A century ago, Sept. 17, 1925, was the second anniversary of Berkeley’s devastating 1923 fire. The Berkeley Daily Gazette chose to commemorate the date by emphasizing the progress in rebuilding after the disaster. The Berkeley Daily Gazette’s main front-page headline was “Hundreds of New Homes Cover Fire Area of Two Years Ago.”
“New residences and apartment houses having an estimated cost of $2,869,724 today adorn the artistic hills north of the University campus which two years ago this afternoon were swept by a conflagration causing a $10,000,000 loss,” the Gazette reported. “Within these dwellings are … furnishings far exceeding the personal property losses of the great fire.”
“Berkeley has rehabilitated itself … (in) another year there hardly will be left a trace of the terrific blow which fairly staggered the inhabitants of this college community but failed to stop its forward steps.”
The paper noted that 285 new homes had been built, along with 45 apartment buildings. Nine fraternities and sororities had rebuilt, and the first buildings of what would make the Northside into “Holy Hill,” the Pacific School of Religion’s new campus, was under construction. Of buildings damaged by the fire, 23 had also been repaired.
The paper also noted “the architecture of 10, 20 and more years ago has given place to the far more artistic and attractive types of this modern day. From bungalows to mansions, the new architecture holds sway. … While the so-called California type which is a modified Mission or Spanish, or Mediterranean, use as one likes to call it, predominated, there are many examples of colonial and other houses that show the influence of the northern mind in architecture.
“Gone are practically all of the shingle-sided houses so popular a decade or so ago. Strangely enough a few of these were spared through one of those ironies of fate. Perhaps it is well enough that some should remain as a contrast to the prevailing stucco finish.” That public tastes had changed so much by 1925 for an attack on shingle “hillside” architecture to be published is interesting.
A separate article in the issue noted that more than 630 complaints had been filed against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. asking for damages of some $6 million. Sept. 16, 1925, had apparently marked a deadline for filing claims or suits.
Featuring idealized students portrayed by a pipe-smoking young man and a young woman with a fashionable hairstyle, this Sept. 16, 1925, ad in the Berkeley Daily Gazette celebrated new UC students keeping Berkeley “young at heart.” (photo courtesy of the Berkeley Historical Society and Museum)
“The suits allege that the fire was the result of the negligence of the defendant company and that it originated from the power lines of the company back of this city.”
College kids: “The University — Berkeley’s Perpetual ‘Fountain of Youth’ ” was the tagline in a Sept. 16, 1925, advertisement that first National Bank in Berkeley placed in the Gazette.
“Each year brings a new college generation, breezy, invigorating, lovable. Each year pours into our hospitable city the best of the youth of California. Small wonder Berkeley is still young at heart … there is a zest to life here … and that this city breathes the spirit of progress.”
Women staff: On Sept. 17, 1925, Berkeley’s city manager “today instructed department executives to give preference to unmarried women applicants for positions at the city hall.” The article noted that Berkeley employed 50 women “at the city hall” (which housed most municipal offices at the time) and that 20 of them were married or widowed.
“(City Manager John) Edy said he believed that the first requisite of a husband is to support his wife and that (with) all qualifications being equal, preference should be given to unmarried applicants for positions in the future. He said that he firmly believed in employing women in city positions and that there are many places which cannot be filled except by women.”
Bay Area native and Berkeley community historian Steven Finacom holds this column’s copyright.
