This Blog is a Snippet from the book called “East Bay Then & Now” by “Dennis Evanosky And Eric J.Kos”. This post takes our readers to the historic Berkeley city’s memories. Ridge Tree Services in Berkeley, work around these landmarks in the city and we are proud to be serving Berkeley. Highly obliged to the author for such a useful piece of information.
Bear Fountain, Berkeley
Architect John Galen Howard-who designed much of the UC Berkeley campus, including the Sather Tower-fashioned this nine-foot-high, double-tiered foundation on Marin Circle to celebrate Berkeley’s North bare neighborhood. Arthur Putman sculpted the bear cubs to symbolize the state of California and the university, whose mascot is the Golden Bear. Howard also designed the stone pillars that mark the neighborhood’s streets, the entrance pillars on the Alameda, as well as a real-estate office and train station that no longer stand.
A replica of Howard and Putnam’s creation stands at the intersection today. A runaway truck destroyed the fountain in 1958. The circle remained without its signature fountain for almost forty years. Then, in 1993, residents formed Friends of the Fountain and raised $175,000. Sculptor Sarita White faithfully re-created Putnam’s bear cubs, and in 1996 a community celebration welcomed the new foundation to the circle.
Berkeley City Hall
Architects John Bakewell and Arthur Brown designed and built this handsome Be-aux Arts city hall for Berkeley. The building was completed in 1909. Both men had graduated from UC Berkeley in the 1890s. They modeled the structure after the city hall in Tours, France. They intended for the building’s spire to support clocks, but the city never purchased them. Bakewell and Brown also designed San Francisco City Hall and buildings on the UC Berkeley campus. After they dissolved their partnership in 1928, Brown designed the San Francisco landmark Coit Tower.
Center Street, Berkeley
This view of Center Street from Shattuck Avenue looks east toward the UC Berkeley campus with its signature Sather tower, also called the Campanile. Architect John Galen Howard takes “center” stage here. Howard designed both the Sather Tower and the Berkeley National Bank Building (left foreground), where he maintained an office on the top floor. Howard was the university’s supervising architect and the founder of the Department of Architecture. Peder and Jane Sather donated a considerable sum of money to the university. Both the Sather Gate (a memorial to Peder ) and the Sather Tower ( a memorial to Jane) reflect the Couple’s generosity. Howard based his design for the Campanile on one in Venice, Italy.
Sproul Plaza, Berkeley
A National Guard helicopter hove Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus on May 20, 1969, spraying tear gas indiscriminately on students and protesters alike. UC Berkeley had been a scene of counterculture ever since Mario Savio’s Free Speech Movement was launched from Sproul Hall in 1964. In 1969 students were protesting over the university’s plans to take back land it had earmarked for student housing between Haste Street, Dwight Way, and Bowditch Street, but had undeveloped ban trespassers from “People’s Park” backfired, and a the police, in which protester James Rector was shot Governor Ronald Reagan had to call out the Nation restore order.
Sather Gate, Berkeley
Sather Gate separates Sproul Plaza from the rest of the university. Jan K. Sather, a benefactor of the university, donated Sather Gate in memory of her late husband, the pioneering banker Peder Sather. Prominent Be-aux Arts architect John Galen Howard designed the gate, which he completed in 1910. Professor Earl Cummins sculpted eight panels of bas-relief figures, with four nude men representing the disciplines of law, letters, medicines, and mining, and four naked women representing the disciplines of agriculture, architecture, art, and electricity. When Cummins first installed the panels, public outrage led Sather to demand their removal. Sather later funded the building of the Sather Tower, known more commonly as the Campanile because it bears a close resemblance to the Campanile De San Marco in Venice, Italy. It was also designed by Howard and was completed in 1914.
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