Our House

Our Chapter house was built in 1913 by Walter Ratcliffe, perhaps the most famous commercial and residential architect in California at the turn of the 20th Century. The house was built for the Mayor of Berkeley, T.M. Shearson, so it has significance in the history of the City of Berkeley.

The house sits in the Piedmont Avenue neighborhood, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, one of the most famous park designers and naturalists in American history. Among his many noteworthy works, Olmstead designed Central Park in New York City. The house is listed in the Piedmont Historic District as a “Historically significant structure” on California Historic Landmarks, and on the National Registry of Historic Places.

The façade of the house and the common rooms remain the same as their original design, and serve the same purposes as when the house was constructed in 1913.