The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism is housed in North Gate Hall, a designated
National Historic Landmark in the
National Register of Historic Places. It is located immediately southeast of the intersection of Euclid and Hearst avenues in Berkeley, Calif., on the campus of
UC Berkeley. The name is derived from the general area in front of the school called "North Gate," represented by two stone pillars. It serves as the northernmost entrance of the primary University compound, and is opposite to
Sather Gate, the southernmost entrance of the University. North Gate Hall was built in 1904 as a building known at the time as the "Ark" to house the architectural department. The building cost $4,394.59 to construct and consisted of an atelier, office for
John Galen Howard and an architectural library with volumes donated by
Phoebe Apperson Hearst – mother to
William Randolph Hearst. The building was one of many on campus which did not follow the typical
Beaux-Arts architectural style, which had been regarded the most cultured, beautiful and "scientific" style of the cultural establishment at the time. Instead, the building was made only to be temporary, non-academic, or not particularly "serious." Other such buildings in the shingle or "
Collegiate Gothic" style on campus include: North Gate Hall, Dwinelle Annex, Stephens Hall and the Men's Faculty Club. A second addition to the Ark was completed in 1908, increasing the size of the building to . The new addition was built further up the hill (easterly) and houses what is known today as the Greenhouse and upper and lower newsrooms. In 1936, Walter Steilberg designed a library wing composed of reinforced concrete-panel, a stark contrast to the dark shingled appearance of the original building. In 1957, the architecture school was united with the departments of Landscape Architecture, City and regional Planning, and Decorative Arts to form the
College of Environmental Design. The "Ark" was relocated to Wurster Hall in 1964, and the building was renamed the Engineering Research Services Building. It later was renamed "North Gate Hall," and served as the location for the Graduate School of Journalism. North Gate Hall was occupied by the journalism school in 1981. In 1993 the building underwent extensive seismic renovations causing uproar from Berkeley
preservationists who had saved the building from destruction 17 years earlier. It was reported by the
San Francisco Chronicle that dry rot had set into much of the building. Damage from aging was so bad, one teacher said he could puncture a supporting column with his fountain pen. It was classified as Berkeley campus' most vulnerable buildings in an earthquake. == References ==