Edwards, George C., Stadium

Edwards Stadium is a track and field arena at the southwest corner of the University of California, Berkeley campus, completed in 1932 to designs by architect Warren C. Perry with Stafford L. Jory. Two large reinforced-concrete bleachers face each other across a central field and oval track, seating over 22,000 people. Cast-in-place Moderne ornament, including fluted pilasters, obelisk clusters and a continuous horizontal band, wraps the exterior. Concrete walls, a fence, three ticket booths, flagpoles, a scoreboard frame and a memorial bench to coach Walter Christie also contribute to the site. It was built exclusively for track and field, which was unusual among American university stadiums, and was the largest and costliest of its kind when finished. Olympic medalists competed there, and world records were set there, including Cornelius Warmerdam's first 15-foot pole vault in 1940. The track and a tennis center are later additions, but the stadium retains strong integrity.