University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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by the Board of Regents of the unconditional offer of Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst in Octo- ber, 18%, to contribute the funds necessary to obtain by international competition, plans for the Utting architectural improvement of the University grounds at Berke- ley. The formulation of a practicable scheme or programme, setting forth the com- pleted idea and embodying the objects and terms of the Competition, as well as the requirements of the University, was left to a Board of Trustees, to whom the exe- cution of the project in its entirety was entrusted, and of which Regent J. B. Rein- stein and Professor William Carey Jones are the active members. To the wisdom of these far-sighted gentlemen, whose self-sacrificing zeal in behalf of the whole idea has been solely prompted by motives of genuine interest in the progress of California ' s State University, the results of the Competition are a testimony. Mr. Maybeck was sent to Europe in the interests of the scheme. He succeeded in interesting the foremost men in the architectural art throughout England, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Much information as to the best mode of pro- cedure was gathered by Mr. Maybeck. In conjunction with Monsieur Guadet, of Paris, he outlined a programme for the Competition. Many of those architects who were unable to enter the Competition enriched the idea with the benefit of their experience in similar competitions on lesser scales. The broad-minded policy inaugurated by Mrs. Hearst in providing for an Inter- national Competition, testifying to her love for the State for whose University the best plan in the world should be procured, was again followed in the personnel of the Jury, which was also made international. The universal approval of this innovation of foreign competitors and foreign jurors and later of a foreign prize-winner for an American prize, bespeaks a wholesome tolerance of the people of our State for all things that contribute toward the purely ideal in art a sign that the greed-for-gold spirit that entered California in 1849 no longer dominates our people. The members of the Jury were chosen on account of the pre-eminence each had attained in his respective country. Monsieur J. L. Pascal, of Paris, the greatest teacher of his art in France, was chosen especially on account of his unusual experi- ence as juror in architectural competitions. Herr Dr. Paul Wallot, of Dresden, has risen to the first place among the architects of Germany. His greatest work is the new Reichstag Building in Berlin, which is the chief architectural monument of Prussia. Mr. R. Norman Shaw, of London, is by common consent of all the authorities, the leading architect of England. Upon the illness of Mr. Shaw, he was ably represented on the Jury of the Final Competition by Mr. John Belcher, of London, a member of the Council and Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and Examiner in Architecture at South Kensington. He has written a notable work on The Late Renaissance in England. Mr. Walter Cook, the American architect on the Jury, is a graduate of Harvard, and studied six years in Europe, when he returned to New York where he has since been associated with one of the largest firms of that city. The layman of the Jury was Mr. J. B. Reinstein, representing at once the University, the Regents and the Trustees. His close identification with the scheme from the time of its inception, as well as his thorough knowledge of the needs of the University, made him especially qualified to act as a Juror. A double Competition was provided for, the Preliminary to be held in Antwerp, 17

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The Architectural Competition Board of Trustees J. B. REINSTEIN. WILLIAM CAREY JONES. JAMES H. BUDD. Jury of Final Award J. L. PASCAL . . . Paris. PAUL WALLOT . . . Dresden. JOHN BELCHER. . . London. WALTER COOK . . . New York. J. B. REINSTEIN . . San Francisco. Prize Winners FIRST MONSIEUR E. BENARD Paris SECOND MESSRS. HOWELLS, STOKES AND HORNBOSTEL New York THIRD MESSRS. D. DESPRADELLE AND STEPHEN CODMAN Boston FOURTH MESSRS. HOWARD AND CAULDWELL New York FIFTH MESSRS. LORD, HEWLETT AND HULL New York M. BKNARD. |HE successful termination of the International Competition for the Phoebe A. Hearst Architectural Plan for our University, as evidenced by the award of the first prize to Monsieur E. Benard in September last, is a matter of history. The submission of the revised plan by the great architect and its speedy realization are awaited with interest by all those interested in the welfare and progress of California. It is the pleasant duty of the BLUE AND GOLD to present a brief resume of this wonderful Competition, as marking an epoch in the history of our University ' s development, and to point out as far as is possible what those now experiencing the inadequacy of our humble University home may hope to see realized for the succeeding generation. The project of adopting a permanent and comprehensive general plan, to which all subsequent buildings of the University should conform, was recognized by the Board of Regents as a necessity, and was approved by them early in the year 1896. They foresaw the manifold advantages of erecting the successive buildings, so that each should contribute to the architectural whole, over a confused collection of inde- pendently erected and unrelated buildings, which conglomerate mass would destroy the possibilities of the natural site. The idea was conceived by Mr. B. R. Maybeck, who proposed that the inharmonious structures now situated on the University site be obliterated, and that in their places a noble and co-ordinated group be erected. The need of such a general scheme of buildings was satisfied by the acceptance

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