{"nrhp_refnum":"82000994","name":"Boone's University School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2029 Durant Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Berkeley","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.86678376900005,"lon":-122.26891772899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-11-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story, 20-room Italianate frame building at 2029 Durant Avenue in Berkeley, Alameda County, California. It was begun in 1877 as a one-story house and enlarged to three stories between 1884 and 1891.","why_significant":"It is the earliest, largest and only surviving building of Boone's University School for Boys, a leading Berkeley example of the private academies that flourished in California in the late 19th century. It is also one of Berkeley's few Italianate houses, a near-vernacular, utilitarian expansion of the style that remains almost unaltered from its 19th-century appearance.","narrative":"Located at 2029 Durant Avenue in Berkeley, this boxy three-story, 20-room Italianate building began in 1877 as a one-story house started by schoolteacher Hubert Burgess. Philip Riley Boone bought it unfinished in 1884 and moved his school there in 1885. Within six years two stories were added, keeping the simplified Italianate look, with a low hip roof, wide molded eaves, tall narrow windows and a full-width front porch. It served as Boone's home, with dormitories on the top floor. Boone's University School for Boys prospered in the 1890s, was accredited by the University of California, and drew students from prominent families. State support for public high schools after 1903 weakened the academy model, and the school closed in 1915. The house stayed in the Boone family until 1980 and later served as a rooming house. All the other school buildings have been demolished, leaving this as the only physical reminder of the academy and one of Berkeley's few Italianate houses.","period_of_significance":"1885-1915","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Simplified Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as being renovated for offices, with a new roof, rear stairway and wheelchair ramp. It had long been used as a rooming house, and the form describes its condition as good.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.945713-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82000994.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82000994/9c2bee195d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82000994/9c2bee195d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boone%27s_University_School_(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:Boone%27s_University_School_(Berkeley,_CA).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858163","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boone%27s_University_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q120028593"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/boones-university-school-82000994/"}