their essential (or restorable)
character. Overall, there are very few wooden commercial buildings from the 19th
or turn of the century surviving in Berkeley, particularly on or adjacent to the main
commercial avenues.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 20
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 21 of 62
Similar Victorian Era Commercial Buildings in Berkeley
The building that has the most visual (and, perhaps, historical) similarity to
2526-30 Shattuck is the Wallace W. Clark Building at 2375-2377 Shattuck
Avenue (Figure 18 below). It is a designated City of Berkeley Landmark.
Built in 1894, just a few years before and a few blocks north of 2526-30 Shattuck,
it has several architectural similarities. A two story mid-block structure, with two
commercial storefronts, it is simply built with wooden clapboard siding, although it
also has a small cornice and a “false front” extension with fish scale shingles at
the top of the main facade.
The second floor windows
look very much like the
second floor windows in
the early photograph of
2526-30 Shattuck.
The ground floor storefronts are also very
similar. On both buildings, there is a side door
with transom leading to
the upstairs rooms, and
two storefronts with
recessed entrances, one
slightly wider than the
other.
If 2526-30 Shattuck were
ever to be restored on
the exterior to its full
Victorian appearance, the
Clark Building could be
used as a guide for
appropriate architectural
details and character.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 21
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 22 of 62
(Figure 19, above, Clark Building facade. Figure 20, below at right, detail of side wall and
original entrance and storefront bulkheads. Figure 21 left below second floor window detail)
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 22
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 23 of 62
One block north and one half block east of 2526-30 Shattuck the Davis-Byrne
Building (a City Landmark) is, like 2526-30 Shattuck, part of the “Dwight Way
Station” enclave and was constructed two years earlier in 1895. It is also a two
story structure with two ground floor storefronts with recessed entrances. An
entrance to the residential floor is located centrally on the main facade. The
building has an all wood facade, exposed board siding and simple architectural
detailing. The main differences from 2526-30 Shattuck are an ornamental cornice
and four shallow bay windows on the residential second floor. (Figure 22, below).
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 23
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 24 of 62
The Suendermann’s Plumbing
Building (circa 1878) at 921
University Avenue is also a
City Landmark and retains
much of its original second
floor character on the side
elevation and roof , but has
been altered on the ground
floor and main University
Avenue elevation in ways
similar to 2526-30 Shattuck.
Stucco has covered much of
the wood siding, and some
windows have been changed.
Figure 23, above,
and Figure 24, left,
Suendermann’s
Plumbing from front
and from side.
Figure 25 at right, the James
B. Henley Building (circa 1892)
at 844 University Avenue in the
block west of Suendermann’s
Pluming, is “the most intact
example of its type in Berkeley”
(41 Berkeley Walking Tours)
with original windows, storefronts, and false front facade.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 24
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 25 of 62
(Figure 26, right) A third
early Victorian commercial
building with a residential
s e c o n d fl o o r i s t h e
Semeria’s Dry Goods
Building at 982 University
Avenue. It dates to 1878.
Like 2526-30 Shattuck it
has very simple
storefronts, clapboard
siding, simple window
detailing, and a side door
that leads to a staircase to
the upstairs.
(Figure 27, right) at 929
University Avenue is a
building like 2526-30
Shattuck that is nearly
entirely encased in stucco,
but is most likely a wood
sided 19th century falsefront Victorian commercial
building with residential
upstairs.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 25
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 26 of 62
Two landmarked rare Victorian era wood frame commercial buildings survive on
Telegraph at the southwest corner of the Dwight Way intersection. Both are City
of Berkeley landmarks. In Figure 28, above, the Soda Works Building (1888) is
at right; a third floor false front conceals the gabled roof. At left, the Mrs. E.P.
King Building (1901) begins to show the transition from Victorian-era design to
Colonial Revival architecture. It has two storefronts, one with a corner entrance.
Figure 29, right, the Carlson Block
(1901) on Adeline Street has a
corner turret and apparent hipped
roof. It is a City of Berkeley
Landmark, despite stucco covering
of the facade and extensive
alterations to the ground floor main
storefront including a mid-century
brick storefront.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 26
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 27 of 62
A handsome two story wood frame Victorian commercial building (Figure 30,
below) anchors the corner of Channing and San Pablo and University and now
houses part of Omega Salvage. It is most likely contemporaneous with 2528-30
Shattuck and is a rare survivor of Victorian commercial on San Pablo.
Figure 31, below, the George Morgan Building at 2053 Shattuck Avenue at
Berkeley Way dates to 1904 and is also a transitional structure from the Victorian
era to Colonial Revival design. It retains original storefronts, clapboard siding,
domed turret, and projecting bays for the residential units upstairs, and is a City
of Berkeley Landmark.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 27
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 28 of 62
Figures 31 and 32, this
page, show Berkeley’s
landmark Delaware
Street Historic District
that grouped several
early Victorian and
“pioneer era” buildings
together, including a
number with storefronts.
The 1-2 story buildings
and wooden sidewalks
recall what Shattuck
Avenue was like in the
19th century when
2526-30 Shattuck was
constructed.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 28
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 29 of 62
Features Recommended for Preservation at 2026-30 Shattuck:
(1) Overall form and massing of the building as a rectangular, two story,
symmetrical structure with a flat topped hip roof and two storefronts and a
residential entrance facing on Shattuck Avenue.
(2) Exterior siding:
wooden shiplap, present and visible on north elevation and apparently covered
by stucco on south and east elevations.
(3) Windows:
second floor, east elevation, four double-hung windows apparently with original
sashes.
second floor, south elevation, five double-hung windows, apparently with early
sashes (a sixth window matches, but the sash has been removed).
second floor, rear elevation, one double hung window at southern end,
apparently with original sash.
Two remaining windows on rear elevation, second floor, should be evaluated for
age and condition.
(4) Site: While no original features of the site remain above ground on the rear
parking lot, any future development should maintain some clear separation
between the original building and any new structures or additions.
Features Recommended for Restoration at 2030 Shattuck: *
Exterior detailing matching original (as shown in period photograph).
Window trim (and replica sashes, if replacement needed) on 11 second floor
windows.
Removal of exterior stucco and restoration or replication of original wood
clapboard siding.
Re-creation of two original storefronts with inset entrances, wooden bulkheads,
plate glass display windows, and transoms, double wooden doors with glass
panels, and general proportions as shown in period photograph.
Re-creation of high window in south facade (current location of louvered
window).
* note: these items are not mandated, but are included to help guide future LPC
review of alterations if the building is once again remodeled.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 29
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 30 of 62
15. Property History
The building has had at least two primary types of commercial uses on the
ground floor, commercial laundries and offices for an automobile dealership.
The upstairs was used as residential quarters, often for owners and/or
employees of the ground floor commercial laundries. In more recent decades the
second floor was used for offices, then apparently again as residential.
Laundries at 2526-30 Shattuck
2526-30 Shattuck was the home of at least three types of commercial laundries.
In fact, laundry use can be characterized as the primary commercial function of
the building from the late 19th century until the early 20th, although there was at
least one period with other business uses.
Within a few years of construction, a portion of the ground floor became a French
laundry operated by French immigrant Jean Bernadou (various records have
different spellings of the name, but this is the most common variation).
Around or soon after 1914 the building became the home of the “University
Laundry” which was a consortium of five Japanese-American families.
The University Laundry continued in operation through 1942, when it closed as
the Japanese-American operators and their families were sent to internment
camps. Later, as noted below, a coin-operated laundromat was installed.
Commercial Laundries
A brief summary of the history of commercial laundries in California is relevant to
this application, especially as they relate to laundries emphasizing their French or
Japanese connections or methods.
Elaborate Victorian era clothing and other fabric items often required specialized
cleaning, and many people routinely sent their clothes, curtains, table-clothes,
and other cloth items to commercial laundries for cleaning. This was especially
common among professional families with the financial means and social /
business necessity to have their required fancy clothing kept in pristine condition.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 30
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 31 of 62
Commercial laundries, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, were
commonplace in Berkeley and were often identified by the nationality or race of
their owners. Berkeley had “French laundries”, “Japanese” and “Chinese”
laundries, as well as generic “laundries” and “steam laundries”, the latter usually
operated with Caucasian owners and workers.
(Figure 32, below, shows
business listings of laundries in Berkeley in a 1915 city directory).
French laundries
generally had the
reputation of doing
fine detailed “handwork” including
washing lace and
getting white cloth
items—like men’s shirt
collars, and table
clothes—spotlessly
clean and white, as
well as delicates such
as undergarments.
French laundries also
apparently had a
reputation of doing
careful hand-washing,
being able to deal with
delicate items and
fragile fabrics, as well
as using high quality
French and German
soaps, although
“French laundry” was
also apparently used
by some businessmen
as a coded term for a
laundry run that was
run by Caucasians.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 31
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 32 of 62
“French hand laundries in California utilize the art of washing and ironing by
hand, to laundry fine linens and garments. As far back as the 19th century,
French women starched linen except vests and towels. The ironing was
performed using irons that were heated directly over a charcoal fire. All work was
done by hand. In the beginning of the 20th century, mechanized washing
systems had been added to most commercial laundries. However, in the tradition
of art of hand laundries in France, the French immigrant held fast to hand
finishing and ironing. It was the hand finishing method that differentiated them
from other commercial laundries.” (“French laundries of California”, Wikipedia
entry, accessed January, 2017).
Japanese and Chinese laundries had
the reputation of doing quality
washing work, at lower price than
many other commercial laundries.
Although many of these immigrant
laundries began as hand laundries,
they also mechanized as a way to
increase the volume of work and
reduce costs.
Many laundry establishments in the
E a s t B a y, i n c l u d i n g B e r k e l e y,
conformed to the popular perceptions
by billing themselves as “French”,
“Japanese”, or “Chinese”. Japanese
laundries seemed to emphasize a
combination of careful and through
service, as well as low costs.
(Figure 33, at left, shows an October 22,
1909 Oakland Tribune ad for an Oakland
French laundry).
Berkeley had, for instance, a
“Japanese Tokyo Laundry” which
moved to the 1400 block of Shattuck
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 32
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 33 of 62
Avenue in 1906 after its business quarters were ruined in the San Francisco
Earthquake and Fire. (Oakland Tribune, July 7, 1906).
As late as 1924 Oakland had not only a “French Laundry”, but a “National French
Laundry” and a “Parisian Laundry”. (Oakland Tribune, May 4, 1924), while
Berkeley had various French laundries that were concentrated on Shattuck
Avenue.
Even when the business names were generic, advertisements often mentioned
the race or nationality of the owners. Oakland had, in 1908, the Union Laundry
Company that advertised it was the “Best Japanese laundry on coast; all work
done with care and dispatch, at lowest prices”. There were also in Oakand the
Fujiyama Laundry, Togo Laundry, Tokyo Laundry, and “Tokio Cleaning and Dye
Works”. (Oakland Tribune, December 12, 1908)
A 1914 advertisement for the “Hand Work Laundry” of Oakland emphasized “This
is the best Japanese Laundry. All work done by experienced hands with good
care, and prices are very reasonable.” (Oakland Tribune, March 25, 1914.)
Changes in the Laundry Industry
In the 1930s the development of electric home washing machines began to
reduce the necessity of sending laundry regularly to commercial laundries since
human muscle power was no longer the only way to wash clothes at home. In
coming decades clothing styles also changed and simplified, similarly making it
easier to do laundry at home. Dry cleaners, not laundries with skilled hand
workers, became more popular as commercial establishments.
After World War II the manufacture and adoption of electric or gas powered
washing machines became wide spread in the United States. Commercial
laundries declined, while there was a rise in the popularity of “laundromats” which
offered coin-operated electric washers and gas driers to those who did not have
washing equipment in their homes or apartments. This trend was also manifested
at 2526-30 Shattuck which had a laundromat in the last part of the 20th century
and early in this century.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 33
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 34 of 62
Japanese American Settlement in Berkeley
The history of 2526-30 Shattuck is directly connected to the history of Berkeley’s
Japanese American community. The first part of this section is an overview of
Japanese American history in California, including the conditions which made the
Japanese-immigrant operated University Laundry possible at 2526-30 Shattuck.
Berkeley’s Japanese American settlement began in the 1880s with the arrival of
a number of young bachelors who had come to the United States to work or to
attend the University of California which, from an early date, accepted foreign
students including those from East and South Asia. “These early immigrants
were mainly young men who came to this country to get rich quick and go back
home to Japan.” (Yamada, page 5) but they also included a component of
serious students who had been sent to the United States to learn Western
technology, science, business and agriculture.
By the early 20th century some Japanese immigrants were settling in Berkeley
and starting businesses, including a sake brewery, a small furniture factory, and
plant nurseries in West Berkeley. After the 1906 Earthquake and Fire many
Japanese temporarily came to Berkeley from San Francisco, and many remained
permanently. The 1900 Census recorded 17 people of Japanese ancestry in
Berkeley; the 1910 Census reported 710. Although the majority of Berkeley’s
Japanese American residents were initially men, “wives and members of family of
residents” were allowed to immigrate from Japan to the United States, and many
young households were established (Yamada, page 6).
There was overt discrimination against Japanese in Berkeley and “protests were
common when a Japanese family move into a new neighborhood or when a
Japanese business tried to locate in choice locations in the city.” (Yamada, page
6.) As early as 1907/8 Berkeley newspapers were warning that “100,000 Brown
Men” were in California, and it was feared they would form an army to fight for
Japan if there was conflict between the United States and their home country.
This would presage the later anti-Japanese-American sentiment of World War II.
Berkeley’s Japanese were generally restricted by direct discrimination to
residential neighborhoods south of Dwight Way and west of Grove Street (today’s
Martin Luther King, Jr. Way). Realtors and developers refused to show or sell
homes or lots to non-whites, there were “restrictive covenants” in many
residential districts, and when a non-white family did secure a home in a “white”
neighborhood, there were protests by some neighbors. However, outside south
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 34
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 35 of 62
Berkeley, there was also a thriving community of Japanese families and
businesses centered around the intersection of Channing and Shattuck, and
enclaves of Japanese-American students living near the UC campus.
Despite the discrimination, by 1910 “there were many family units (of Japanese
immigrants) in Berkeley and instead of a fluid bachelor society, there was a start
of a stable community.” (Yamada, page 7). There were even some individual
Japanese Americans who were able to partially cross the color barrier, including
George Shima, California’s wealthy and famed “Potato King” who bought a
mansion on College Avenue in 1909; most of his Caucasian neighbors eventually
came to accept him because he was wealthy, like them (Yamada, page 7).
A series of Federal laws discriminated against Japanese, both those hoping to
immigrant and those already in the United States. In 1907 President Theodore
Roosevelt arranged a “Gentleman’s Agreement” with Japan in which that country
promised not to grant passports to immigrate to the United States, except when
the immigrants had previously lived there or were family members of JapaneseAmericans. The “agreement” had a side effect in that in the year it took to
finalize, tens of thousands of Japanese immigrants arrived, eager to establish
lives in the United States before immigration would be so dramatically restricted.
In 1913 and 1919 the “Alien Land Laws” prohibited Japanese immigrants from
owning land, and in 1924 the Asian Exclusion Act prohibited Japanese
immigration. By then more than 900 Japanese immigrants and native born
American citizens were living in Berkeley “and the Japanese community would
become firmly established and grow through its own natural increase and start of
families” (Yamada, page 7). To circumvent the racist land laws, Japanese
immigrants often placed property, including land, homes, and businesses, in the
names of their American born children who were citizens.
Despite discrimination, from the mid 1920s through the American entry into World
War II there was “stabilization of this community and development in Berkeley of
a pattern of organizational life. There were restricted opportunities in Berkeley. To
all practical purpose, there were no minorities hired in any white color jobs. The
early Japanese worked as domestics, day laborers, gardeners, nurserymen and
florists, and in the repair and laundry and cleaning trade(s).”
“Still Berkeley became known as a safe place to live and had good educational
opportunities for the children. Many Japanese who worked in San francisco
preferred to live in Berkeley and commuted to work” (Yamada, page 8.)
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 35
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 36 of 62
Local Japanese institutions were developed, with the immigrant community
coalescing (and also dividing) around Japanese Christian churches and Buddhist
temples. Older immigrants—Issei—generally socialized with those of their own
religion, while Nisei—second generation, American born—socialized with each
other through a variety of community organizations such as public schools and
Japanese-American Boy Scout troops, and football and basketball teams.
Berkeley was especially attractive to Japanese Americans since it had good
public schools and the University of California was in town and affordable. Many
local Nisei went to UC; one family, the Takahashi’s, sent 11 children to UC.
“By the end of the ‘30s, out of a Japanese population of around 1,300, there were
about 330 Japanese families living in Berkeley. There were 28 different
organizations, churches and private schools serving this community. In addition
to those working as domestics and laborers, and gardeners in the communities,
there were now over 70 separate businesses owned and operated by Japanese
in Berkeley. There were 12 doctors, dentists, and lawyers, 12 grocery stores,
over 17 flower shops and nurseries, and 6 laundries, 6 shoe repair shops, 6
cleaning establishments and several rooming houses and bath houses. A way of
living had been formed in the community. The Japanese were applauded for not
rocking the boat, for doing well academically, for being hard working and honest,
and in not causing any trouble. They had the lowest crime rate for any minority
group and all in all, in their place, were seen as an asset to the
community” (Yamada, pages 11-12).
Berkeley’s Japanese American community was abruptly uprooted in early 1942,
a few months after the Pearl Harbor attack and United States entry into World
War II. An estimated 110,000 Japanese-Americans (including large numbers of
American-born citizens) were “evacuated” from the West Coast by Presidential
order.
“Evacuation” was a euphemism for forceable deportation to inland
concentration camps where Japanese-Americans, citizen and “alien” alike, were
kept behind barbed wire, guarded by Army troops, in bleak and rudimentary
facilities for much of the duration of the War.
Berkeley’s Japanese American residents were part of the deportation. In
February, 1942, the deportation was ordered by President Roosevelt. Already,
many Japanese-Americans with direct ties to Japan (such as jobs as United
States representatives of Japanese businesses) had been arrested and put in
camps by the FBI immediately after Pearl Harbor. Others moved inland, some
beyond the ultimate “exclusion zones”. But most awaited interment.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 36
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 37 of 62
In April of 1942, Army notices were posted ordering Berkeley’s Japanese
American residents to register for removal. Originally the registration site was
supposed to be a City fire station on Durant Avenue or a Shattuck Avenue car
dealership lot, but the First Congregational Church of Berkeley (FCCB) offered its
facilities at Pilgrim Hall, at Channing and Dana, as a more hospitable site.
In mid-April registration took place and at the end of April buses and Army trucks
took groups of the registrants to the Tanforan Race Track in northern San Mateo
County, where they were initially housed in horse stalls while inland permanent
camps were prepared. By May 1, 1942, the half century old Berkeley JapaneseAmerican community had been entirely removed.
The removal meant the end of many of Berkeley’s Japanese-American
businesses, including the University Laundry at 2526-30 Shattuck. After the War
many of Berkeley’s Japanese-American families did return, but others relocated
to, or remained in, other parts of the country.
Some businesses were re-established but many business properties, homes,
and possessions had been lost or sold during the weeks before the forced
deportation.
Japanese-American Laundries
Laundry work was one of the occupations open to Japanese-Americans before
World War II, although there was direct discrimination against non-Caucasian
laundries, including those run by both Japanese and Chinese immigrants.
“Even laundrymen could prosper. Kurasaburo Fujii, who came to America in
1903, became a laundryman in Berkeley in 1910 and organized the larger
University Laundry four years later with several other Japanese families. The
laundry, located at Shattuck and Blake, had a workspace downstairs, with
padded brick irons and drum washers powered by belts and pulleys, and living
areas upstairs for owners and their families, complete with communal dining and
bathing facilities. Up at 4:30 am to fire up the boilers, Fujii would eat breakfast
with family and crew at 6:00 o’clock and then work till dusk. After a communal
dinner, he’d be back at work till 10 pm.”
“By the mid-1920s, when Berkeley had more than five hundred Japanese
residents, several of the laundry’s owners bought homes. The Fujii’s found an
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 37
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 38 of 62
attractive, two-story, five-bedroom home on Harper Street. It soon had a garden
and chicken coop. They had a piano and taught the children to play; it was a very
‘American’ thing to do.”
“But racism was never far away, especially in the early years. There was nothing
hidden about housing segregation. Asians and blacks had to live in the city’s
southwestern flatlands, west of Grove Street (today, Martin Luther King Jr. Way)
and south of Dwight. Only a handful managed to break this geographic barrier. In
1903, Berkeley schools provided separate classrooms for Japanese and Chinese
children, responding to complaints that teachers were wasting valuable teaching
time working with students who couldn’t speak English. As reported in the
Gazette, the Asian children “will not be connected in any way with the other
school children of the city…The school will be for a half day only, as it is thought
that will be all the time that will necessarily be required for the instruction of the
Asiatics.
And H.S. Howard’s Berkeley Courier kept up a drumbeat of hatred. Howard
reported with glee whenever neighbors protested against a new steam laundry.
“The rumored advent of other Chinese laundry into that section of town aroused
the residents of Dwight Way,” he wrote in 1905, “for they declared that they had
more Chinese there than they wanted already.” (Weinstein, It came from
Berkeley, p. 84)
Non-Caucasian laundries became a flash point for discrimination in California.
California had, in the early 20th century, an “Asiatic Exclusion League” based in
San Francisco and active statewide, with the agenda of prohibiting Japanese
immigration, as well as an “Anti-Japanese Laundry League” founded in 1908 to
pursue the same goals. There was a branch of the latter in Oakland. These
organizations received a considerable amount of support from labor unions who
wished to limit perceived competition from non-Caucasian workers, as well of
those who did not desire any long-term contact between different races.
The Asiatic Exclusion League, for example, published a “statement of principles”
that included these claims “we cannot assimilate them (Japanese immigrants)
without injury to ourselves. No large community of foreigners, so cocky, with such
distinct racial, social and religious prejudices, can abide long in this country
without serious friction. We cannot complete with a people having a low standard
of civilization, living and wages. In should be against public policy to permit our
women to intermarry with Asiatics…We cannot extend citizenship to Asiatics…”
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 38
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 39 of 62
(The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-Japanese Movement in California Roger
Daniels. page 28)
“The Anti-Japanese Laundry league has increased its scope” a San Francisco
newspaper reported in 1912. “The object is to promote the movement against
Japanese occupation and industry.” (“Laundry League Joins Various State
Bodies”, San Francisco Call, September 29, 1912).
Statements such as these revealed that the anti-Japanese sentiment was a
mingling of both outright racial prejudice and fears of economic competition from
Japanese immigrants.
Despite the direct prejudice, Japanese-American businesses, including laundries,
managed to survive and even prosper in places like Berkeley, serving not only
the Japanese immigrant communities but the broader population. The University
Laundry was an important manifestation of this success in the face of adversity.
The University Laundry
A key historic and cultural association of 2526-30 Shattuck is with the University
Laundry, a Japanese-American business that operated there from approximately
1914 to 1942. This association makes the building an important physical artifact
of the pre-World War II Japanese-American community in Berkeley, documented
(as described below) by the California Japantowns project.
Fortunately the creation and operation of the University Laundry was described in
detail in a 1986 memoir by John Noaki Fujii, son of one of the founding couples.
The following text is summarized and excerpted from this memoir.
Kurasaburo Fujii, a 1903 Japanese immigrant, came to the East Bay after the
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire displaced him. After working in the nursery
business in the Bay Area, then as bathhouse attendants in Oakland, he and his
wife, Kikuyo “began considering other possible independent business
opportunities. After investigating a number of occupations including opening a
plant nursery, grocery store or general merchandise store, Kurasaburo rented a
Victorian style house with a large basement and he and Kikuyo began a small
family laundry. It was here, on Berkeley Way just below Grove Street in Berkeley,
California, that the Fujiis began their business and family…(they) spent their long
hard early days working to make their small new business a success.”
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 39
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 40 of 62
“A combined University Laundry was organized and opened as a partnership of
five smaller laundries in 1914. It was located in a large, high-ceilinged, two story
wood-framed building on Shattuck Avenue at the corner of Blake Street in
Berkeley. The property also included a fenced yard, a large-capacity water tank
mounted high on a tower, and a long barn at the rear of the yard. In its loft area,
the barn included barracks-like living quarters.”
“The ground floor of the building facing Shattuck Avenue was divided into two
parts. One part consisted of an office with a counter area and had an entry to
Shattuck Avenue. The other part was a work area for ironing, mangle work, and
had tables for folding finished wash. The ironing was done using heavy, padded
brick irons heated over gas flames. The irons were called by dipping them in
buckets of water set next to the gas burners.”
“The main work of the laundry was done in the rear half of the building. One
entire wall was occupied by a row of large horizontal drum type washers. A
multiple-roll mangle capable of steam hot-pressing full-sized sheets and spreads
in a continuous end-to-end manner took up another part of the floor space. Both
the washers and mangle were powered by a belt and pulley system connected to
a steam powered, coal fired engine. The work area also included starching vats,
hot rinsing tubs, and a large steam room for curtains and drapes.”
“The upstairs living quarters, located at the front of the building towards Shattuck
Avenue, could be reached by a wide closed set of steps to the street. Another,
narrow and open, steep set of steps at the living area consisted of six bedrooms
connected by a long L-shaped hallway ending at each staircase. The remaining
area upstairs consisted of a bathroom opening on the hallway, a long narrow
kitchen, and a large common dining and meeting room that had doors leading to
the hallway and the kitchen. During the early years of the laundry the entire
building was lit by gas lamps mounted in the walls and ceilings.”
“Besides the Fujiis, the laundry partnership included the Kimbaras, the
Imamuras, Tsubamotos, and for a few years the Tokunagas. Since the partners
along with their wives and children all shared the upstairs living quarters together,
the group developed a common communal life-style. All the adults worked long
hours every day, usually six days a week. The women rotated kitchen and
cooking duties periodically and child care was combined and shared…Among the
men, each partner took responsibility for a part of the business. For example,
Kurasaburo took care of the heavy washing and starching of clothes. The
Imamuras did ironing and much of the mangle work. Mr. Kimbara went out to pick
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 40
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 41 of 62
up and deliver laundry, In the first few years, pick up and deliveries were done
using horse drawn wagons. Thus, two horses along with the wagons were
maintained in the yard and barn at the rear of the building.”
“On a typical working day Kurasaburo would rise at 4:30 in the morning to fire up
the boilers and prepare for the day’s washing. Breakfast would be shared with all
the others by 6:00 a.m. and the day’s work would begin. Lunch was on a “when
time permits” basis in the common dining area. Work continued to dusk and,
when the quantities of wash were available, would continue after dinner until
10:00 p.m.”
“In spite of all the hours of work, communal dinners occasionally turned into
parties and social events. In particular, as new Japanese immigrants arrived in
the area, they would visit the laundry to obtain information and advice about
available housing and work. Home brewed sake would be served and the men
would talk and reminisce about the Japan they had left; old songs would be sung,
old tales repeated, and sometimes dancing would ensue.”
“During the summer months melon vendors would pass by the laundry in horse
drawn wagons and one or another of the men would stop the vendor and buy
melons for all the workers. Watermelons on a hot day were favorites. On the
occasions, the entire work force would stop to take a break and feast on the
fresh, juicy melons. The women also looked forward to the weekly visit of a
traveling fish and vegetable vendor who carried merchandise from Japan as well.
They would gather and gossip by the vendor’s wagon in the yard until the men
would complain and shout for them to return to work. Thus, life was not all work
and hardship, it included some social contacts and recreation.”
“Communal living not only included working, dining, and some socializing
together, it also meant sharing of the bathing and washing facilities. The common
bath, or ofo-lo, having long been a tradition in Japan, was contained as a natural
convenience in the laundry. The heavy wash area with its large washers and
plenty of hot water was used by all. It was not uncommon for a dozen people to
be sharing the same wash area late in the evening. In particular, hard working
adults would b sharing and soaking their work tired bodies in scalding hot water
in the same washer while relaxing and socializing. This caused difficulties at
times between husbands and wives.” (pages 6-8, Fujii, John Fujii).
The laundry business “prospered” and the Fujii family grew to have seven
children and made periodic visits, some extended, to Japan. Some of the
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 41
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 42 of 62
children also lived in Japan for periods of time. Kurasaburo converted to
Christianity in Berkeley, and became active in local Japanese churches. “With a
progressing business, the partners in the laundry were now able to consider an
improvement in their living standards. Three of the partners decided to purchase
homes in Berkeley. This was in spite of knowing that an anti-Japanese land law
had been enacted in California in 1913.” (page 18).
The Fujiis bought a large Colonial Revival house on Harper Street, and the
Kimbaras and Imamuras bought stucco bungalows on Carleton Street. The
property ownerships were recorded in the names of the children, since the
parents were prohibited by their nationality from owning property.
During the Depression “the University Laundry not only survived by lowering
prices and working longer hours, but also helped many other Japanese who were
in need. The quality of work was sufficient at times to allow the ‘farming out’ of
laundry to a small Chinese hand laundry down the street on Blake….surprisingly
at the time there was little vandalism or thievery in the mixed neighborhoods of
Berkeley. Kurasaburo would remark on and remind us of how fortunate we were
to have a comfortable home, food, clothing, and our health.” (page 23)
As noted earlier, the lives of the Fujii’s and Berkeley’s other Japanese-American
families were uprooted after Pearl Harbor. In February of 1942 President
Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 9066, which authorized creation of military
“exclusion zones”. This would be used to deport Japanese-Americans from the
West Coast to inland concentration camps during the war.
The Fujii family sold many of their belongings and put the remainder in one room
of the home. The house was left with friends, who rented it out to roomers during
the War. The business was impossible to save.
“Kurasaburo and his two remaining partners, Kimball and Imamura, dissolved
their progressing laundry business as best they could, virtually abandoning their
tens of thousands of dollars in capital investments. The laundry would be lost,
their investment would never be recovered. With only hand-carried luggage, the
Japanese evacuees, including the Fujiis, were all taken to the Tanforan relocation
assembly center on April 29, 1942.” (page 38)
By the end of the War, the family was scattered, since one son was in the military
and other children had been able to leave the camps to work in the East or
Midwest, beyond the “exclusion zones”. “From a tightly knit, relatively secure and
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 42
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 43 of 62
familiar life within a single community, the Fujiis had been pulled apart.” (page
44).
After the War, part of the family returned to Berkeley, and the house on Harper
Street was recovered. However, “for Kurasaburo, his laundry business was
gone.” He was able to find two part time jobs as a janitor, and continued that
employment until his death in 1959.
The story of the Fujiis and the other Japanese-American families in establishing
lives, homes, and businesses in Berkeley mirrored the experience of many other
Japanese-Americans. The University Laundry building is a tangible and physical
reminder of this story and part of Berkeley history, as well as the broader history
of discrimination against, and accomplishments of, Japanese-Americans.
California Japantowns Project
In 2006-07 a Statewide project, “California Japantowns”, exhaustively
documented buildings and sites that connected with Japanese-American history
from before World War II. Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley were identified as
having especially large concentrations of surviving Japanese-American
structures.
“Preserving California's Japantowns is the first statewide project to
document historic resources from the numerous pre-World War II
Japantowns. With an expert advisory committee, we developed this list of 43
communities to include representation across the many regions of the state,
and ensure that distinctive economic characteristics and cultural features
associated with diverse Japantowns were represented.”
(californiajapantowns.org)
The researchers wrote on their permanent project website, “While we
expected to find some traces of the vibrant Nihonmachis that suffered such
violent disruption during and after WWII, we’re thrilled that the results of
our historic resource surveys are far more extensive than we had even
hoped. We have discovered hundreds of places across the state with historic
resources that can reweave Japanese American history back into the
communities they helped to build.” The University Laundry was one of the
Berkeley buildings identified and documented as part of the project. Figure
34 on the following page shows the Berkeley section of the website, with the
University Laundry entry featured at lower right.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 43
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 44 of 62
Source: California Japantowns, website, accessed 2017.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 44
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 45 of 62
The Japantown Atlas project mapped historic resources documented by California Japantowns.
The map of Berkeley is shown (Figure 35, below). Although Japanese-American residents were
restricted by racial discrimination to southwest Berkeley neighborhoods or race-specific housing
near the UC campus, Japanese businesses spread more widely though the community. The
University Laundry is shown lower right center, not far below Berkeley High School block.
Source: http://japantownatlas.com/map-berkeley.html, accessed 2017
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 45
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 46 of 62
16: Context
The 2526-30 Shattuck property is part of Block 7 of the Shattuck Tract.
(The earlier history of the land, including the Spanish / Mexican eras, and early
American era squatting and speculation, is covered in many other accounts of
early Berkeley and is not summarized here).
Francis Kittredge Shattuck, along with partners William Hillegass, George Blake,
and James Leonard, acquired a square mile of undeveloped land in what is now
south central Berkeley in 1852.
Shattuck and Hillegass had come to California in the Gold Rush, and operated a
livery stable on Broadway in Oakland, along with other enterprises. Shattuck
would also be elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors (and, later,
serve on the Oakland City Council), giving him important political connections as
land use and financial decisions were made in the rapidly growing county.
The square mile of land the four men acquired is bordered today by College
Avenue, Addison Street, Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, and Russell Street. Each
partner took title to a 160 acre portion of the land, in strips running north / south,
one quarter mile wide and one mile long.
The future Dwight Way was the dividing line between northern and southern
haves of the properties. The street was laid out in 1860 at the request of William
Hillegass, and soon named Dwight Way by the private College of California,
which had begun acquiring land in the future Berkeley in the 1850s and 1860s to
create a new campus site.
In 1866 the California Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind moved to Berkeley
at the top of Dwight Way, where the University of California’s Clark Kerr Campus
is now located. (This was the first State institution in Berkeley, followed two years
later by the creation of the University of California which received as a gift the
private College of California campus property.) The arrival of the Asylum would
provide a natural reason for a rudimentary transit line on Dwight Way.
The opening of a rail line from Oakland to the future Downtown Berkeley up what
are now Shattuck Avenue and Adeline Street was promoted by the property
owners, including F.K. Shattuck, along the route who saw the value of converting
their undeveloped rural property into developable lots fronting on a railroad.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 46
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 47 of 62
The railroad spur was developed by the Central Pacific, which was later
absorbed into the Southern Pacific. It opened in 1876. It connected Oakland to
what is now Downtown Berkeley, with the initial terminus between University
Avenue and Center Street (the line would later be extended further north). A
number of station stops were created along the route, including Lorin in South
Berkeley. A rail stop was also created at Dwight Way, where a horsecar on tracks now
connected up to the Deaf and Blind Asylum. This made Dwight and Shattuck a
nexus of early transit and the adjacent blocks appealing for development.
Figure 35, below, shows the “Dwight Way Station” vicinity in 2016. (Source:
Google Earth). The rail stop was at the center, a block north of 2528-32 Shattuck.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 47
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 48 of 62
James L. Barker, who had connections to the railroad and operated a plumbing
and lumber business in Oakland, had purchased portions of the vicinity from
Francis Shattuck. Barker built a handsome home on Dwight Way just west of
Shattuck where he moved in 1877, soon after the arrival of the railroad. He
become the leading advocate of development around the intersection.
“Dwight Way Station was promoted by James Loring Barker (1840-1919) an early
Berkeley landowner, civic leader, and developer of both commercial and
residential properties. Barker was one of the signatories for incorporation of the
Town of Berkeley in 1878, and co-founded the Weekly Advocate in 1877 which
was the forerunner of the Berkeley Gazette. Barker financed a plan to establish
electric lighting for the city and founded the First National Bank of Berkeley. In
1879 he advanced money for public school property and buildings.”
“During the 1880s and 1890s Barker and others believed that Dwight Way
Station would become the center of downtown and there were a great variety of
businesses. Such optimism continued into the early part of the (20th) century
when the Barker Building (1905), Morrill Apartment Building (1911), Williamson
Building (1905) and Williams Building (1902) were constructed.” (Susan Cerny,
Berkeley Landmarks, revised edition, page 127)
The major physical manifestation of this ambition was the Barker Building
(Figure 36, below), a three story brick building built at the northwest corner of
Shattuck and Dwight in 1905, immediately east of Barker’s home. It had
commercial storefronts on the ground floor, and office space upstairs. It remains
the
most
prominent
early Berkeley
building in the
“ S o u t h
Shattuck” area
south of Haste
Street and
north of Derby
Street.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 48
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 49 of 62
Residential neighborhoods populated with Victorians and Colonial Revival homes
also developed east and west of Shattuck, starting in the 1870s, as open land
was subdivided into blocks and lots and sold off by promoters, including Barker.
However, downtown Berkeley centered several blocks to the north around the
main train station and immediately west of the University of California campus,
and for the remainder of the 20th century “Dwight Way Station” would remain a
low-rise district, with many late 19th and early 20th century commercial buildings.
From the 1910s through the middle of the 20th century the blocks along Shattuck
near Dwight held numerous auto-related businesses, including repair shops and
car dealerships, and there was some attrition of older buildings as lots, including
the east side of the 2500 block of Shattuck across from 2526-30 Shattuck, were
cleared for parking and auto sales.
During this period interurban trains, operated by the Key System and Southern
Pacific, ran on the middle of Shattuck Avenue. They initially connected to ferries
across San Francisco Bay and, later, to rail tracks that ran on the lower deck of
the Golden Gate Bridge.
Rail service on the bridge ended in 1958 and was replaced with buses along
routes such as Shattuck. In the late 1960s / early 1970s the middle of the street
was excavated for construction of the underground double bore tunnel of the Bay
Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. A landscaped center median was constructed
above the buried BART tunnels, and diagonal parking bays were placed on each
block, protected from the four lanes of traffic by narrow landscape buffers.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 49
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 50 of 62
History of Block 7:
Block 7 was bordered on the east by Shattuck Avenue, the north by Dwight Way,
the south by Blake Street, and the west by Tremont Street (now Milvia). Figure
36, below shows a 1894 map of the vicinity, with the block (at left in image) as yet
unsubdivided, except for a small lot in the extreme northeast corner. This corner
property is shown on later
maps as owned by Francis K.
Shattuck, so perhaps he had
reserved a portion of the land
in advance of speculative sale
of the remaining block.
By 1895 the block has been
subdivided and lots sold. Lot
#13 was the southeast corner
lot of the block.
1895 property tax assessment
records show lot #13 as
owned by Olive J. Stewart,
with an assessed value of
$300, consistent with the
value of an unimproved lot.
1896 tax records show the
property with an assessed
value of $100, still consistent
with an undeveloped parcel,
and perhaps representing a drop in land value after the initial speculative
purchases.
(There is some confusion in the tax records over the exact number of the lot
owned by Olive Stewart, and the BAHA archives also contain an undated hand
drawn map that appears to show the corner lot at least twice as wide along
Shattuck as it is today. It is possible that the original property Olive Stewart
bought was larger than the current parcel, but she then further subdivided and
sold the northern portion, where a separate building is now located.)
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 50
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 51 of 62
Other assessments on the block show values of up to $1,700 and additional
assessments for personal property, indicating that buyers quickly began to
construct residences and other buildings on the block.
The 1897 assessment records were unavailable, but the 1898 tax assessments
show Lot #13, still owned by Olive J. Stewart, now assessed at a value of
$1,800, with no assessments for personal property (household items). From this
record we can conclude that in 1897 Olive J. Stewart owned the land and had a
building constructed there but did not live there herself.
Since the $1,800 value is higher than most of the other assessments on the
block—which range from $300 to $2,000, but are generally within a few hundred
dollars of $1,000—it seems likely that the building erected by Olive Stewart was
larger and valuable than a single family home.
The 1900 tax assessments show Olive Stewart still owning the property, with an
assessed value of $2,000, a slight increase over 1898. In 1901 Olive Stewart
continues to own the property, assessed at $2,000, but with a personal property
valuation added of $150. The personal valuation may indicate that she was living
upstairs at the time, although that is uncertain.
A year later in the 1901 assessments, the property is shown as owned by “J.
Bernabau” (sic), which is presumably a mis-spelling of Jean Bernadau. The
property improvements are valued at $2,000, and personal property at $250.
Based on this information we can reach the following conclusions:
Olive Stewart was apparently the first owner of the lot after subdivision (or, if
not the first owner, the person who came into possession of it within a year or
so of subdivision).
Olive Stewart commissioned the building of what is now 2528-30 Shattuck on
that property in 1897, but did not necessarily live there herself.
She continued to own the property for the next three years, but sold around
1900 to Jean Bernadau who moved into the building himself.
Jean Bernadou
Jean Bernadou was a French native, born in the 1860s, who had apparently
immigrated to the United States and settled in the Bay Area, starting or
purchasing a laundry business in Berkeley. His wife, Marie, was California born,
according to Census records. They married June 3, 1892, but three years later
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 51
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 52 of 62
was estranged. “Jean (Bernadou) has left the family home at Dwight and
Shattuck and Mary (sic) is compelled to reply on relatives for support. Jean owns
a laundry and is worth $2,000. They have one child and Mary thinks Jean should
support them and has applied to the court for relief.” (Berkeley Gazette, June 18,
1895).
As that article indicates, the Bernadou laundry was not, apparently, first
established at 2530 Shattuck. An earlier city directory shows Jean as a laundry
man at 2506 Shattuck Avenue, near the northern end of the same block. A 1895
directory also lists him operating a laundry and living at 2502 Shattuck, but the
address may be a typographical error in that publication since the 1896 and 1898
directories have him again at 2506 Shattuck.
The Bernadous were again in the news in 1895 when “in a fight over a French
Laundry in Berkeley between warring parties Leon Avriol and Jean Bernardon
(sic), Judge Ogden yesterday gave a judgment for the latter.” (Berkeley Gazette,
October 24, 1895). Two months later, the same paper reported that “The Berkeley French Laundry
will move into the store on Shattuck Avenue which has just been vacated by Mr.
Williamson.” (Berkeley Gazette, December 20, 1895).
To speculate, the
relocation may have been a result of the ownership dispute.
A few years later the
1900 city directory also
establishes a direct
connection between
Bernadou and the 2530
Shattuck property. He is
listed as a laundryman at
“Shattuck av. cor. Blake”,
which is the site of 2530
Shattuck. His connection
to the property is further
confirmed (Figure 37,
right) by a circa 1907
block book at BAHA that
shows him owning the
corner lot (upper right
corner of image).
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 52
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 53 of 62
While Jean Bernadou appears to have established the laundry use at 2528-30
Shattuck, he does not seem to have been the direct operator for long. By the
1909 city directory shows a J. Jaymot as the proprietor of the “Berkeley French
Laundry” at 2528 Shattuck (Figure 38 below). 2528 is the current address for the
smaller of the two storefronts in the building.
Jacques (Jack)
Jaymot was born
in the late 1870s
in France and,
emigrated to
California like
Jean Bernadou.
Jaymot’s immigration year is
listed in the
Census as 1890.
His wife Pauline
was also from
France. They
had at least four children, all born in California. During part of the time he
operated laundries on Shattuck, his family lived at 2035 Parker, conveniently just
a half block off Shattuck. He and Bernadou may have been business partners.
Jack Jaymot would later
move the “Berkeley French
Laundry” a block to the
south, to a brick building at
2576-78 Shattuck which he
built in 1911 (SHRI form).
Presumably the new building
would have been regarded
as more fireproof, or perhaps
more modern, than the wood
framed 1897 building at
2526-30 Shattuck. Figure
39, at left (courtesy, BAHA)
shows the laundry staff and a
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 53
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 54 of 62
delivery vehicle of the relocated business, in front of this building that still stands,
although in altered form. The “Berkeley French Laundry” may have had as a
spin-off the “North Berkeley French Laundry” on north Shattuck, but since the
business diverged from 2528-30 Shattuck, the history of that laundry has not
been further researched.
Figure 40, at right,
shows a City directory
listing for the French
laundry when it was
operated by Jaymot and
still at 2526-30 Shattuck.
The transfer of the laundry business to Jaymot and Jaymot’s move a half block
south did not end either the Bernadou connection, or the laundry connection, to
the property. The Bernadou family continued to own the building.
Bernadou had a daughter, Eugenie, from his marriage to Marie. Eugenie appears
to have lived with Jean after their separation, and may have also worked in the
laundry. She later married Albert P. Miller, three years her senior, who worked at
one point as a Postal Service mail carrier. His family was from Germany. In 1920
the the couple owned a house at 2224 Carlton Street, and Jean Bernadou is
shown in some Census records as living there with his daughter and son-in-law
and their children. Later, in his 70s, Jean Bernadou was living separately in
Oakland.
Eugenie (Bernadou) Miller inherited the Shattuck property from her father in
1941.
In 1944 Eugenie Miller was living at 1747 Madera Street in Berkeley, and hired
Frank Stead, a well known local contractor, to make $850 worth of alterations to
the building. In 1948 there was another period of work, described as “repairs”,
costing $2,200 (Donogh file, BAHA, folder for 2526-30 Shattuck). The upstairs
appears to have been rented as six residential rooms during that period, which
would be consistent with the World War II and immediate postwar period in
Berkeley when the town was filled with war industry workers, many of them
single and living in cramped quarters. The roof was apparently also replaced.
The work in 1944 would also be consistent with the Japanese-operated
University Laundry closing in 1942 as a result of the interment. Eugenie Miller
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 54
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 55 of 62
might then have assessed the future of the
building and decided to make changes after
some four decades of commercial laundry use of
the building. Because of wartime shortages and
strict rationing of construction material and labor
shortages for private industry, it might well have
taken two years to actually begin those
improvements.
Research has not uncovered the exact use of the
commercial spaces during the late 1940s and
most of the 1950s. In 1959, however, there were
apparently extensive alterations to the facade
and storefronts, and by 1960 the building was
the location of offices of an automobile dealership. At some point the building
was sold to Gordon Whiteside and, later, to a Mr. Wickson, before being
purchased by the present owners.
In the 1950s the property entered a new era of use as part of a car dealership.
This was consistent with a concentration of Berkeley auto businesses along
Shattuck Avenue south of Downtown, to Derby Street.
The car dealership was the Nash Berkeley dealership, operated by Gil Ashcom.
(Figure 41, above, Oakland telephone book, 1957). The entire dealership was
not in the relatively small building. There are photographs that indicate Ashcom
also had a sales lot across the street, on the east side of the block.
But the 2530 Shattuck address is given for the dealership in a number of listings.
It is also possible that the rear structures were demolished during this time,
creating the asphalt parking lot that now covers the entire west half of the
property. The Gil Ashcom era produced an astonished temporary appearance to
the building, as shown in one photograph (Figure 42, next page). Source: https://
www.flickr.com/photos/autohistorian/4404951717
If all the details of the photo are to believed, the building and the separate
building to the north were painted blood red, 2530 Shattuck sported a projecting
neon blade sign, the storefront renovations had been made, and huge address
numerals were painted on the second floor on both street elevations.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 55
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 56 of 62
There also appears to be a car visible through the left-hand storefront door. City
building permits from this period indicate that the ground floor interior was
modified, and turned into an indoor showroom with a rear door ramp entrance for
cars.
However, the essential characteristics of the 1897 building are also clearly visible
in this view, including the second floor double hung windows, the overall
massing, and the truncated hipped roof.
Ashcom later expanded his business (and changed the types of cars he sold) to
other sites on Shattuck, including a site at 2400 Shattuck Avenue that now
houses Berkeley’s Toyota dealership that Ashcom established.
By the mid-1960s—1967 at the latest—the 2530 corner storefront once again
changed use, returning to the commercial laundry antecedents of the building.
This time the facility was a self-serve, coin-operated laundry called “The Washing
Well”. It remained there for many years and a coin operated laundry was still the
use in that storefront into the 21st century.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 56
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 57 of 62
The upstairs residential rooms also changed use. As early as 1957 they were
being used as “art studios” (SHRI form). In the next decade they became “the
location of the founding of the experimental civic arts organization, the Berkeley
Creators Association, Educational Foundation”, formally established in 1969.
(SHRI form). The Creators Association was apparently originated by architectural
designer Robin Freeman and songwriter Jon Brand, and is described by one
source as “a group that helps artists with jobs counseling (and) organizes
community art work projects”. The offices used by the Creator’s Association were
also where Nobel Peace Prize nominations for David Brower and Congressman
Ronald Dellums were drafted.
In January 2014 the building caught fire and the media reported eight people
were displaced. The Fire Department reported the building as having “balloon
frame” construction, which would tend to confirm the early date of construction. A
news photograph showed smoke seeping from under the eaves. The extent of
fire damage was unclear, but damage may have been confined to the attic.
The photograph (Figure 43, below. Source: Berkeleyside, January 10, 2014) also
showed commercial signs over the two storefronts advertising a “Hair Shop” and
a “Massage Center”. The photograph also shows the previous trim around the
upstairs windows, which was subsequently removed.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 57
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 58 of 62
Since 2014 renovations appear to have sporadically been made, including stucco
repair, painting of the exterior, installing new trim around the second floor window
frames, and clearing the commercial spaces.
The building currently appears to be vacant with (as of February 2017) some
painting or other work underway on the upper floor. The 2030 storefront is visibly
empty as seen from the street, and the 2028 storefront has its windows painted
over.
Neighborhood context
As noted earlier in the description of the development of the neighborhood, the
“Dwight Way Station” district developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
then slowed as Berkeley’s downtown became firmly established some blocks to
the north.
The Roosevelt Hospital (later, Herrick) was established in 1909 one block to the
west on Dwight Way, bringing a major institution to the neighborhood, but
commercial development remained low rise and most of the 19th and early 20th
century commercial buildings on Shattuck Avenue remained. They housed a
variety of small businesses.
The 1903 Sanborn map shows the block frontage along Shattuck having, from
south to north: the laundry building; a “wood and coal” supply building; two small
storefronts, one of them a butcher shop with “sausage manufacturing” in the rear;
a small storefront labeled “carpet beating”, a vacant lot, two small storefronts
unlabeled, and a vacant lot on the corner of Shattuck and Dwight. The butcher
shop was at 2520 Shattuck run by Frank L. Esmond, who lived around the corner
at 2035 Blake, just west of 2526-30
Shattuck.
In 1923 a handsome buff brick
commercial building was constructed
at the north end of the block
(southwest corner of Shattuck and
Dwight), with upstairs apartments, and
two commercial spaces on the ground
floor, one of them purpose built for a
branch of the Bank of America.
(Figure 44, at right) Stylized letters
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 58
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 59 of 62
“BA” can still be seen on the capitals of the pilasters on the facade. This building
was designed by Louis Upton for George A. Mattern. Until recently, the corner
storefront built for the bank housed a Radio Shack, which has now been replaced
by a cell phone dealership.
The east side of the block apparently retained a mix of wood frame, 19th century,
storefronts until the end of World War II. One long-time resident of the
neighborhood reported that as late as the 1940s there were still wooden
sidewalks on that side of the block. Some time after the War, however, those
buildings were demolished, leaving the current parking lot.
The west side of the block remains considerably more intact. The exact dates of
construction of the buildings have not been researched, aside from 2500
Shattuck (the old bank building), and 2526-30 Shattuck, but the early Sanborn
maps show the block filling in with low rise commercial structures that have
served a variety of uses over the decades.
Figure 45, above shows the block face in
2017, with 2526-28 Shattuck at the left end.
If some of the facade modifications
(stuccoing, removal of original windows,
alterations or replacement of original
storefronts) of the six buildings on the block
were reversed, the buildings on the block
would easily resemble a low-profile East Bay
neighborhood commercial district circa
1890s to 1920s. Of particular interest is
2506-12 Shattuck, (Figure 46, left) which
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 59
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 60 of 62
appears to be a late 19th century or early 20th century two story residential over
commercial building. 2506 Shattuck is the same address where Jean Bernadou
had a laundry business and residence before 2526-28 Shattuck, so it may be an
earlier building, also altered on the facade but also recognizably a venerable
older Berkeley commercial structure.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 60
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 61 of 62
17: Significance
Consistent with section 3.24.110 A. of the Landmarks Preservation Ordinance,
the property and building at Bancroft Way is significant for:
(1) Architectural Merit: The building at 2528-32 Shattuck is an “architectural
example worth preserving for the exceptional value it adds as part of the
neighborhood fabric.” It is a rare example of a Victorian storefront building south
of Downtown Berkeley, and may be the sole survivor in Berkeley of a certain type
of Victorian commercial building with an exposed, truncated hipped roof. Key
components of the original architecture survive, and missing features are
primarily the storefronts and applied exterior detail and could be replicated. The
building also anchors one end of a coherent, uninterrupted, block face.
(2) Cultural Value: The building is “associated with the movement or evolution
of…economic developments of the City.” 2526-30 Shattuck represents an
extremely rare surviving commercial building from Berkeley’s 19th century, and is
one of the oldest commercial buildings surviving on Shattuck Avenue south of
Downtown. It anchors a block face that contains an array of small businesses
located in one and two story 19th and early 20th century structures, and
expresses the early turn-of-the-century commercial character of Berkeley.
(3) Educational Value: The building is “worth preserving for…usefulness as an
educational force”. 2528-30 Shattuck is not only expressive of Berkeley’s original
commercial buildings but embodies an important part of the history of Berkeley’s
Japanese-American community prior to World War II, the University Laundry. It
was recognized in the statewide “California Japantowns” project as a significant
physical survivor of the Japanese-American heritage of Berkeley and is in an
especially prominent location to express that history to the public.
(4) Historic Value: The building should be preserved since it serves to “embody
and express the history of Berkeley/Alameda County” through its architectural
associations and connections to local Japanese-American history.
Period of Significance: The Period of Significance of the property is from 1897
when it was built, to 1942 when the University Laundry closed. All the apparent
modifications to the structure were made after 1942.
Modifications made since 1942 appear to be generally reversible, including
stucco over original wood siding and replacement of applied window trim.
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 61
Landmark Application
ATTACHMENT 1
LPC 03-02-17
Page 62 of 62
Historic Value: City: yes. Neighborhood: yes.
Architectural Value: City: yes. Neighborhood: yes.
18. Is the property endangered?
Unknown. 2526-32 Shattuck Avenue underwent some renovation in recent years
but is currently vacant. Future plans of the owners have not been researched.
19. Reference sources
• Building permits. BAHA; City of Berkeley.
• Berkeley and Oakland directories. BAHA.
• Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. BAHA.
• U.S. Census records, California voter registration records, military records,
passport applications. Primarily accessed through Ancestry.com.
• BAHA block files, builder files, and architect files, with miscellaneous notes and
clippings in each area.
• City directories and other records, Berkeley Historical Society.
• The Politics of Prejudice: The Anti-Japanese Movement in California Roger
Daniels.
• It Came From Berkeley, Dave Weinstein.
• Berkeley Landmarks, Susan Cerny, second edition.
• Fujii. History of the Fujii family, John Noaki Fujii, 1986. privately published.
• The Japanese American Experience: the Berkeley Legacy, 1895-1995. Robert
Yamada, Berkeley Historical Society, 1995.
20: Recorder: Steven Finacom Berkeley, California 94705
Date: February, 2017
2530 Shattuck Avenue
page 62
Landmark Application