Enter the Studio Building and you'll find the building's name set into the tile floor at the entrance, accompanied by an image of an artist's palette. Built in 1905 for Frederick H. Dakin's real estate investment company, it served as a home for many creatives. The California College of the Arts began its journey here in 1907 as its first home. Other early tenants included architect John Hudson Thomas, painters Henry J. Breuer and Evelyn A. Withrow, and photographers Oscar Maurer and Edwin James McCullagh.
In 1910, a school of performing arts opened there, adding another layer of creative activity to the site. The five-story building is built of masonry with a tiled mansard roof and rounded upper floor window bays. The first-floor bays, used as shop fronts, were originally built in the form of a series of alternating rounded and pointed arches, although some of these have since been covered.
The building was likely designed by Clarence Dakin and was the tallest building in downtown Berkeley at the time of its construction. By the time of Frederick Dakin's death in 1917, the building was called the Berkeley Hotel. After being restored in the late 1970s, it has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
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