Features

Is West Berkeley’s Nexus Gallery headed for the wrecking ball? Bob Brockl, a leading figure in the gallery and collective housed in a pair of buildings at 2701-2721 Eighth St., hopes it isn’t. 

As rumors circulated that his landlord intends to tear down the unreinforced masonry structure and accompanying steel workshop that have served as Nexus’ home for more than two decades, preservationists are filing an application to landmark the building. 

The Landmarks Preservation Commission are scheduled to take a first look at the proposal when they meet Monday at 7 p.m. in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave. 

But the rumors of the structures’ impending demise may be greatly exaggerated. Nexus isn’t faced with a deep-pocket developer eager to build high-rise apartments or condos, as is often the case. Nexus’s landlord is another venerable community institution, backed—like Nexus—by its own contingent of devoted supporters. 

The owner of the buildings is the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, which is looking to expand from its cramped quarters immediately to the east at 2700 Ninth St. 

“We just hired a structural engineering firm, which is creating a plan for a retrofit,” said Mim Carlson, the Humane Society’s executive director. 

Carlson said she couldn’t comment on the landmark application because she hadn’t seen a copy. “It’s interesting that you’ve seen a copy and the owner hasn’t,” she told a reporter. 

The society had explored a possible partnership with the city, which needs a new shelter and had $7.2 million in voter-authorized bonds to build one. 

“There had been high-level planning talks with the city about a joint shelter,” Carlson said, “but those are on hold, if not totally ended.” 

City officials have told Nexus they can’t occupy the site without a retrofit, but the gallery and collective had declined to lay out the six-figure costs with a long-term lease, Brockl said. The city had granted Nexus two extensions on their retrofit deadline, but can’t grant a third absent a building permit committing to the fixes. 

According to the landmark application, the main structure, a two-story red brick building, was built as a factory for Standard Die & Specialty in 1924 by the Austin Company of California—the same firm that built the landmarked H.J. Heinz Co. factory at San Pablo and Ashby avenues. 

The Humane Society began in a nearby building three years later, and over the years the Nexus building has been occupied by a variety of manufacturers until its acquisition along with the two adjoining metal buildings in 1969 by the Humane Society. 

The organizations and individuals who would eventualy comprise the Nexus Institute arrived in the early 1970s, and the institute itself was recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt organization in 1975. The gallery followed a few years later. 

Nexus emerged as a major force in the East Bay arts scene, winning recognition from academics and the arts community both for its collective presence and for the works of its members and the emerging artists showcased by the gallery.›