{"id":233313,"date":"2026-03-24T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233313\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T00:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:01:51","slug":"uc-berkeley-dorm-could-rise-26-stories-at-old-southside-private-school-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/233313\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Berkeley dorm could rise 26 stories at old Southside private school site"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A preliminary rendering published Monday by UC Berkeley depicts a dorm planned for the intersection of Channing Way and Bowditch Street. Credit: SOM\/UC Berkeley Capital Strategies<\/p>\n

The 23-story UC Berkeley dorm under construction at the corner of Bancroft Way and Fulton Street, set to be the biggest in the university\u2019s history<\/a>, might not hold that title for long.<\/p>\n

The next student housing complex Cal is planning to build, atop the former campus of the Anna Head School for Girls in the Southside neighborhood, would rise 26 stories and have more than 1,500 beds, according to a webpage for the project<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The university plans to demolish three of the former private school campus\u2019 six buildings to make way for the dorm at Channing Way and Bowditch Street. That has outraged preservationists<\/a>, who campaigned for Cal to build a smaller housing complex that would spare the Anna Head campus\u2019 Channing Hall<\/a>, a brown-shingle building that dates back to 1892, from the wrecking ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UC Berkeley spokesperson Kyle Gibson said the university is still determining the exact size of the planned dorm, but that it would be \u201csomewhere near\u201d a 2,000-bed maximum size spelled out in a notice of preparation document<\/a> published last week ahead of the project\u2019s environmental impact report<\/a>. The document refers to the project as \u201cAnna Head House.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complex would be made up of two connected towers, Gibson said, the taller one along Channing Way and another of up to 14 stories along Bowditch. In that sense, the project would be like a super-sized version of the dorm under construction across the street at the former site of People\u2019s Park<\/a>, where two buildings standing 12 and seven stories are linked by a breezeway.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The complex would be made up of two connected towers, Gibson said, the taller one along Channing Way and another of up to 14 stories along Bowditch. Credit: SOM\/UC Berkeley Capital Strategies<\/p>\n

UC Berkeley\u2019s plans call for building a dining facility on the ground floor of the complex. Anna Head School\u2019s Alumnae Hall, one of three buildings the university renovated several years ago, would be connected to the new structure and converted into a seating area for the dining hall. Two other renovated Anna Head buildings would also stay put.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The restored pool-gymnasium and cottage at Anna Head School. Credit:\u00a0Stephen Schafer<\/a><\/p>\n

Gibson said UC Berkeley plans to pursue environmental clearance for the project through this year, then seek approval from the Board of Regents next year to proceed with construction.<\/p>\n

Officials at UC Berkeley, which houses the smallest percentage of its student body<\/a> among the 10 UC campuses, set out in 2017 to build 9,000 new student beds. More than 2,400 have opened since then at projects such as the Helen Diller Anchor House in downtown Berkeley<\/a>, and the xu\u010dyun ruwway complex in Albany<\/a>. The People\u2019s Park project is set to add just over 1,100 beds, and the dorm at Bancroft and Fulton will bring another 1,625.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Preservationists hope UC Berkeley will change course<\/p>\n

Founded by one of UC Berkeley\u2019s first women graduates, Anna Head, the private school occupied the site at Channing and Bowditch from 1887 until the university acquired the property by eminent domain in the 1950s. The school moved to Oakland and later merged with the Royce School for Boys, creating the co-ed Head-Royce School.<\/p>\n

While it has fallen into disrepair, Channing Hall was the first brown-shingle building in Berkeley, where the style would become one of the city\u2019s defining architectural forms<\/a>. In a letter to the university<\/a> last December, Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Denise Hall Montgomery wrote that the demolition of Channing Hall \u201cwould be among the most significant losses to the architectural and cultural history of the West Coast in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Chapman, a historian and founder of the group Saving Anna Head School, said the organization\u2019s members are \u201cterribly disappointed\u201d by UC Berkeley\u2019s plans for the site. As the university solicits public feedback on the plans in its environmental review, Saving Anna Head School is encouraging opponents of the project to weigh in against it, in a last-ditch effort to change the mind of campus leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t made any final decisions, so they can change course,\u201d Chapman said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Study Hall, 1917-20.<\/p>\n

\"\"Channing Hall, 1892.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Gables, 1895-1923.
\nCredit Head-Royce School<\/p>\n

His group has instead backed a plan he said was initially put forward by a university consultant to build an 850-bed dorm at the site, while preserving Channing Hall. Chapman said the university\u2019s new proposal \u2013 which could more than double the height of the People\u2019s Park dorm, which has become the tallest structure in the Southside neighborhood \u2013 is \u201cvery much out of scale\u201d with the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UC Berkeley officials have said it would cost at least $30 million to renovate Channing Hall, and that the university would not have a use for the building if it was restored. Cal will finance the construction of the dorm using bonds that will be paid back with its future revenue, Gibson said, but there would be no such mechanism to finance the restoration of Channing Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a January response<\/a> to the Landmarks Commission\u2019s letter, Wendy Hillis, the university\u2019s assistant vice chancellor and campus architect, wrote that UC Berkeley is committed to preserving historic resources, but added, \u201cThe campus is not a museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the scale of the project, Gibson argues that UC Berkeley\u2019s move to house more of its students will relieve pressure on the city\u2019s private housing market, and benefit students by ensuring more of them can live within easy walking distance of the university.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re committed to building densely and close to campus, so that as many students as possible can live close to campus,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kate Darby Rauch contributed reporting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: SOM\/UC Berkeley Capital Strategies<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: SOM\/UC Berkeley Capital Strategies<\/p>\n

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