Bowles Hall

Bowles Hall is an eight-story, Collegiate Gothic-style structure on the UC Berkeley Campus, and the nation’s first residential college. With its fireplaces, Gothic arches, decorative façade, chimneys and square turret—topped with a flagpole by Mary Bowles in 1930—the hall’s appearance has a charm compared in recent years to Hogwarts, the school in the Harry Potter book series.

Clark Construction was General Contractor on the project and selected Giampolini Courtney to perform an exterior restoration package that included extensive concrete spall repair throughout the original architectural board-form finish. This type of repair requires an artful approach and skilled craftsmen to achieve appropriate aesthetics so that repairs are undetectable. Additionally, we conducted an extensive steel window restoration on the site. Giampolini Drywall was also on the project performing extensive replacement of most interior infill construction including metal framing and drywall finishes.

Since the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, the renovation project followed the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s standards as well as guidance provided by the California State Historic Preservation Office and historical preservation architects. The goal was for Bowles Hall to retain its historic look, but to be modernized internally.