{"nrhp_refnum":"74000507","name":"St. John's Presbyterian Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2640 College Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Berkeley","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.862143127000024,"lon":-122.25330949099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-08-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A church complex at 2640 College Avenue in Berkeley, California, on about 0.57 acre. The fellowship hall dates from 1908 and the sanctuary from 1910; both were designed by Julia Morgan, and an education wing was added after 1910.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the church as an outstanding work of Julia Morgan and one of her earliest major non-residential commissions. It was built as a plain wood-frame sanctuary of over 6,000 square feet for under $10,000, with exposed framing and no applied ornament. The form argues it shows the Bay Region approach of giving small, inexpensive commissions the same careful design as major ones.","narrative":"Julia Morgan designed this church complex at 2640 College Avenue in Berkeley, built in two stages: a fellowship hall in 1908 and a sanctuary in 1910. The wood-frame buildings sit on about 0.57 acre in a neighborhood known for Bay Region shingle-style houses. The sanctuary had to provide more than 6,000 square feet on a budget under $10,000, so Morgan used inexpensive, sound construction with exposed studs and roof trusses and no applied ornament. Careful proportioning of these simple elements gave the building its visual effect. The nomination sees it as an early major non-residential commission by Morgan and as an example of the Bay Region habit, shared with Bernard Maybeck, of treating small, low-cost projects with full design attention. An education wing was added later, and the altar area was enlarged in 1954, which changed the original clerestory and pulpit area. The interior finishes remain original and in excellent condition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Julia Morgan (architect)","architectural_style":"San Francisco Bay Region style, wood-frame with exposed structure; Craftsman ideals noted in the attached article","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition rated good and occupied as a church at the time of nomination. Structure is sound with minor termite and dry-rot damage. The altar area was altered in 1954. The attached article reports the congregation planned to sell and relocate.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.642149-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/74000507.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000507/1aec8c5536-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000507/1aec8c5536-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._John%27s_Presbyterian_Church_(Berkeley,_CA).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._John%27s_Presbyterian_Church_(Berkeley,_CA).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858341","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Presbyterian_Church_(Berkeley,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7588811"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/st-johns-presbyterian-church-74000507/"}