Berkeley High School Campus Historic District

Berkeley High School's campus occupies four downtown city blocks, roughly 12.5 acres, bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Allston Way, Milvia Street and Channing Way. The district has eight buildings, five of them contributing. Its centerpiece is the 1922 Academic Building by William C. Hays, a Beaux Arts and Italianate design with glazed polychrome terra cotta details. Hays also designed the original gymnasium and natatorium, which was later remade in a Streamlined Moderne style after the 1933 Field Act called for seismic upgrades. Art Deco additions followed, including the Shop Building (1939), the Science Building (1940) and the Community Theater, designed by Gutterson and Corlett and finished in 1950 with sculpted reliefs by Robert Howard. The campus is described as an early example of a plan with function-specific buildings, and its structures have kept their original locations and key character-defining features despite seismic retrofits and window replacements. The period of significance runs from 1922 to 1950.