OpenStreetMap (new tab)

Google Map (new tab)

Google Streetview (new tab)

Overview

In historical documentation, this commercial and residential building has been called the "Davis-Byrne Building." Its original owner was a woman named Glennie Davies, who became a real estate investor in Berkeley,CA, during the period 1896 through 1934. It was subsequently owned for a few years, possibly as many as four, by a pioneer settler, Napoleon Bonaparte Byrne.

Building History

A real estate investor, Glennie Davies (born 07/1863 in Pomeroy, OH-d. 01/23/1934 in Berkeley, CA) commissioned the construction of this two-floor, wood-frame commercial building at 2134-2140 Dwight Way, completed in 1895. Glennie Davies migrated from Pomeroy in Meigs County, OH, to Berkeley in 1894, along with hermother Almona A. Curtis Davies (born 01/1842 in OH-d. 05/04/1934 in Alameda County, CA) and younger sisters, Edna Davies Coryell(born 11/16/1871 in OH-d. 06/28/1953 in Alameda County, CA) and Oma Almona Davies Eltse (born 02/04/1881 in Pomeroy, OH-d. 09/01/1945 in CA). Glennie was the daughter of Alban Davies (born 12/14/1831 in Wales-d. 01/21/1892 in Pomeroy, OH), a Welsh-born, OH state representative from Meigs County during the mid-1870s. A newspaper note from the Athens Messenger of 01/06/1876 said of Davies: "Mr. Alban Davies, Representative from this county, is personally conspicuous by reason of his being the only professional mechanic in the Legislature." (See Site.Rootsweb.com, "Meigs County News For The Year 1876," accessed 04/29/2024.)

The first floor of the Davies-Byrne Building was rented out as retail commercial space and the upper floors contained residential apartments. As suggested by the Davies-Byrne Building's early date of 1895, Glennie Davies got busy investing in real estate very soon after arriving in CA. By 1896, she was llisted in the Berkeley Gazetteas buying two parcels of land, Lots 37 and 38, block 1427, (on which stood a commercial bank) of the Steel Tract. (See "Real Estate Transfers," Berkeley Gazette, vol. 111, no. 95, 03/03/1896, p. 1.) She and a partner sold lot 16, block D of the Berkeley Homestead Association plat in 02/1899. (See "Real Estate Transactions," Oakland Enquirer, 02/20/1899, p. 8.) Later in 1899, she was recorded as having bought from Theodore M. and Esther Tracy a parcel at 55 East Shattuck Avenue (corner of North Rose Street). (See “Local Realty Transaction,” Berkeley World-Gazette, 09/02/1899, p. 3.)

The Davies women were close-knit and independent. Glennie never married, had a career and always resided with family. In 1899, Edna married Edward Lorenzo Coryell (born 1873 in WI), a grocery store proprietor, but divorced him before 1910. During her life, Edna became active in the Berkeley's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and served as an administrator of the San Jose School District's Domestic Science Department. Oma would marry a lawyer Ralph W.R. Eltse (1885-1971), who served as a one-term Republican Congressional representative from Berkeley between 1933 and 1935. A 1902 graduate of the University of California, she also had a career as a writer of short stories for various national publications. Oma died while fishing with her husband in the Truckee River at the age of 64. (See "Mrs. Oma Eltse Is Drowned," Oakland Tribune, vol. CXLIII, no. 65, 09/04/1945, p. 1.)

Glennie and her family first dwelled at 2107 Durant Avenue (c. 1898). (See "Berkeley in Brief," Berkeley Daily Gazette, 06/14/1898, p. 4.) The 1900 US Census indicated that Glennie, Alana and Ona all lived in one of the apartments at 2134 Dwight Way. The 1900 census form listed Glennie's occupation as "book agent." In the neighboring apartment at 2136 Dwight, Edna lived with her husband Edward. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Berkeley Ward 2, Alameda, California; Roll: 83; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0397, accessed 04/29/2024.)

Between at least 1908 and 1918, Glennie and her family resided at 2309 Fulton Street. (See The Polk-Husted Company's Oakland, California, City Directory, 1908, p. 1266 and Polk-Husted Company's Oakland, California, City Directory, 1918, p. 361.) Both Glennie and Almona died in 1934. Between at least 1930 and 1934, they resided together at 1951 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Berkeley. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Berkeley, Alameda, California; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0326; FHL microfilm: 2339846, accessed 04/29/2024.)

A later owner of the building was Napoleon Bonaparte Byrne (born 1817 in MO-d. 11/11/1905 in Berkeley, CA), an early Euro-American settler in Berkeley who arrived via wagon train in 1858. Byrne was a farmer and landowner who owned the Davies-Byrne Building when a fire destroyed some of the structure on 05/23/1902. It was rebuilt by about 10/1902 at a cost of $2,567. (See Michael R. Corbett and Woodruff C. Minor, "Historic American Building Survey Davis [sic]-Byrne Building, HABS No. CA-2314," accessed 04/29/2024.)

Building Notes

The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) documented the Davis-Byrne Building in 1992: HABS-CA-2314; HABS DLC/PP-1992:CA-4 16ph/15pg/2pc. A writer for the HABS said of this structure: "Significance: The Davis-Byrne Building is a characteristic example of a once-common building type distinguished by its unusually high degree of integrity, including its unaltered storefronts. As a building type, it represents the long tradition of housing over shops as it was adopted in streetcar cities. It is an important surviving element in Dwight Way Station, a neighborhood commercial area that arose and flourished as a steam train and electric streetcar stop. This is a characteristic but rarely documented example of the housing patterns of small shopkeepers and working-class people as those patterns changed during the 20th century." (See Michael R. Corbett and Woodruff C. Minor, "Historic American Building Survey Davis [sic]-Byrne Building, HABS No. CA-2314," accessed 10/11/2024.)

Alteration

The Davies-Byrne Building underwent remodelling in 1992. The rear of the building was razed and rebuilt in 1998 although the front facade was retained.

PCAD id: 25177