City Hall

Berkeley, Alameda County, California Listed September 11, 1981 Ref. 81000142 Building

Why it's listed

Berkeley's Old City Hall, at 2134 Grove Street, is a two-story Beaux-Arts building of stucco-covered reinforced concrete, topped by a 60-foot lantern and spire. Bakewell and Brown won a 1907 competition with a design derived from the town hall at Tours, France, to replace the 1884 town hall that burned in 1904. Construction began in 1908, and the building became City Hall in 1909. It housed city government until 1977. The east facade is symmetrical, with giant Ionic columns, balconies and urns. The interior has a grand U-shaped stairway whose apparent stone, leather and tapestry are painted plaster, and whose columns are scagliola imitating marble. This decoration is original and unaltered. A 1950 rear extension and replacement of the window sash left the main facade's character intact. The building also inspired the Berkeley Civic Center, and its spire remains a visible landmark. It now holds school district offices.

Significance in brief: It is an outstanding East Bay example of Beaux-Arts design and an early work of the firm Bakewell and Brown. Its original scagliola and trompe l'oeil stairwell decoration is well preserved. It also served as the seat of Berkeley government from 1909 to 1977 and anchors the Berkeley Civic Center.

Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 81000142, listed September 11, 1981. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).

Key facts

Address	2134 Grove St., Berkeley
County	Alameda County
Listed	September 11, 1981
Reference number	81000142
Resource type	Building
Period of significance	1900-
Architect / builder	BAKEWELL BROWN (John Bakewell and Arthur Brown, Jr.)
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts, French Renaissance tradition
Criteria	A — associated with events that made a significant contribution to history B — associated with the lives of significant people C — distinctive architecture, design or construction
Areas of significance	Architecture
Level of significance	Local
Status (as stated in the nomination)	Condition rated good and altered; leased to the Berkeley Unified School District, whose administrative offices occupy it, and City Council and School Board meetings are still held there.
Acreage	0.4
Coordinates	37.86961, -122.27344 (NPS GIS)

What listing means for this property

For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.

Sources and further reading

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 81000142.
Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
Wikidata Q20727671
This listing as JSON

Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.