John Tupper and Lawrence Reed constructed this building for their music store, which they had established in Berkeley in 1906. University of California Art Professor Eugen Neuhaus complimented them as businessmen whose commissioned design rose above “the dreadful boredom of the commonplace that so often makes of architecture a stupid business and not a stimulating art!”

Architect W.R. Yelland (1891-1966), a UC graduate, designed many “storybook” structures. This building features clinker bricks, wood beam ceilings, slate roofs, balconies, fanciful decorations, and a monumental fireplace. The iron cutout on the chimney top announced the Sign of the Piper Restaurant, once located upstairs. Following a 1959 fire Tupper and Reed moved next door.