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

March 2023 – Council Work Session 3/21

The City Council had a special “work session” meeting on March 21. The CCCC had sent a letter to all concerned stating several points that we believe the Council should take into consideration. The Vision Team’s report of more than 160 pages, summarizing recommendations and estimated costs, is here.

February 2023 – Presentation for Super-Subcommittee

The slide deck for the February 9, 2023 Super Subcommittee meeting is here. It includes some public survey data. The new drawings for the Maudelle Shirek Building allocate a significant amount of space to city offices and “support spaces” despite only 42% of respondents favoring such uses. The Historical Society museum is distributed onto parts…

February 2023 – Planning Phase 2 Continues

The Civic Center Vision Team will present and discuss updated design concepts with the “Super Sub Committee” composed of representatives from several City Commissions in an online meeting, open to the public, on Thursday, February 9, at 11:30 am. They are planning a workshop for Berkeley High students the following week and are hoping to…

January 2023 – Parks Commission Also Okays Turtle Island Design Concept

The Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission met on January 11 and voted to approve the new concept. CCCC members, who met on January 12, remain skeptical about its feasibility and will ask that cost estimates be developed ASAP. Our next meeting will be at noon on January 30, prior to the City Council receiving a…

December 2022 – Turtle Island, continued

The Civic Arts Commission voted unanimously on December 7 to approve the new conceptual design as presented by Lee Sprague and Marlene Watson. Representatives of the Berkeley Indigenous People’s Day Pow Wows group spoke in support and stated that the design has the blessing of local Ohlone leader Corrina Gould. CCCC members commented about the…

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

We meet on Zoom, generally about once a month. 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, or email berkeleycccc@gmail.com.

Our next meeting will be on Monday, April 3, 2023, at 12 noon on Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84774865934?pwd=T1RNOTc2TTNxUnFmTGJpNmNTZmFwUT09).

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.