Faculty Glade - Oaks, Creek and 4.0 Hill
A stop on UC Berkeley Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.
This sloping lawn shaded by big oaks is one of the loveliest spots on campus. Strawberry Creek runs along its edge, the same creek you met at the start of the walk, and the slope above it forms a natural amphitheater for concerts and graduation gatherings.
The campus says the glade may once have been the site of an Ohlone village that drew water and fish from the creek.
On the east side stands the Faculty Club. Its oldest part, the Great Hall, was designed in 1902 by Bernard Maybeck, with redwood shingles, sand plaster and tile roofs that give it the feel of a mountain lodge. Professors raised the money for it themselves, wanting a place for warm lunches and good conversation.
Students call the center of the slope 4.0 Hill. According to campus legend, rolling down it guarantees a perfect grade point average for the semester. It has never been proven, but plenty of students try anyway.
Getting here: Walk southwest about 350 meters downhill from the Greek Theatre to the oak-shaded lawn beside the creek.
Did you know?: The Faculty Club's original 1902 wing ignores the campus's later grid; it lines up with an earlier axis proposed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
Photo op: Stand at the bottom of the glade near the creek and frame the shingled Faculty Club under the oaks. Sproul Plaza, where you started, is about 300 meters west.
More on Wikipedia: Berkeley Faculty Club · Bernard Maybeck
Stops on this tour
- Sproul Plaza and Sather Gate - Birthplace of Free Speech
- Strawberry Creek - The Water That Chose the Campus
- Valley Life Sciences Building - A T. rex Indoors
- Memorial Glade - The Campus Front Lawn
- Doe Memorial Library - A Palace for Books
- South Hall - The Oldest Survivor
- Sather Tower - The Campanile
- Hearst Mining Building - A Monument to Mining
- Gilman Hall - Where Plutonium Was Identified
- Hearst Greek Theatre - An Ancient Stage in the Hills
- Faculty Glade - Oaks, Creek and 4.0 Hill