{"nrhp_refnum":"85001916","name":"Chamber of Commerce Building","other_names":["Wells Fargo Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2140--2144 Shattuck Ave. & 2071--2089 Center St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Berkeley","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.87047669300006,"lon":-122.26854008999999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-08-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 12-story, 149-foot brick and terra cotta office tower with a 2-story wing, at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street in downtown Berkeley, California. Designed by Walter H. Ratcliff Jr. and completed in 1927.","why_significant":"It was Berkeley's first true skyscraper and stayed the city's only one for over 40 years, marking the central 100% corner. It is an unusual and fine example of the early 20th century classically derived brick and terra cotta skyscraper, designed by a leading Berkeley architect of the 1920s. It also kept notable integrity and has been occupied by its original ground-floor bank tenant.","narrative":"At the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Center Street in downtown Berkeley, a 12-story office tower rises 149 feet above a 2-story wing. Finished in 1927 to designs by architect Walter H. Ratcliff Jr., it was Berkeley's first true skyscraper and remained the city's only one for more than four decades. Steel and concrete construction is faced in dark red-brown brick, with cream terra cotta at the top and granite-finish terra cotta at the base. Elaborate brick pilasters sweep upward, and a small terra cotta penthouse houses the elevator machinery. Soon after opening, the ground floors were remodeled with three monumental arches for a bank, which still occupies them. Inside, the lobby has marble walls and a gilt plaster ceiling, and the banking hall has marble columns and a coffered ceiling. The building was named for the local Chamber of Commerce, which planned to occupy the top floor. It is noted for its metropolitan scale, design quality and remarkable integrity.","period_of_significance":"1925-27","architect_builder":"Walter H. Ratcliff Jr.","architectural_style":"Early 20th century classically derived (Beaux-Arts-derived) brick and terra cotta skyscraper","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in excellent, largely unaltered condition; the original ground-floor bank tenant (American Trust/Wells Fargo) still occupies the ground floor, with mixed professional offices above.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:28.02139-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/85001916.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001916/a8194a3363-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001916/a8194a3363-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chamber_of_Commerce_Building,_(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:Chamber_of_Commerce_Building,_(Berkeley,_CA).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858179","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_of_Commerce_Building_(Berkeley,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123253391"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/chamber-of-commerce-building-85001916/"}