Dwinelle Hall

Last updated May 20, 2024

Dwinelle Hall is the second largest building on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It was completed in 1952. It is named after John W. Dwinelle, the state assemblyman responsible for the Organic Act that established the University of California in 1868, and who went on to serve as one of the first Regents of the University of California. Dwinelle is home to many of the humanities and social sciences departments of the College of Letters and Science: namely, the departments of classics, rhetoric, linguistics, history, comparative literature, South and Southeast Asian studies, film studies, French, German, Italian studies, Scandinavian, Slavic languages, Spanish and Portuguese, and gender and women's studies.^[1]

Although many myths surround the odd construction of the building, Dwinelle Hall was designed by Ernest E. Weihe, Edward L. Frick, and Lawrence A. Kruse, with landscape artists Eckbo Royston & Williams. Construction was completed in 1953, with expansion completed in 1998.^[2] The southern block of Dwinelle Hall contains three levels of classrooms as well as four lecture halls, and the northern block houses seven stories of faculty and department offices.^[3] While the northern office block of Dwinelle is often referred to as the "Dwinelle Annex," it should not be confused with the Dwinelle Annex, which is a wooden building located to the west of Dwinelle Hall.^[3]

The Dwinelle Annex was designed by John Galen Howard and built in 1920. Until 1933, it was used for military science, after which it was used for music from 1933 to 1958. During these periods of use, it was called the Military Sciences Building and the Music Building. Some remodeling was done in 1933 to accommodate the music department, and in 1949, it was enlarged to include a music library. Dramatic Arts and Comparative Literature moved into the building in 1958. More recently, the College Writing Program occupied the top floor. The annex is currently occupied by the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies.

Construction

The location and design of Dwinelle Hall was chosen to allow easier access for the expanded student body after World War II, as well as for faculty after the center of campus shifted southward towards Sather Gate. Dwinelle's odd shape was not created on a whim or by accident. The north wing and office block are aligned with Berkeley's older buildings like California Hall, Wheeler Hall, and Doe Memorial Library (which are all aligned along a southwesterly axis pointing towards the Golden Gate), while the southern wing is aligned with the (at the time) newer section of campus containing Sproul Hall as well as the city grid to the south.^[4]

Norman Jensen oversaw the construction of Dwinelle Hall, and the same firm that constructed San Francisco City Hall, Arthur Brown, Jr., selected the company of Weihe, Frick and Kruse to construct the building. The construction site was initially intended for two separate buildings, and the annex was to be built with lower ceilings, and simple heating and ventilation systems, because it was designed to house offices rather than classrooms. Reinforced concrete was used in construction because "granite was no longer a viable facing option."^[5]

The Dwinelle Expansion Project began in 1996 and was completed in 1998. The project included the addition of two new floors to the office block, cost $10 million, expanded the building about 20%,^[5] and required the temporary removal of the roof.

Dwinelle is frequently referred to as the "Freshman Maze" because of its confusing architecture. Soon after the building's construction, according to author William Rodarmor, students would "enter Dwinelle in their freshman year and emerge, blinking in the sunshine, just in time for graduation."^[5] As it was constructed on a slope, there are separate entrances to the building that connect directly to the first, second, third, and fourth floors. Classrooms require higher ceilings than offices, so the two wings' floors do not match up. On every floor, there is a hallway or staircase to connect the classroom wing to the office wing, and it is possible, positioned in certain areas of the building, to view five staircases, two elevators, and four hallways.

Floor plan

Level	Classrooms	Offices
G		7000s
F	300s Common Grounds	6000s
E	200s	5000s
D	100s	4000s
C	1-99	3000s
B	B1–B99	2000s Ishi Court
A		1000s

The office wing consists of seven floors, A (bottom) through G (top). There are exits on levels A and B. Level B has access to Ishi Court, a courtyard in the center of the office wing. Offices have four-digit numbers. The 1000s are located on level A, the 2000s on level B, the 3000s on level C, etc. There is also an attic area in the office wing.

The classroom wing consists of five levels, B through F. There are exits on levels C and D; level B is underground. Levels C, D, and E in the classroom wing connect to levels C, D, E, and F in the office wing. Level F in the classroom wing connects directly to level G in the office wing. Classrooms have two- or three-digit numbers. Classrooms on level B have numbers beginning with "B", such as B55. Classrooms on level C have two-digit numbers. Level D consists of the 100s, level E of the 200s, and level F of the 300s. Cal Dining operates the Common Grounds cafe (temporarily closed) on level F of the classroom wing.

Related Research Articles

Wesleyan College is a private, liberal arts women's college in Macon, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1836, Wesleyan was the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women. It opened in 1839, two years after the opening of Mount Holyoke College.

Heng Ee High School is a Chinese conforming national-type Catholic secondary school located in George Town, Penang.

Marycrest College Historic District is located on a bluff overlooking the West End of Davenport, Iowa, United States. The district encompasses the campus of Marycrest College, which was a small, private collegiate institution. The school became Teikyo Marycrest University and finally Marycrest International University after affiliating with a Japanese educational consortium during the 1990s. The school closed in 2002 because of financial shortcomings. The campus has been listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties and on the National Register of Historic Places since 2004. At the time of its nomination, the historic district consisted of 13 resources, including six contributing buildings and five non-contributing buildings. Two of the buildings were already individually listed on the National Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albany High School (New York)</span> High school in Albany, New York

Albany High School (AHS) in Albany, New York, United States, is a public high school with an enrollment of about 7,427 students for the 2023-2024 school year. The school is part of the City School District of Albany. It opened on September 7, 1868, as the Albany Free Academy. Albany High has been located at 700 Washington Avenue since 1974. The school is an International Baccalaureate school with an Advanced Placement program. The school newspaper is The Nest, the literary magazine is Inkblot, and the yearbook is Prisms.

Brisbane Central Technical College is a heritage-listed technical college at 2 George Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1911 to 1956. It became the Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT) in 1965, and then in 1987 that became the Queensland University of Technology. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 27 August 1999.

Anderson Hall is the central administration building for Kansas State University in the city of Manhattan, Kansas, United States. Designed by Erasmus T. Carr, it was originally called the Practical Agriculture Building when the first wing was completed in 1879. In 1902, it was renamed "Anderson Hall" in honor of John Alexander Anderson, the second president of Kansas State Agricultural College. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. At 744,695 square feet (69,184.4 m²) it is the largest academic-use building on campus, providing administrative offices, classrooms, lecture halls, a food court, and computer labs. The hall sits on the former site of Forbes Field and contains several artifacts, including the former stadium's home plate and one of two surviving Langley Aerodromes.

Penn State Shenango is a commonwealth campus of the Pennsylvania State University that is located in Sharon, Pennsylvania. Penn State Shenango is the only urban campus in the Penn State system, although some parts of Penn State Altoona that are located in the heart of Altoona's downtown are urban in nature.

The campus of the University of California, Berkeley, and its surrounding community are home to a number of notable buildings by early 20th-century campus architect John Galen Howard, his peer Bernard Maybeck, and their colleague Julia Morgan. Subsequent tenures as supervising architect held by George W. Kelham and Arthur Brown, Jr. saw the addition of several buildings in neoclassical and other revival styles, while the building boom after World War II introduced modernist buildings by architects such as Vernon DeMars, Joseph Esherick, John Carl Warnecke, Gardner Dailey, Anshen & Allen, and Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Recent decades have seen additions including the postmodernist Haas School of Business by Charles Willard Moore, Soda Hall by Edward Larrabee Barnes, and the East Asian Library by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

Voorhees Mall is a large grassy area with stately shade trees on a block of about 28 acres (0.11 km²) located on the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers University near downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. An eclectic mix of architectural styles, Voorhees Mall is lined by many historic academic buildings. The block is bound by Hamilton Street, George Street (north), College Avenue (south) and Seminary Place (west). At the mall's western end, across Seminary Place, is the campus of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, whose history is intertwined with the early history of Rutgers University. Across Hamilton Street is the block called Old Queens, the seat of the university.

The Clapp-Langley-Crawford halls complex, comprises three inter-connected buildings and the Life Science Annex that house the Department of Biological Science and the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

The Keele Campus is the main campus of York University in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It occupies roughly 1 square kilometre of land and is situated between Jane Street to the west, Keele Street to the east, Steeles Avenue West to the north and Finch Avenue West to the south. It is the largest post-secondary campus in Canada at 457 acres (185 ha).

McMillan Hall is a building on the campus of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania, United States. Built in 1793, it is the only surviving building from Washington Academy. It is the eighth-oldest academic building in the United States that is still in use for its original academic purpose and is the oldest surviving college building west of the Allegheny Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Hall (Valdosta State University)</span>

West Hall, built in 1917, is the oldest building at Valdosta State University and features a distinctive dome and Spanish-mission architecture. It is also the center of academic activity at VSU, with numerous classrooms, departments, and offices. West Hall is named in honor of Colonel W.S. West, who as a Georgia state senator, led the legislation for the creation of a college in Valdosta through the Georgia Senate and donated the property that is now the main part of campus to the state for use by the new institution.

LeConte Hall is the former name of a building on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, which is home to the physics department. LeConte Hall was one of the largest physics buildings in the world at the time it was opened in 1924, and was also the site of the first atom collider, built by Ernest O. Lawrence in 1931.

California Hall is one of the original "classical core" Beaux-Arts-style Classical Revival buildings on the UC Berkeley campus. Construction began in 1903 under the lead of University Architect John Galen Howard after the university's adoption of the Phoebe Hearst master architectural plan for the Berkeley campus. The building opened in August, 1905. In 1982, it was named to the National Register of Historic Places, and is designated as an architectural feature of California Historic Landmark no. 946. In 1991, the Landmarks Preservation Committee of the City of Berkeley designated it Berkeley City Landmark no. 147. It currently houses the University of California Berkeley Chancellor's Office and the Graduate Division.

Dalby State High School is a heritage-listed state high school at 28B Nicholson Street, Dalby, Western Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1953 to 1954. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 19 August 2016.

Warwick State High School is a heritage-listed state high school at Palmerin Street, Warwick, Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Thomas Pye and Block A was built from 1914 to 1915. It is also known as Warwick Technical College and Warwick Intermediate School. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 June 2018.

Cowell Memorial Hospital , is a historical former building in downtown Berkeley, California. The Cowell Memorial Hospital was built in 1930 and demolished in 1993. The building and it site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 6, 1993. The hospital's entrance and Hospital's south wing were designed by Arthur Brown Jr. in the Neoclassical style and built in 1930. The hospital's east pavilion, designed by Weihe, Frick & Kruse and built in 1954. The hospital's north wing was designed by E. Geoffrey Bangs and built in 1960. After being demolished in 1993, a new building was built, Haas School of Business. The Cowell Memorial Hospital has a Residence Program from 1962 to 1974, noted for its work with disabled students. National Register of Historic Places was given both for the buildings and the contribution it health care work. Some of the work noted is the called the Cowell experiment, by Ed Roberts, The Father of Independent Living.

References

Citations

↑ University of California, Berkeley. "Interactive Campus Map" . Retrieved November 16, 2013.
↑ Hefland 2001 , p. 75
1 2 "Dwinelle Hall Maps & Directories". Archived from the original on October 30, 2003.
↑ Hefland 2001 , pp. 75–76
1 2 3 Hefland 2001 , p. 76

Works cited

Hefland, Harvey (2001). University of California, Berkeley: The Campus Guide. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1-56898-293-9.

External links

Archived copy of an official Dwinelle Website
Information about all UC Berkeley campus buildings
The mysterious and mildly interesting story of Dwinelle Hall, an article on The Daily Californian
Dwinelle Navigator, a virtual map used for step-by-step directions between classes at Dwinelle Hall

37°52′14″N122°15′38″W / 37.87068°N 122.26044°W / 37.87068; -122.26044

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] University of California, Berkeley. "Interactive Campus Map" . Retrieved November 16, 2013.

[2] Hefland 2001 , p. 75

[MapsDirectoriesMenu-3] 1 2 "Dwinelle Hall Maps & Directories". Archived from the original on October 30, 2003.

[4] Hefland 2001 , pp. 75–76

[hef76-5] 1 2 3 Hefland 2001 , p. 76

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]