Edward F. Niehaus House

839 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA

Susan Cerny

Edward F. Niehaus residence (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)

25 March 2001

Until the 1920s there was no zoning; people lived very near their work, sometimes in the same building or on the same property. The legacy of this are the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century homes, some large and others small, interspersed among warehouses and factories in West Berkeley.

Porch, southeast corner (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)

The Edward Niehaus residence is ocated at 839 Channing Way and Seventh Street. It was built in the 1880s within sight of Niehaus’ West Berkeley Planing Mill, which produced the kind of woodwork displayed on his house. It is West Berkeley’s largest and most elaborate surviving Victorian.

Tower, east façade (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)

East gable (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)

The house is especially distinctive because of its unique three-story tower with elaborate dormers on all four sides. The house is also richly decorated with a wide range of decorative patterns including paneled friezes, pendented brackets, fish-scale shingle patterns, latticework arches, and porch railings.

There are particularly fine sunflower relief panels on the second floor of the gable ends.

South gable (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)

This article was originally published in the Berkeley Daily Planet.

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The Edward F. Niehaus house (1889) was designated City of Berkeley Landmark no. 11 on 21 June 1976. It is listed in the California State Historic Resources Inventory.

 

  

Copyright © 2004–2005 Daniella Thompson. Text © 2001–2005 Susan Cerny. All rights reserved.