Heywood Building
CITY OF BERKELEY LANDMARK
designated in 1993
HEYWOOD BUILDING
James W. Plachek, Architect, 1917, Jim Novosel: The Bay Architects, 1994
This small commercial building was built for William
Heywood, son of Berkeley pioneer Zimri Brewer Heywood.
The upstairs was used as the architectural offices of James
W. Plachek, designer of many buildings in downtown Berkeley,
including the Berkeley Public Library. The elaborate glazed
terra-cotta façade with double rope molding and Gothic wall
tracery was produced by Gladding, McBean & Co., of
Lincoln, California, whose terra-cotta also decorated
Oakland’s Paramount theater and other spectacular
Beaux Arts and Art Deco buildings. Glazed terra-cotta
on commercial buildings was considered fire resistant
and conveyed a sense of elegance and high style.
The building’s ground floor was renovated and
partially restored in 1994.
Berkeley Historical Plaque Project
2000