Kingman Hall

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Kingman Hall is a student-run co-operative house for 50 residents, known as Kingmanites, in Berkeley, California, owned by the University Students' Cooperative Association. It is named after Harry Kingman, the former YMCA director who inspired 14 students to start the USCA in 1933. The house is located at 1730 La Loma Avenue on the northeast corner of the University of California, Berkeley campus. It was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark in January 1999.

1 History
2 Landmark status
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The house at 1730 La Loma Avenue was designed by the San Francisco architects Drysdale and Thomson and originally built as a chapter house for the Theta Xi fraternity in 1914 by Barry Building Co. of Oakland. The building was one of only a few that survived the devastating 1923 Berkeley Fire, which burned virtually all the buildings north of the Berkeley campus. The Nu chapter of Theta Xi resided there until 1964, when the fraternity was disbanded owing to anti-Greek sentiment on the Berkeley campus.

The house was almost sold to developers as a site for high-rise apartments, but instead embarked on a more bizarre career. From 1964 to 1969 it was known as Toad Hall and served as a rooming house for male students. In 1969, it was purchased by a Hayward attorney named Harold Mefford, who rented out the house to non-students as well. The house reportedly functioned more as a commune than a rooming house and housed at most 50% students.

One of the residents was Joy, Country Joe McDonald's personal secretary, who lived in a basement room. Author/Merry Prankster Ken Kesey (not to be confused with author/future owner Ken Keyes, Jr.) and musician David Crosby used to buy their drugs from a Toad Hall dealer, and their cars were often seen parked in front of the house.

In 1973, Mefford sold the building for $127,000, to Ken Keyes, Jr., author of Living Love - a Way to Higher Consciousness and the building became the Berkeley Living Love Center. "The Living Love Way" was disseminated via broadcasts on KQED-FM every Saturday evening. A 52-hour morning-noon-and-night group workshop, designed by Keyes, offered the opportunity for a breakthrough toward higher consciousness. The LLC claimed tax exemption as a religious organization and operated on a non-profit basis.

On November 22, 1976, the center approached the city of Berkeley with an offer to donate the property for park use if it could be determined that it was located on the Hayward Fault line. They did this because they felt it would be a violation of the 'Law of Higher Consciousness' to simply sell the property to someone else.

For whatever reason, this fell through and the building was sold in 1977 to the University Students' Cooperative Association for $300,000. The Living Love Center relocated to a 115-acre farm-university in St. Mary, Kentucky. The house was renamed Kingman Hall, after Harry L. Kingman, director of the local University YMCA who encouraged the USCA founders to start a housing cooperative in 1933.

[edit] Landmark status

In 1998-1999, in response to the residents' application to construct a deck on the roof of the building, the neighbors sought landmark designation for the building, previously considered eligible, in an attempt to block the group's permit application. Although the house was designated a landmark and the Landmarks Preservation Commission denied the application for a permit to build a roof deck, the group's appeal to the Berkeley City Council was successful, the permit ultimately issued, and the deck built.