Andres Castro Arms

Andres Castro Arms, often referred to as simply Castro, is a student housing cooperative in Berkeley, California housing 54 residents, known as Castrati. It is part of the USCA co-op system.

Located about two blocks south-east of the University of California, Berkeley, the house was originally designed as a mansion by architect Julia Morgan. From its vantage point on a hill between Prospect and Warring streets, Castro overlooks most of Berkeley, Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area including spectacular views of the Golden Gate. Its most distinguishing external feature is the three story red brick staircase leading up to the Warring entrance.

Castro is characteristic of many of the USCA's older buildings in that beyond its doors, visitors encounter a hodge-podge of decor. A magisterial fireplace lined with cracks sits next to an eleven foot mural of a bright red samurai. A spacious and elegantly shaped dining room features the centerpieces of a foosball table and a life-size illustration from Where The Wild Things Are. The remaining diagonal corner of the once octagonal room is dedicated to recycling and compost bins, and the halls resound with the voices of 54 students, who also come in a variety of styles.

Castro is also known for its biannual disco party.

The house mascot is a seven foot tall stuffed bear named Pablo, who was recently recovered from the clutches of Cloyne Court Hotel.

History

The house was originally designed in the Mediterranean style by architect Julia Morgan for metallurgist Charles Washington Merrill. The house was built in 1911 at a cost of $21,531 and originally featured an S-shaped driveway running up the steep hill to the house and the interior was elaborately decorated with redwood, pine and oak panelling, similar in many ways to the interior of another Julia Morgan-designed coop, Davis House, however this was stripped when the house was converted to a sorority.

With the construction in 1923 by the University of California of Memorial Stadium and the International House in 1929 a few houses to the north, the neighborhood, once home to many exclusive and expensive mansions, turned into more of a student-oriented neighborhood dominated by sorority and fraternity houses.

In 1939 Merrill sold the home to the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. The eighty-four chapter sorority was founded in 1898 and the Upsilon Chapter at Cal was established in 1915 and initially located in a house on Euclid Avenue on the northside. The sorority attempted to make the house look more modernist by stipping the interiors of the woodwork and enclosing the front porch in glass. In 1957 the sorority constructed a wing addition to the house at a cost of $71,500.

In the 1960s, the popularity of the Greek system declined significantly in Berkeley and many sorority and fraternity houses were forced to close for lack of membership. Unable to attract sufficient membership ZTA was forced to close its doors.

The University Students' Cooperative Association purchased the building in 1971, one of several defunct former Greek houses it was able to acquire during this era at a very reasonable price.

The USCA decided to name the house in honor of long-time central kitchen cook Andres Castro, who was seriously ill at the time, but later recovered. The USCA initially opened the house as an all-male house, but after the first year in response to the need for more female housing and an overall trend in favor of co-ed housing, the house became co-ed.

References

California State Historic Resources Inventory, compiled by Sara Holmes Boutelle (author of Julia Morgan - Architect) 8/3/78. Her sources include:

• Architect and Engineer, November 1918, pg. 66

• Julia Morgan client list

• Building permit, issued October 1911

Morgan, Julia. Architectural Drawings - House for Mr. C.W. Merrill; West Elevation; First Floor Plan; Interiors. October 1911. Repository - Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.

External links

• Template:USCA-coop-link