A prominent private middle school for girls appears to be eyeing a move from its long-time location on the leafy Mills College campus to a storied building by Lake Merritt.
Julia Morgan School for Girls filed initial planning documents with the city this week to convert 525 Bellevue Avenue, the former Bellevue Club, into a school.
Documents filed by the Oakland architecture firm Gensler said Julia Morgan plans to pursue code upgrades and “minor construction” on the building to make it look more like a school.
Located on the Mills College at Northeastern University campus on MacArthur Boulevard, the middle school has occupied a building designed by its namesake, Julia Morgan, for more than 20 years. The serene surroundings and historic architecture are a pull for many families who send their children to the school.
In July 2025, the head of the school released a report explaining that Julia Morgan had more than four years left on its lease but faced a “looming question” over whether Northeastern would keep renting to them. Northeastern acquired Mills College in 2021.
Last year, Northeastern informed parents that it would be closing the Mills College Children’s School, a 99-year-old elementary school also situated on the campus that had long served as a training lab for Mills students pursuing education degrees. In December, the Aurora School in Rockridge offered a lifeline, announcing it would welcome students and staff from the Children’s School.
“The most critical financial question relates to real estate and the search for a permanent home,” the Julia Morgan report said.
“Northeastern’s Oakland campus has been home to the Julia Morgan School for Girls since 2003,” said Renata Nyul, vice president for communications for Northeastern University. “The university values its partnership with the school and will continue to host them through the current lease term of 2029. As Northeastern’s enrollment, curriculum and programs expand in Oakland, the university will continue to reimagine its campus facilities to best serve our growing student population.”
We’ve reached out to the Julia Morgan School for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
Julia Morgan, which currently serves about 75 students, started 30 years ago with a goal of fostering intellect, creativity, and a sense of social justice among girls in the East Bay.
The 100-year-old Bellevue Club building was expected to become an elite social club. Credit: Amir Aziz/The Oaklandside
The Beaux-Arts building on Bellevue first opened in 1929 as a women’s athletic club.
In 2021, tech entrepreneurs Michael and Xochi Birch, the couple behind the luxury San Francisco social club the Battery, purchased the now-vacant Bellevue building for close to $10 million and announced plans to open a branch in Oakland.
In 2024, a spokesperson representing the owners told The Oaklandside that “while there are indeed future expansion plans, at this time, the team is currently exploring how best to bring the Bellevue space back to life while also maintaining its beauty and stature.”
The club never opened and, in 2025, the owners listed the historic building for sale. The planning documents the Birches filed with Oakland are listed as “withdrawn.”
A representative for the Battery did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. We also reached out to Northeastern University and did not immediately hear back.
Darwin BondGraham and Azucena Rasilla contributed reporting.
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