The owners of the historic Claremont Hotel, an iconic sight on the Oakland Hills for over 100 years, want to expand the club and build 43 new condominiums on one of its parking lots, but historic preservationists are afraid the work would spoil views of the landmark building.
The condo development is one aspect of a slate of improvements to the 20.3-acre hotel parcel at 41 Tunnel Road in Berkeley’s Claremont neighborhood. The hotel owners are also planning on building a new house and expanding services at the hotel’s outdoor club to accommodate a 15 percent membership increase, from 1,600 to 1,850 members, according to city documents.
The construction would be on the southeast portion of the site on land that is currently a parking lot. In 2014, the hotel was purchased by the Fairmont Hotel chain and financier Richard Blum, husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein. The new owners immediately began upgrades on the property.
The property's defining feature is the hotel itself. Construction started on the sprawling 279-room Tudor revival style building in 1906 and finished in 1915. It was designed by Alameda-born architect Charles W. Dickey.
The hotel was declared a city landmark in 2002, but the grounds surrounding it were not, so the owners are still free to build on the property. But preservationists with the Oakland Heritage Alliance object to the plan on the grounds it will block the regional views of the hotel.
"Insufficient and inadequate attention and study is given to views of the historic resource and to the potential visual impacts of future construction upon views toward the Hotel Claremont from beyond its immediate area," wrote OHA President Alison Finlay in a letter to the Landmarks Preservation Board ahead of a hearing on Monday.
The grounds around the hotel have already changed substantially since the hotel first opened in 1915. Much of the grounds were formal gardens and natural landscape until the 1960s, but since then new tennis courts, swimming pools, parking lots and a new spa have been constructed.
Dorothy Barrett, a longtime resident of the area, said she is a member of the Claremont Swim and Tennis Club and fears she will lose the view of the hotel she’s enjoyed for years. She spoke angrily at Monday's meeting about the impact the proposed development would have on neighbors.
"We love the hotel and our access to it, and the views of it are reasons that we have chosen to stay here for so long," Barrett said. "Our daughters grew up believing that the tower of the Claremont Hotel was Rapunzel's tower."
The project was reviewed by the city’s Planning Commission last year, but the Landmarks Board hearing was the first part of a review of the impact on historic preservation.
