Plaque

Ennor’s Restaurant Building

DOWNTOWN

2128 Center Street Map View

CITY OF BERKELEY LANDMARK

designated in 2006

Ennor’s Restaurant Building

James W. Plachek, Architect
John P. Brennan, Builder, 1923

This reinforced concrete building with its articulated brick facçade and simple classical detailing was built for Harvey and Marie Ennor at a time of energetic downtown development. They expanded a small sandwich shop into an elegant restaurant, banquet room, grocery and butcher shop, bakery, and confectionery. From 1933 onward, the building successively housed the True Blue Cafeteria, World War II government agencies, a furniture store, and the Act One & Two Cinema. Builder John Brennan later established his own popular West Berkeley restaurant, Brennan’s. The sidewalk-level storefront was replaced and the building renovated in 2008, but the second-story front remains intact.

Berkeley Historical Plaque Project
2009


  • Ennor's Restaurant, photo George O. Petty (2023).

  • Ennor's Restaurant Plaques, photo George O. Petty (2023).

  • Center Street looking west, Sunset Magazine (1906), BAHA Archives.

  • Fifth Anniversary (1923), Berkeley Courier, BAHA Archives.

  • Thanksgiving advertisement, Berkeley Courier, BAHA Archives.

  • John Brennan, photo Berkeley Courier, BAHA Archives.

More information:
Berkeley Daily Planet

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