Berkeley Community for a Cultural Civic Center – Connecting Berkeley's Past, Present & Future

YOU can help:

Save two beautiful, historic civic buildings from "demolition by neglect"
Make the Civic Center area "the heart of Berkeley"
Expand our city's cultural facilities

See What We're About to learn more, and join our email list to stay informed.

The City's Civic Center Vision Plan website is here. You can send the planning team emails and sign up for their email list.

Drawing for Berkeley City Hall by architects Bakewell and Brown.
Berkeley City Hall not long after completion in 1909. Source: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.
Maudelle Shirek Building. Photo by Stephen Rosen.
Entrance to Maudelle Shirek Building
Maudelle Shirek Building lobby
Detail of Shirek Building lobby
Shirek Building lobby detail
Mural about Maudelle Shirek, second floor
Council Chambers, Maudelle Shirek Building
The Romare Bearden mural that hung in the Council Chambers from 1973 to 2003
Postcard from the period when the BUSD administrative offices were in the Maudelle Shirek Building. Source: Berkeley Historical Society
Aerial view during City Hall construction. Source: Berkeley Historical Society
Architect's drawing of Veterans Memorial Building
Postcard, Veterans Memorial Building, 1940s. Courtesy Berkeley Historical Society.
Ecology Center Saturday Farmers Market
Detail of facade of Veterans Building with reliefs representing three wars. Photo by Ann Harlow 2020.
Veterans Building architectural detail. Source: Gehl Studio, 2020
Veterans Building lobby
Veterans Building auditorium. Source: Gehl Studio, 2020
Tile work in Veterans Building
Berkeley Historical Society museum entrance, Veterans Building
Berkeley Historical Society exhibit gallery
Civic Center Park with fountain under construction, ca. 1941
Civic Center Park and City Hall, 1940s
Annual review of Junior Safety Patrol, Civic Center Park, 1952. Source: Berkeley History Collection, Berkeley Public Library.
Civic Center Park has been the location of annual Indigenous Peoples Day events since 1992, when it was the first in the U.S. Source: Eric C., Foursquare
Counterprotesters in Civic Center Park and banners on Veterans Building, August 2017. Photo by Rob Gloster
Occupy Movement tents, 2011. Photo by John Aronovici
Civic Center Park. Source: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association
Peace Wall, created 1988: Over 5,000 tiles, mostly by Berkeley schoolchildren
Peace Wall detail
Climbing rocks in children's play area
Former fountain, Civic Center Park
Former fountain
Turtle Island Monument plan to replace fountain
Turtle Island Monument proposed design

Latest Updates

December 2025 – Talk of a New Infrastructure Bond Measure

On December 2, the City Council held a special afternoon meeting to discuss the future of Berkeley’s infrastructure, one of Mayor Ishii’s top priorities. Co-Chairs Ray Yep and Margo Schuler and other members of the Mayor’s Vision 2050 Task Force presented their final report, “Realize Vision 2050: Update to the Vision 2050 and Recommendations to…

Summer 2025 – Changes in Civic Center Park

A CalTrans grant (that had been expected to go toward a Turtle Island Monument) and Measure T1 funds enabled a number of projects in MLK Civic Center Park during 2025. As described on a City website, “The Civic Center Upper Plaza Improvements Project in downtown Berkeley renovated the eastern area of Civic Center Park around…

May 2024 – Council Allocates $300,000 for Phase III

On May 7, 2024, the City Council approved for the Fiscal Year 2025/2026 budget an allocation of $300,000 for the Civic Center Plan Phase III, “Advancing Pre-Design & Construction Activities.” It was authored by Councilmember Susan Wengraf and endorsed by Councilmember Sophie Hahn. It suggested that the funds be used for: 1. Existing Conditions Documentation…

July 2023 – Design Concept Approved

At a special meeting of the Berkeley City Council on July 25, the Council voted unanimously to declare the Council’s intention to: support the preferred design concept and necessary future studies and projects articulated in the plan developed by staff and consultants and direct staff to pursue the next steps identified in the plan, including…

July 2023 – Council Vote Postponed to July 25

The Civic Center agenda item was carried forward to a special session of the City Council on Tuesday, July 25, at 4 pm.

The CCCC group is open to any and all interested individuals, particularly those who live or work in Berkeley.

We meet on Zoom. Since 2023 we have not been meeting regularly, as we await progress reports from city staff and consultants. To receive notifications about future meetings and discussions, please use the "Join our email list" button below. You can send suggestions or questions using the same contact form.

Join our email list

You can help

. . . support the next steps by donating to CCCC via our fiscal agent, Berkeley Partners for Parks. Be sure to enter under Designation: “CCCC.”

Or, you can mail a check made out to “Berkeley Partners for Parks” at PO Box 12521, Berkeley, CA 94712, with “CCCC” in the memo field. Your donation will be tax-deductible.