The Mining Circle and Hearst Memorial Mining Building (ca 1914)
From the
July
1929 article by Dean Frank H. Probert, The Mining Congress
Journal:
In 1896
Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst broached a plan for the consideration of
the regents, for the permanent development of the university campus.
After an international competition the Emile Bénard scheme was
adopted (for articles from 1899 about the Bérnard scheme go
here and here,
and John Galen Howard was appointed supervising architect. The first
building to be completed was a memorial to Senator George Hearst. The
Hearst Memorial Mining Building was formally opened and dedicated on
Friday, August 23, 1907. President Wheeler directed the ceremonies,
and John Galen Howard, Dean Christy, T. A. Rickard, and William Randolph
Hearst were the speakers. Mr. Rickard, in concluding his address, said:
"May
this building be consecrated to the service of efficient citizenship
and to the industrial development of the Pacific coast, of America,
of the world. May this School of Mines have no enemy save the ignorant,
and for a friend the people of California."
It is
the home of the College of Mining, the domicile of the Department of
Mining and Metallurgy (now known as the Department of Materials Science
and Engineering); it is a monument to the achievements of a great man
and a miner, an inspiration to all who enter.
Timeline
of the Hearst Architectural Competition
For more
more history of the University of California campus go to:
University of California's Landscape Heritage Plan
web page The
Campus History and
Mining Circle/ Oppenheimer Way
The Berkeleyan:
Berkeley's Past, And Past Dreams Of the Future
John
Galen Howard
More biograpical information for John Galen Howard: Environmental
Designs Archives
and
Rafael Guastavino who laid his unique signature brickwork
of the soaring arches that make the grand lobby of the Hearst Memorial
Mining Building one of most beautiful buildings on the campus
"...Emile
Bénard declined to be appointed supervising architect, and in
1901 the position was offered to John Galen Howard, the fourth-place
winner of the competition."
For more information about supervising architect John Galen Howard go
to the following sites:
UC Berkeley News John
Galen Howard and the design of the 'City of Learning,' the UC Berkeley
campus
Historic Buildings "... Hearst Mining Building ~ Considered
by some to be John Galen Howard's masterpiece, its corner stone ceremony
on November 18, 1902 was attended by luminaries and reported on by Jack
London in the Hearst paper, the San Francisco Examiner. The style is
a blend of Beaux-Arts and California Mission. One of its most admired
features is the Memorial Vestibule, a three-story lobby-museum space
supported by trim iron arches and illuminated by three dome skylights
above vaultings surfaced with tiles in a herringbone pattern."
A building's legacy: 95 years of innovation ~ Berkeleyan
Hearst
Memorial Mining Building Retrofit photography: go here
and here
to see photographs from the Kite
Aereal Photography site by Charles C. Benton
For more
extensive historical information you can visit the following sites:
Press Releases
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/97legacy/hearst.html
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/09/18_hearst.html
Forefront
news
http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/forefront/spring2003/hearst.html
Berkeleyan
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1998/0715/mining.html
Visit our
HMMB architecture page
for photos and details featured in this historic building.
