Duncan McDuffie (September 24, 1877 – 1951) was a
real estate developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...
,
conservationist, and
mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
based 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 Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...
, United States.
Developer
McDuffie is best known for developing the
Claremont and
Northbrae neighborhoods of
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
and
St. Francis Wood district in San Francisco. His upscale developments were laid out as "residential parks," with streets following the contours of hills and underground power lines. His developments included
racial covenant
A covenant, in its most general sense and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a se ...
s to exclude non-whites from home ownership, and he also promoted
single-family zoning
Single-family zoning is a type of planning restriction applied to certain residential zones in the United States and Canada in order to restrict development to only allow single-family detached homes. It disallows townhomes, duplexes, and multi-f ...
laws to exclude non-whites.
Conservationist
McDuffie was a notable conservationist, and was president of the
Sierra Club from 1928 to 1931 and 1943–1946.
East Bay Regional Park District
In 1934 McDuffie helped create the
East Bay Regional Park District
The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) is a special district operating in Alameda County and Contra Costa County, California, within the East Bay area of the San Francisco Bay Area. It maintains and operates a system of regional parks which ...
in the
Berkeley Hills
The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la ...
.
California state parks
McDuffie helped establish the California state park system with the help of his friend Governor
C. C. Young
Clement Calhoun Young (April 28, 1869 – December 24, 1947) was an American educator and politician who was affiliated with the original Progressive Party and later the Republican Party. He was elected to five consecutive terms in the Californ ...
. He won the
Pugsley Medal
The Pugsley Medal was created by Cornelius Amory Pugsley in 1928. The award honors champions of parks and conservation.
Responsibility for selecting the recipients has shifted from the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society to the Na ...
for his service on the
California State Parks Commission.
Mountaineer
McDuffie was an accomplished
mountaineer
Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...
in the
Sierra Nevada, and made first ascents of
Mount Abbot and
Black Kaweah
Black Kaweah is a mountain of the Kaweah Peaks Ridge of the California's Sierra Nevada, in Sequoia National Park. The peak has a local magnetic disturbance that has caused compasses in the vicinity to vary by up to eight degrees.
Fulgurite
...
.
Along with
Joseph N. LeConte and
James S. Hutchinson, he pioneered a high mountain route in 1908 from
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...
to
Kings Canyon, roughly along the route of the modern
John Muir Trail
The John Muir Trail (JMT) ( Paiute: Nüümü Poyo, ''N-ue-mue Poh-yo'') is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. From the northern terminus a ...
. In 28 days, they completed a trip of 228 miles through the high mountains, including several previously unexplored sections.
[Parsons, Harriet, edited by David R. Brower, Sierra Club: A Handbook, "Mountaineering", Sierra Club, San Francisco, 1947, page 16]
McDuffie suffered from
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
for nearly 20 years before his death in 1951. The Sierra peak
Mount McDuffie is named after him.
References
External links and sources
Duncan McDuffie: Cornelius Amory Pugsley Silver Medal Award, 1928 SIGNATURE STYLE: Duncan McDuffie - Natural neighborhoods: Visionary developer created elegant urban 'residential parks', San Francisco Chronicle, Dave Weinstein, February 7, 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDuffie, Duncan
Sierra Club directors
American mountain climbers
Architects from California
Businesspeople from California
Real estate and property developers
Businesspeople from Berkeley, California
1877 births
1951 deaths
People with Parkinson's disease