EL Granada At Sather Gate
2510 Bancroft
Berkeley, California
The Granada was built by Patrick O’Brien in 1904, and had been passed down in the family ever since.
He built it so that everybody in the family would always have a roof over their heads, and so the building would always support the family.
Like so many projects that go through time, the ornamentation was removed in the 1960’s or 1970’s to create a more streamlined effect. In 1995 The Munger Brothers hired Michael H. Casey to recreate the two highly ornamented decorations above the windows. Working from old photographs from the early 1920’s, Michael H. Casey sculpted one of the cornucopia. The cornucopias were then molded by an expert mold maker and cast by staff of Michael H. Casey Designs.
Brothers Maynard and Edward Munger, who were grandchildren of O’Brien, had made arrangements for the building to be sold upon their death. Edward Munger died most recently in February 2008. The building was sold in March of 2011.
The architect for the project was Robert Walker.
If you look very closely you will see a Cal Bear in amongst the fruit.