The Faculty Club of the University of California at Berkeley, or Faculty Club at UC Berkeley, is a

private members' club Private members' clubs are organisations which provide social and other facilities to members who typically pay a membership fee for access and use. Most are owned and controlled by their members even to this day. Some were originally gentlemen ...

located on the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

campus in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. In 1982, The Faculty Club was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NPS-82000960). It is also a

California Historical Landmark A California Historical Landmark (CHL) is a building, structure, site, or place in the U.S. state of California that has been determined to have statewide historical landmark significance. Criteria Historical significance is determined by meetin ...

and it is listed in the

California Register of Historical Resources The California Register of Historical Resources is a California state government program for use by state and local agencies, private groups, and citizens to identify, evaluate, register, and protect California's historical resources. The Calif ...

. Historical and contemporary artwork can be found in the meeting rooms and main corridor of the club from artists such as Ray Boynton and Jacques Schnier.

Architecture

The Faculty Club was originally built in 1902 to designs by noted

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Bernard Maybeck Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7, 1862 – October 3, 1957) was an American architect. He worked primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, designing public buildings, including the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, and also private houses, ...

in the American Craftsman style as what is now the Great Hall. Subsequent additions such as architect

John Galen Howard John Galen Howard (May 8, 1864 – July 18, 1931) was an American architect and educator who began his career in New York before moving to California. He was the principal architect at several firms in both states and employed Julia Morgan early ...

's lounge with double fireplace to the south, and kitchen and dining rooms designed by Warren Perry and remodeled by W. S. Wellington, significantly expanded the building's footprint. It is located on Faculty Glade, adjacent to

Strawberry Creek Strawberry Creek is the principal watercourse running through the city of Berkeley, California. Two forks rise in the Berkeley Hills of the California Coast Ranges, and form a confluence at the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. T ...

. While excavating what is now Faculty Glade before construction, a variety of

Ohlone The Ohlone ( ), formerly known as Costanoans (from Spanish meaning 'coast dweller'), are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Northern California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the l ...

artifacts and skeletons were uncovered.

Membership

The Faculty Club started as a dining association and then a

gentleman's club A gentlemen's club is a private social club of a type originally established by males from Britain's upper classes starting in the 17th century. Many countries outside Britain have prominent gentlemen's clubs, mostly those associated with th ...

. The club permitted women only as honorary members or visitors until 1972, (women were restricted from the main dining room until 1969) when members voted to "eliminate all discrimination against female membership in the club". It is located west of the Women's Faculty Club, which opened its doors in 1923 and maintains reciprocity with the Faculty Club today. Today, active membership is available, upon approval by the board of directors, to current or retired faculty, "researchers, administrators and career staff" associated with the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

(UC), and associate membership is open to UC alumni.

Paranormal activity

Over the years, many stories have circulated about The Faculty Club – and specifically Room 219 – as the site of reported paranormal activity. According to ''A History of the Faculty Club'' by James Gilbert Paltridge, students reported hearing history professor Henry Morse Stephens, who lived in the west wing for over two decades until he died in 1919, reciting lines of poetry from his window. In March 1974,

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

professor Noriyuki Tokuda told ''The Berkeley Gazette'' that he had seen a "very gentlemanly" man sitting on a chair watching him while he was half asleep, while staying in Room 19 of The Faculty Club. At the time, he was told that the room had been occupied for 36 years by a professor who died in March 1971. A copy of the ''Gazette'' article was framed and hung in the club's offices. In 2009, a

psychic medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or ...

visited the Spirit Tower of The Faculty Club with a journalism student. While he failed to "connect" with the ghost of Professor Stephens, he claimed to interview a ghost affiliated with the 1920 football team – either the captain, the coach, or both – who purportedly shared that he had died of pneumonia and criticized modern football, but nevertheless "ended ... the interview with a hearty 'Go Bears!'".

Facilities

Today's facility includes lodging, dining, conference rooms, and event facilities which are open to members and non-members. As a venue, the club has hosted weddings, receptions and special events. The Club has been the meeting place of Berkeley's Arts Club, Folk-lore Club, and the exclusive History of Science Dinner Club at Berkeley.

Notable members

* Henry Morse Stephens *

Clark Kerr Clark Kerr (May 17, 1911 – December 1, 2003) was an American economist and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and twelfth president of the University of California. Early life and ...

* Wendell M. Latimer * Edward C. Tolman *

J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer ; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World ...

Phoebe Hearst Phoebe Elizabeth Apperson Hearst (December 3, 1842 – April 13, 1919) was an American philanthropist, feminist and suffragist. Hearst was the founder of the University of California Museum of Anthropology, now called the Phoebe A. Hearst Mu ...

* Eugene Neuhaus

References

External links

* {{authority control Faculty clubs Gentlemen's clubs in California Clubs and societies in the United States University and college buildings completed in 1902 Faculty Club, Berkeley Organizations established in 1902 Arts and Crafts architecture in California Arts and Crafts architecture 1900s architecture in the United States 1902 establishments in California Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Commercial buildings completed in 1902 National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley, California Reportedly haunted locations in California