Kingman Hall is located at 1730 La Loma Avenue near the northeast corner of the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
campus. As part of the
Berkeley Student Cooperative
The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) (formerly known as University Students' Cooperative Association or the USCA) is a student housing cooperative serving primarily UC Berkeley students, but open to any full-time post-secondary student. The BS ...
, Kingman Hall houses 50 residents, known as Kingmanites or Toadies. It is named after Harry Kingman, the former YMCA director who in 1933 inspired 14 students to start a student cooperative.
The house was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark in January 1999.
History
The house at 1730 La Loma Avenue was designed by the San Francisco architects Charles Drysdale and Harry Thomsen, Jr. It was built in 1914 as a chapter house for the
Theta Xi
Theta Xi () is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on April 29, 1864. Of all the social fraternities today, Theta Xi was the only one founded during the Civil War. It ...
engineering fraternity for $27,000 by Barry Building Co. of
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
.
The building survived the devastating
1923 Berkeley Fire
__NOTOC__
The 1923 Berkeley Fire was a conflagration that consumed some 640 structures, including 584 homes in the densely-built neighborhoods north of the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California on September 17, 1923.
Alth ...
, which burned close to 600 buildings north of the Berkeley campus. The Nu chapter of Theta Xi resided there until 1964, when the fraternity was disbanded owing to anti-Greek sentiment on the Berkeley campus.
The house was almost sold to developers as a site for high-rise apartments, but instead embarked on a more bizarre career. In 1964 it became known as Toad Hall and served as a rooming house for male students. In 1969, it was purchased by a
Hayward attorney named Harold Mefford, who made it co-ed and also rented it out to non-students. The house reportedly functioned more as a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
than a rooming house.
One of the residents was Joy,
Country Joe McDonald
Joseph Allen "Country Joe" McDonald (born January 1, 1942) is an American musician who was the lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish.Richard Brenneman"Country Joe McDonald Revives Anti-War Anthem", ''Berkeley ...
's personal secretary, who lived in a basement room. Author/
Merry Prankster Ken Kesey
Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s.
Kesey was born in ...
(not to be confused with author/future owner Ken Keyes, Jr.) and musician
David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...
used to buy their drugs from a Toad Hall dealer, with their cars often seen parked in front of the house.
During this period, Toad Hall was considered by some as the epicenter of Berkeley counterculture.
In 1973, Mefford sold the building for $127,000, to
Ken Keyes, Jr.
Ken Keyes Jr. (January 19, 1921 – December 20, 1995) was an American personal growth author and lecturer, and the creator of the Living Love method, a self-help system. Keyes wrote fifteen books on personal growth and social consciousness issues ...
, author of ''Living Love – a Way to Higher Consciousness'' and the building became the Berkeley Living Love Center. "The Living Love Way" was disseminated via broadcasts on
KQED-FM
KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a NPR-member radio station in San Francisco, California. Its parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns its television partners, both of which are PBS member outlets: KQED (channel 9) and KQEH (channel 54). Studio ...
every Saturday evening. A 52-hour morning-noon-and-night group workshop, designed by Keyes, offered the opportunity for a breakthrough toward higher consciousness. The center's brochure stated:
We use simple living arrangements in which the participants of the Intensive sleep on a carpeted floor of a large room. The morning breathing exercises are done without clothing. We suggest that you bring a blanket or sleeping bag, a towel, toilet articles, and simple clothing. We request no drugs be brought into the Center, and that there be no sexual activity during the Friday through Sunday period of the Intensive.
The center claimed tax exemption as a religious organization and operated on a non-profit basis.
As with the house under Mefford, Toad Hall was a major irritant to its neighbors, and complaints were regularly filed with the city. In 1976, the center approached the city of Berkeley with an offer to donate the property for park use, if it could be determined that it was located on the
Hayward Fault
The Hayward Fault Zone is a right-lateral strike-slip geologic fault zone capable of generating destructive earthquakes. This fault is about long, situated mainly along the western base of the hills on the east side of San Francisco Bay. It runs ...
line. They felt it would be a violation of the "Law of Higher Consciousness" to simply sell the property to someone else. This fell through and the building was sold in 1977 to
Berkeley Student Cooperative
The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) (formerly known as University Students' Cooperative Association or the USCA) is a student housing cooperative serving primarily UC Berkeley students, but open to any full-time post-secondary student. The BS ...
(BSC) for $300,000.
The Living Love Center relocated to a farm-university in
St. Mary, Kentucky. After its purchase, the house was renamed Kingman Hall, after
Harry L. Kingman, director of the local University
YMCA
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
who encouraged BSC founders to start the cooperative in 1933.
Housing Cooperative
Kingman Hall is part of the
Berkeley Student Cooperative
The Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) (formerly known as University Students' Cooperative Association or the USCA) is a student housing cooperative serving primarily UC Berkeley students, but open to any full-time post-secondary student. The BS ...
(BSC) a
student housing cooperative
A student housing cooperative, also known as co-operative housing, is a housing cooperative for student members. Members live in alternative cooperative housing that they personally own and maintain. These houses are designed to lower housing cos ...
serving primarily
UC 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. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
students, but also open to any full-time post-secondary student. There are approximately 1,300 members in 17 houses and three apartment buildings. Kingman Hall houses 50 students and there are 30 units - 11 singles, 18 doubles and one triple.
In addition there is a restaurant sized kitchen, a large dining room, as well as a roof deck and an outdoor amphitheater.
There is a requirement for each member to provide a five hour work shift each week. Council meetings are held every week, with decisions made through a majority vote.
Landmark status
In 1998–1999, in response to the residents' application to construct a deck on the roof of the building, the neighbors sought landmark designation for the building by the city's Designation Commission. The neighbors were successful and the house was designated a landmark with the commission denying Kingman's permit application. As a response Kingman appealed to the Berkeley City Council and was successful. The permit was issued with use restrictions, resulting in the deck being built. Under the restrictions Kingman residents are not allowed to use the deck after 9 pm.
Gallery
File:Lincoln Kingman.jpg
File:Pink Floyd Kingman.jpg
File:Public space Kingman.jpg
File:Toad Mural Kingman.jpg
File:David Bowie Kingman Hall.jpg
File:Orange hallway mural Kingman Hall.jpg
File:Butterfly Gate.jpg
Notes
References
Further reading
*State of California Historic Resources Inventory, 2/13/79, compiled by Betty Marvin.
*City of Berkeley Landmark Application, 11/98, written by Daniella Thompson.
*"A Center for happiness?" Berkeley Gazette, Saturday, April 14, 1973.
*"Student Co-op Buys Living Love Home" Daily Californian, May 24, 1977.
*G.A. Pettitt, Berkeley, the Town & Gown of It, 1973.
External links
History of Theta Xi Chapter House from the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association
* Berkeley Student Cooperative {{Official website, http://bsc.coop/
The Green Book— ''a collection of BSC history''.
Berkeley Student Cooperative
Buildings and structures in Berkeley, California
Cooperatives in the San Francisco Bay Area
Student housing cooperatives in the United States
History of Berkeley, California
Residential buildings in Alameda County, California