{"nrhp_refnum":"82004643","name":"Giannini Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Oxford St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Berkeley","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.873592615000064,"lon":-122.26236938799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-03-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Giannini Hall is a C-shaped reinforced concrete building on the central campus of the University of California, Berkeley, designed by architect William C. Hays and completed in 1930. It forms the east side of the campus Agriculture complex.","why_significant":"The building completed the Agriculture complex planned by John Galen Howard and is associated with banker Amadeo P. Giannini. Architecturally, it is a successful contemporary design that respects the older Classic buildings around it. The review recommended acceptance under criteria A and C.","narrative":"Giannini Hall is a C-shaped reinforced concrete building on the Berkeley campus of the University of California, forming the east side of the Agriculture complex and mirroring Hilgard Hall across a shared court. Architect William C. Hays, a faculty member, designed it in 1930, and it was dedicated that October. Funding came from a 1928 gift by Bancitaly Corporation in memory of Amadeo P. Giannini, with $500,000 used for the building. The main entrance has a travertine frontispiece and a wrought iron door in Moderne style, leading to a lobby with a polychromed beamed ceiling mixing Indian and Art Deco motifs. The courtyard side has a nine-bay loggia detailed in a free Classic manner. Cast concrete figures holding agricultural symbols, designed by the architect's wife Ellah Hays, flank the top-floor windows. The hall completed John Galen Howard's plan for a group of buildings around a court, echoing an old Tuscan farm.","period_of_significance":"1900-present","architect_builder":"W. C. Hays (William Charles Hays, architect)","architectural_style":"Free Classic manner with Moderne and Art Deco detailing; Regency style entrance frontispiece","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent, unaltered, original site.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.740898-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/82004643.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004643/e6cc0cbf1e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82004643/e6cc0cbf1e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giannini_Hall_(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:Giannini_Hall_(Berkeley,_CA).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857324","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giannini_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q119778163"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/giannini-hall-82004643/"}