Bowles Hall

Image:Bowles Hall Crest.jpeg

Designed by George W. Kelham, the building has eight levels comprising two-room suites and a common room (originally designed to house two, but now housing four). The Julien and Helen Hart Memorial Library was added to the building in 1939 through the gift of James D. Hart, their son, and their daughter, Ellen, and her husband, San Francisco architect and engineer Joseph Bransten. Hart was a professor of English and the editor of the Oxford Handbook of American Literature. Bowles Hall also sits on top of the Hayward Fault.{{cite conference |last1=Maffei |first1=Joe |book-title=Improving the Seismic Performance of Existing Buildings and Other Structures |last2=Redmond |first2=Lucy |last3=Burton |first3=John |editor-first=Barry |editor-last=Goodno |year=2009 |pages=1281–1294 |doi=10.1061/41084(364)118 |title=Evaluation and Retrofit for Fault Rupture: UC Berkeley, Bowles Hall |isbn=9780784410844}}

In order to avoid having the aging residence hall dismantled in the late 1980s, a group of Bowlesmen successfully petitioned to have the building added to the National Register of Historic Places (#89000195, 1989).{{cite web | url = http://www.noehill.com/alameda/nat1989000195.asp | title = National Register #89000195 Bowles Hall | access-date = 2012-12-09 | work = National Register of Historic Places in Alameda County, California }} The hall was also designated a City of Berkeley landmark on October 17, 1988, a mere 11 years after the first recorded "high five".{{cite web | url = http://berkeleyheritage.com/berkeley_landmarks/campus.html | title = Berkeley Landmarks - U. C. Campus | access-date = 2012-12-09}}

The hall earned LEED Silver certification in August 2017.{{cite web | url = http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/historic-bowles-hall-earns-leed-silver-certification-300499455.html | title = Historic Bowles Hall Earns LEED Silver Certification | access-date = 2017-08-29}}

The university administration attempted to dismantle Bowles Hall and build a new residence hall in its place, but this was deterred when Bowles Hall was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. In April 2001, food service in the dining hall was ended and the dining room made into a generic "recreation room."{{cite news | title = Dining Commons at Bowles Shut Down | date = May 8, 2001 | url = http://archive.dailycal.org/article/5499/dining_commons_at_bowles_shut_down| work = Daily Californian | access-date = 2012-12-09}} The dining hall had previously hosted popular barbecue dinners on Friday evenings.

In 2006, the Haas School of Business was planning to turn Bowles into an educational center and conference facility,{{cite news | first = Rick | last = DelVecchio | title = Battle of Bowles Hall -- tradition vs. money / UC business school sees cash cow in transforming historic boys residence hall into site for executive training center | date = February 22, 2007 | publisher = Hearst Communications Inc. | url = http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/BERKELEY-Battle-of-Bowles-Hall-tradition-vs-2646959.php | work = San Francisco Chronicle | access-date = 2013-01-14}}[http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=22430 The Daily Californian] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312090400/http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=22430 |date=March 12, 2007 }} but the university backed down from the decision.{{cite news| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/15/BAGLNR0R1P1.DTL | work=The San Francisco Chronicle | first=Rick | last=Delvecchio | title=BERKELEY / UC backs down on plan to convert dorm | date=2007-07-15}} At about this time, a group of alumni formed the Bowles Hall Alumni Association, and then the Bowles Hall Foundation, with the aim of establishing Bowles Hall as a modern residential college.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

In 2014, the Regents of the University of California approved a plan that enabled the Bowles Hall Foundation, a 501c(3) entity, to renovate and operate Bowles Hall as a residential college under a 45-year lease. The Foundation developed a plan to completely renovate and refurnish Bowles Hall. In June 2015, formal agreements with the Regents of the University of California were executed. The restored Hall reopened in August 2016. It serves 188 undergraduate students, three live-in faculty members, and several graduate residents. It is considered on-campus housing for the purposes of financial aid.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}

In the late 1940s and the 1950s, Rose Gilmore, the widow of a Berkeley professor who was looking for her own calling at Cal, fulfilled the position of Head Resident.{{Cite web|url=http://bowleshallalumni.net/virtualtour/|title=» A Virtual Re-Opening Hall Tour|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-15}}

Women have been welcomed as residents since 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=bowles+hall+coed&oq=bowles+hall+coed&aqs=chrome..69i57.1918j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8|title=bowles hall coed - Google Search|website=www.google.com|access-date=2019-12-11}}

• Norman Mineta ('53) - United States Secretary of Transportation (2001–2006){{Cite news | last =Brenneman | first =Richard | title = Famous Bowles Alum Picks Residence Hall Over Haas Plans for Landmark | url = http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2007-01-30/article/26210?headline=Bowles-Alums-Lead-Fight-to-Preserve-Beloved-Hall---By-Richard-Brenneman | publisher = The Berkeley Daily Planet | date = January 30, 2007 | access-date = 9 December 2012 }}
• Don Bowden - First American to run four-minute mile
• Les Richter - Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker for the Los Angeles Rams{{cite web | url = http://www.bowleshallalumni.org/members/newsandevents.html | title = Les Richter Finally to NFL Hall of Fame | access-date = 2012-12-09 | last = Sanders | first = Robert | date = February 8, 2011 }}
• Gale Gilbert - Former professional football quarterback
• Dyke Brown ('36) - Rhodes scholar, founder of the Athenian School
• Walter A. Haas Jr ('37) - CEO (1976–2005) and chairman (1981–1989) of Levi Strauss & Co, 1983 Cal Alumnus of the Year

• Boys and Girls[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204175 Boys and Girls (2000) - IMDb] - Known as Carmen Hall in the movie.

Traditionally the Cal Band parades from nearby Memorial Stadium through the campus and streets of Berkeley after a home football game. The band will play in front of Bowles Hall during their tour, playing "By" for the Bowlesmen.{{cite web | url = http://calband.berkeley.edu/media/cal-songs/#Bowles%20Hall%20Drinking%20Hall | title = Bowles Hall Drinking Song | access-date = 2012-12-09}} The tradition of playing "By" for Bowles Hall is said to have begun back when the entire football team lived there. The band would play for the players as they walked back to their residence hall after the game. However, when the football team was relocated, the band decided not to play in front of Bowles Hall. Subsequently, some of the men of Bowles lay down in the road, blocking the Cal Band from playing, until the band was forced to oblige them.

We're the men of Bowles Association,

Coming here from over all the nation.

Drinking here together one and all,

We lift our voices loud for Bowles Hall!

''(Chorus)

Here's to Bowles Association.

Drink it down and then,

Drink a toast to home sweet home,

Of California men. Rah! Rah! Rah!

Fill your glasses to the brim,

And lift them in the air.

And drink a toast to Bowles Association,

And the Golden Bear.

Men of Bowles are gathered here together,

Toasting everything from girls to weather.

But the very greatest toast of all,

Is the one that we now give to Bowles Hall!

(Chorus)

--Joseph Ehrman III, 1948

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Bowles Hall}}

• [http://bowleshallresidentialcollege.org/ Bowles Hall Web Site]
• [http://bowleshallalumni.net Bowles Hall Alumni Association and Bowles Hall Foundation]
• [http://calband.berkeley.edu/media/cal-songs Bowles Hall Drinking Song]
• [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~dwallach/bowles.html Castle With a Thousand Tales]
• [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ca/Alameda/state.html National Register of Historic Places, Alameda County]
• [http://www.berkeleyheritage.com/berkeley_landmarks/landmarks.html Berkeley Landmarks]

{{University of California, Berkeley}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in California}}

Category:Gothic Revival architecture in California

Category:Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley, California

Category:University and college residential buildings in California

Category:University of California, Berkeley buildings

Category:Berkeley landmarks in Berkeley, California

Category:Residential buildings completed in 1928

Category:1928 establishments in California

Category:Castles in California