Hotel Durant

BERKELEY e-PLAQUE
CITY OF BERKELEY STRUCTURE OF MERIT

designated in 1993

Hotel Durant

William H. Weeks, Architect, 1928
2600 Durant Ave.

During the 1920s, the scale of this neighborhood on the south side of campus was transformed by the construction of the Edwards Track Stadium, the International House, the College Women’s Club, and the Hotel Durant. Opened as a “modern luxury hotel,” the Durant has attracted generations of students’ families, major figures in the arts and the sciences, and a president of the United States (Harry Truman). The two-wing, 140-room structure was designed in a Spanish colonial style and constructed of fire- and earthquake-resistant reinforced concrete. A terrace, part of the original street facade, was enclosed in 1949 to add commercial space.

Contributed by Berkeley Historical Plaque Project, 2004


  • Durant Hotel, postcard reverse side (ca.1929), Sarah Wikander collection.

  • Durant Hotel front entrance (2011), Photo R.Kehlmann.

  • Durant Hotel (2011), photo R.Kehlmann.

  • Hotel namesake Henry Durant, First President UC Berkeley (ca.1861), photo Wm. B. Ingersall.

  • President Harry S. Truman (ca.1945), Wikimedia Commons.

More information:
Hotel Durant

Photo credit abbreviations:
BAHA: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Assn.
BHS: Berkeley Historical Society