Historic Buildings in Ashby Station
Around the Ed Roberts Campus, Part 2
Former Hull & Durgin funeral home (l) and St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox church (r) at Adeline and Essex Streets (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)14 January 2005
The Hull & Durgin funeral home with its Little Chapel of the Flowers (Harvey Slocombe, 1922–1928) at 3049–3051 Adeline Street is one of Berkeley’s most remarkable examples of Storybook-style architecture. Berkeley boasts no fewer than six designated landmarks in this style: Fox Court, Tupper & Reed Building (both on the National Register of Historic Places), Normandy Village, Fox Common, Berteaux Cottage (aka Fox Cottage), and G. Paul Bishop Studio—all built in the 1920s and ’30s. While not yet designated, the Hull & Durgin complex is listed in the California State Historic Resources Inventory and appears to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
Little Chapel of the Flowers (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)In addition to serving as a mortuary chapel, the Little Chapel of the Flowers was a popular wedding chapel during the 1940s and ’50s. More than 500 weddings were celebrated there. The Hull & Durgin complex is featured in the book Storybook Style: America’s Whimsical Homes of the Twenties. When the Hull mortuary moved to Walnut Creek in the 1960s, the Berkeley buildings were adapted to other uses. The Little Chapel of the Flowers (now at 3049 Adeline St.) has been the home of Marmot Mountain Works since 1976. The interior is well worth a visit. There are curved plater walls in a terra cotta hue, vaulted ceilings, lovely stained-glass windows, and two airy side-galleries lit by skylights. The former mortuary building at 3051 Adeline is now occupied by the Fifth String music store.
The chapel depicted on a 1943 postcard
Chapel interior on a period postcard
Mock stained-glass windows on Hull & Durgin south façade
(photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)
The roof evokes old-fashioned European thatch (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)The little blue-domed church across Essex Street from Hull & Durgin was built in or before 1936 (architect unknown). According to a Sanborn fire insurance map, the building at the time was the New Jerusalem Swedenborgian Community Church. Later it became St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, and it is to be assumed that the onion dome was added following the conversion. The Russian Orthodox parish in Berkeley first held services in 1923 and was registered by 1938.
Belying the church’s unassuming exterior, the interior holds surprises. Wood-paneled walls and vaulted ceilings direct the visitor’s eye toward the opulently gilt altarpiece, which occupies the entire far wall. This marvel can bee seen during the Sunday morning service.
St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church (photo: Daniella Thompson, 2005)Continue to:
Historic Buildings, Part 3
