BAHA Fall House Tour: Berkeley Mid-Century Modern

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association’s 2025 fall tour will present a group of twentieth-century mid-century modern houses built in the North Berkeley Hills. Featuring works designed by William Wurster, John Funk, Charles Warren Callister, John Ekin Dinwiddie, and other seminal Bay Area architects, this tour is the most comprehensive of its kind to date. It will survey the range of work known as the Second Bay Tradition, the modernist continuation of the woodsy regionally-specific works originated by Bernard Maybeck, Ernest Coxhead, and A.C. Schweinfurth.When the historian Lewis Mumford first examined the “Bay Region Style” in a 1947 New Yorker column, the ensuing bicoastal debate highlighted the Bay Area’s tendency to humanize modernism and California’s independence from the pretensions so typical of “white box” modernism. Tour attendees will be invited to experience a significant selection of Berkeley’s modern houses, all of which support the assertion that architectural modernism on the West Coast was, indeed, different.The range of houses featured on the tour samples the progression of Berkeley’s modernism over the mid-twentieth century, from Wurster’s evolution from traditional styles to the exuberant designs of the 1960s. Including a selection of modern structures and gardens united by an interest in tradition and views, this tour seeks to make the case that local modernism is characterized by sunlight, wood, and an embrace of nature.

The tour is a self-guided tour and all houses will be located within a one-mile walking radius. Homes will have interiors, exteriors, and gardens open. The homes will be open from 1pm to 5pm and staffed with BAHA volunteers. Please wear walking shoes, bring water, and understand that the North Berkeley Hills can be steep. Street parking is available in the neighborhood, and it is recommended to park along larger streets (including Euclid Ave, La Loma Ave, and Buena Vista Way) and walk to the start of the tour. Please do not attempt to drive to individual houses and/or enter driveways.