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UCSF Murals at Risk: Supervisors Initiate Landmark Review for Bernard Zakheim Frescoes
Summary
The committee voted to initiate a landmark designation for Bernard Zakheim’s 'History of Medicine in California' frescoes at UCSF, after presentations on artistic and historical significance, UCSF’s EIR analysis and its plan for digital capture and a technical RFP; the committee sent the initiation resolution to the full Board.
The Land Use committee voted to initiate landmark designation under Article 10 for Bernard Zakheim's 'History of Medicine in California' fresco cycle in UC Hall on the UCSF Parnassus campus.
Woody Labonte of San Francisco Architectural Heritage presented the murals' history (painted 1936–38 under WPA programs), artistic significance and rarity in the Bay Area. Labonte noted that UCSF’s draft environmental impact report dated July 13, 2020, treats the murals as a historical resource and states that removal or replacement with a digital representation would be a significant and irreversible CEQA impact.
Brian Newman, UCSF’s senior associate vice chancellor for real estate, said UCSF is officially neutral on the resolution but sympathetic to preservation. He explained that UC Hall is seismically deficient and that the EIR acknowledges the risk to the murals if the building is replaced. UCSF has begun high‑resolution digital capture of the murals, has engaged conservators, and has issued an RFP to test the feasibility, cost and risks of removal and relocation of panels; responses are expected by August. Newman said UCSF is working in good faith with the Zakheim family, the Biddy Mason Foundation and the General Services Administration (GSA), which has asserted a possible ownership interest stemming from the murals’ federal New Deal provenance.
Public commenters — historians, conservation experts and advocates — urged the supervisors to seek solutions that preserve the frescoes as a set. Committee members praised the presentations, acknowledged the complexity of federal ownership claims, and voted unanimously to forward the initiation resolution to the full Board so that the Department of City Planning and Historic Preservation Commission may complete their 90‑day review.
Next steps: The Department of City Planning and the Historic Preservation Commission will have up to 90 days (unless they request an extension) to study and report back on the landmark nomination; UCSF continues technical and stakeholder outreach, and the RFP responses in August will inform next steps.
