Berkeley does not require owner support for landmark designations, but in this case, and given the tumultuous times, I m happy to honor the request of the owners and will not pursue submitting the landmark application, Finacom wrote in an email.
Last Friday, City Councilmember Kate Harrison announced a resolution she said the council would consider Tuesday related to the landmarking of Harris s home.
The resolution aimed to clarify that homes like Harris s are eligible for historic landmark status. But Harrison said earlier this week she was withdrawing the resolution after receiving clarification from city staff.
Harris was born in Oakland but spent most of her childhood in Berkeley. She was part of the city s first voluntary school integration process, according to Harrison s office.
Vice President Kamala Harris childhood home in Berkeley, California, won’t become a historical landmark anytime soon.
A member of the Bay Area city s preservation commission said this week he wouldn’t be filing an application for consideration, according to a report.
The reason: The current owners of Harris’ former home expressed concerns that the landmark status could be disruptive to the quiet neighborhood, Steven Finacom of the Landmarks Preservation Commission said, according to the Bay City News Service. Berkeley does not require owner support for landmark designations, but in this case, and given the tumultuous times, I m happy to honor the request of the owners and will not pursue submitting the landmark application, Finacom wrote in an email, outlining the homeowners’ concerns for their longtime neighbors’ solitude.
As a child, Kamala Harris lived with her mother and sister in this Bancroft Way home in West Berkeley. Photo: Steven Finacom
Update, March 9, 5 p.m.: City Councilmember Kate Harrison will pull her proposed resolution to “change” Berkeley law to enable the landmarking of Kamala Harris’ childhood home.
After more discussion with staff, Harrison said she has more clarity about the circumstances in which a person’s home can be considered for landmark status. She had based her resolution on a reading of a recent staff report concerning landmarking 1915 Berryman St., the former home of William Payson. The staff report recommended denying the landmarking of Payson’s former home, in part, because he was not living in the house when he helped found Berkeley’s First Unitarian Church, the act he is best known for. Harrison said she was concerned that staff analysis would impose impediments on landmarking Harris’ house because she was only a child when she lived there and rose to