Jackson Square Losing Another Longtime Gallery

Jackson Square Losing Another Longtime GalleryAlfred Harrison, owner of The North Point Gallery. Photos: Geri Koeppel/Hoodline
Geri Koeppel
Published on May 28, 2015

Jackson Square is losing another longtime tenant: The North Point Gallery announced that its last regular business day will be Saturday, June 6th. A moving party from 5-7pm on Thursday, June 4th will offer wine, cheese and a chance to say goodbye for now until the gallery reopens in the East Bay.

The gallery, which has been in business since 1972 and in its current location at 407 Jackson St. near Sansome for 15 years, has to move mainly due to a 40 percent rent hike, said owner Alfred Harrison. "We love this location," he said. "But now that our lease is expiring, we can't afford the new rent. So we are moving to Berkeley, where I live, in a much humbler but very pleasant location." 


The North Point Gallery specializes in 19th and early 20th century California painters, most of whom produced dramatic landscapes of the American West. It will move from its current 1,500-square-foot storefront into a 1,200-square-foot space at 2247 Fifth St. in Berkeley. The opening date, hours, new phone number and details about the September opening party will be posted on the gallery's website.

Joseph Baird, an art history professor at the University of California–Davis, founded The North Point Gallery in 1972 at 872 North Point St. in Fisherman's Wharf. When he retired in 1985, Harrison said, "I assumed ownership of it because I was a private collector with diminishing funds to collect." Harrison found the new space through a friend, Robert Bijou, who is a private art dealer with a space in the building. “He said he loved his landlord, Denny Abrams,” Harrison said. Serendipitously, Abrams was part of a team who built Harrison’s Arts and Crafts home in Berkeley 40 years ago. (Abrams-Millikan & Associates also developed the Fourth Street Shops in Berkeley.)

Harrison didn’t blame the move entirely on the rent increase. He said business has gone down “quite a lot” since 2008. He noted several reasons for that, including the fact that many collectors of the type of art he carries have generally complete collections and many younger collectors prefer modern art. Another factor is the rise of online auctions, which can offer deals, but also tend to suppress the true value of art, Harrison said. And, he added, “There’s been a renaissance of traditional art that hasn’t been recognized by the mainstream media.”

Jackson Square is gradually losing many of its art and antique galleries. Chappell & McCullar, selling antiques and fine art, closed in 2014. Arader Gallery, known for its rare maps, prints and natural history watercolors, closed one of its two Jackson Square locations last year as well. Kathleen Taylor: The Lotus Collection fine antique textiles, tapestries and pillows, moved to Sausalito in February 2015. C. Mariani Antiques, Restoration & Custom closed at 499 Jackson St. (though it still has an appointment-only location at 1301 Harrison St.) and is now home to Alton Lane custom tailors, and Sarah Stocking Antique Posters at 368 Jackson St. is on the marketHarrison wasn't sure what type of business would move into the gallery's former space, but it's zoned a Special Use District to protect the unique retail character of the area.

In addition to running the gallery, Harrison is an art scholar who has lectured, curated exhibitions and written books and exhibition catalogs. He’s also looking for a publisher for an exhaustively researched and extensively illustrated tome titled California Painting of the Nineteenth Century.

“I don’t like art that’s arbitrary,” Harrison said, adding that the style and period of art that is his passion depicts a realistic image yet intensifies it and creates an emotional impact without being melodramatic. “It makes the world more appealing by the hand of the artist,” he said.