Features

Sandwiched between the two UC Berkeley campuses and Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve is a narrow wedge of hillside marked by narrow one-lane roads threading through some of Berkeley’s most distinguished houses, including the creations of Frank Lloyd Wright, Julia Morgan, Bernard Maybeck and William Wurster. 

And if two residents of Panoramic Hill have their way, their neighborhood will become a federal historic district, a proposal endorsed Monday by Berkeley’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. 

In a 62-page application submitted to the state Office of Historic Preservation, Janice Thomas and Fredrica Drotos single out 61 homes for specific designation, including Thomas’s own 1911 home at 37 Mosswood Road, designed by noted Berkeley architect Walter H. Ratcliff. 

The next step comes Feb. 4, when the State Historic Resources Commission considers the application during a meeting in Bakersfield. 

Maryln Lortie, historian with the state office, is optimist about approval: “In my 20 years with the office, this is one of the nicest residential districts I’ve ever seen. It has all of the stars of California architecture, everyone from Maybeck to William Wurster. It’s really quite beautiful.” 

Lortie said state approval is highly likely, as is the final step—acceptance by the federal Keeper of the National Register, who typically responds within 45 days. 

“We have a really good track record in winning approvals,” Lortie said. 

When landmarks commissioners were informed of the proposal this week, one mused, “I wonder if there’s a hidden agenda behind this.” 

“Isn’t there always?” quipped another. 

And Janice Thomas is the first to agree. 

“Take a look at the university’s latest Long Range Development Plan, Volume IIIA, page 9-1.8, second paragraph, where it talks about historic resources. In the tables listing representative conditions, our neighborhood isn’t identified as having any historic resources,” she said. “We should at least be mentioned. 

“So much for accuracy and thoroughness.” 

Hillside neighbors have had ongoing battles with the university and hope that national recognition will give them added leverage against UC intrusions. 

Thomas and other neighbors stopped a 1999 effort to install permanent television lights at UC Memorial Stadium, winning their victory on the grounds that the proposal would adversely impact the historic resources embodied in the homes on the hillside. 

A second try by the school was rejected last year on the same grounds. 

At the same time of UC’s first try for lights, neighbors were disturbed at the construction of new housing on the slope that was starkly out of character with the others. 

“On one property we went to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and we were told we would have more influence of designs for new projects if we formed a historic district,” she said. 

Berkeley has four local historic districts, all created by the city Landmarks Commission, with the newest being the West Berkeley Sisterna Tract, created last spring. The others are the Delaware Street District, between Page and Fifth streets; La Loma Park District; and the Civic Center Historic District, which is also on the National Register of Historic Places. 

If the National Park Service chooses to add the Panoramic neighborhood to the national list, it will become the first Berkeley residential neighborhood to be granted national historic status. 

Panoramic neighbors held preliminary meetings two years ago to begin the process, and Thomas and Drotos began the actual work last spring. 

Asked what it took to create the detailed report, Thomas laughed. “I try not to think about it,” she said, “probably thousands of hours and I don’t know how much money.” 

Approval would yield several benefits for homeowners, Lortie said, ranging from protections detailed in the California Environmental Quality Act to federal tax credits for owners who rent or lease their property. 

But for Thomas and her allies, the biggest advantage would be the district’s enhanced ability to stave off their biggest, most powerful neighbor, the University of California.›