Panoramic Hill

Panoramic Hill is a wooded hillside neighborhood in Berkeley, east of the University of California campus, reached by a single narrow, switchbacking road, Panoramic Way. The district holds 76 contributing resources, mostly single-family houses built from 1901 into the 1940s. Most are clad in unpainted wood shingles, though some use stucco or Fabricrete, a patented concrete system developed by architect Walter Steilberg. Each house was custom-designed for its steep site, with large windows, balconies and porches oriented toward views of the bay. Notable architects represented include Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan and Ernest Coxhead. Public stairways and paths add to the character of the area. Orchard Lane, a Beaux-Arts concrete staircase designed by Henry Atkins in 1910, was made a City Landmark in 1991. Retaining walls, a fountain and pedestrian routes fit the development into the terrain. The district was listed because it preserves an early twentieth-century hillside community in harmony with its natural setting.