Board splits on 55 Laguna landmarking, approves partial designation and sends project back for revisions

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Aug. 14 considered whether to designate the former UC Berkeley Extension campus at 55 Laguna Street as a city landmark, ultimately voting to adopt a narrowed local designation while preserving the path for a major housing-and-community-benefit project on most of the site.

A large, sometimes emotional public hearing featured neighborhood residents, preservation professionals and the development team behind a proposed 440-unit rental project. Supporters of designation said the two-block campus — Richardson Hall, Woods Hall, Woods Hall Annex, Middle Hall and associated walls and murals — reflects the city’s educational and WPA-era history. The developer, AF Evans with nonprofit partner OpenHouse, said its plan preserves most historic fabric while adding housing, a public garden and a community center and that landmarking the entire site would jeopardize the project and risk leaving the property vacant.

The Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board had recommended designation, and the Planning Commission had voted 4–3 to disapprove that recommendation, prompting the board appeal. Supervisors and witnesses debated several technical points: whether the site’s historic integrity survives piecemeal demolition and…