Read at Dedicatory Service, June 9, 1940
Dear Friends:
It is with deep reverence, gratitude and joy that the members of this church, Second Church of Christ, Scientist,
Berkeley, find themselves privileged to dedicate this edifice, in accordance with and in obedience to the Manual of
The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, of which this church is a loyal
branch.
The dedication of a Church of Christ, Scientist, must always be of more than casual or enthusiastic interest. Even
when only humanly considered, it signifies that through the devotion of its members, congregation and friends, the
church has reached the Scriptural status of “owing no man anything but to love one another.”
In 1913, Berkeley, with a population exceeding 60,000, and covering an area of about fifteen square miles, had but
one church of the Christian Science denomination, First Church of Christ, Scientist, at Dwight Way and Bowditch
Street. The steady growth of Christian Science in Berkeley, as shown by the crowded condition at the services and
Sunday School sessions of First Church, made imperative the organizing of another church. These facts, together
with the sincere desire of the members of First Church to provide more opportunities for extending the teachings of
our Leader, led to the organizing of this church.
The history of Second Church began at a meeting of First Church, November 23, 1913, regularly called for the
purpose of “considering the question of forming a new church.” A ballot vote showed 87 members favored forming a
new church in North Berkeley and three, in South Berkeley.
The first service of this church, and the first session of its Sunday School, were held Sunday, January 4, 1914, in the
Hillside Clubhouse, the only available meeting place in the North Berkeley district. The clubhouse was overcrowded
from the first service, and the High School Auditorium was leased for 1915. This move was considered temporary, as
the members expected to begin building in North Berkeley at an early date. Conditions created by the European war,
however, caused actual building plans to be set aside. Nevertheless, on December 19, 1916, the members by
unanimous vote ordered the purchase of two large lots on Oxford Street, near Virginia.
Some question being raised as to the propriety of holding church services on public school property, the church, in
July, 1917, moved to a small building on Allston Way near Oxford Street, which had formerly been occupied by a
Baptist Church. The building proved inadequate and generally unsatisfactory for the rapidly growing congregation.
During this tenancy a so-called epidemic of influenza occurred and for several weeks all manner of public indoor
meetings, including church services, were forbidden by the health authorities. This church, however, held its services
without interruption. A permit was readily obtained to hold services on the church lots. Two wooden boxes, mounted
on a large truck, provided the rostrum, and gasoline torches furnished the light Wednesday evenings. A portable
organ was used for instrumental music. During this period two lectures by members of the Board of Lectureship were
held on the lots.
After three years in the Allston Way building, the church returned to the Hillside Clubhouse, which had been
remodeled and enlarged. Steps were immediately taken to build a church edifice, the lots having been cleared of
indebtedness and a third adjoining lot bought and paid for. The cornerstone was laid May 22, 1922, and services
began in August of the same year in the Sunday School room. The first service in the completed structure was held
Sunday, October 1, 1922. The structure was frame and stucco, with a seating capacity of 460. The Sunday School
room, with space for 25 classes, was so arranged that it could readily be made part of the main auditorium for lecture
purposes.
The building had been occupied less than a year when it was destroyed in the Berkeley fire of September 17, 1923.
The loss to the church was estimated at $14,000. The organ, which had been completed but not installed, was
saved, and is the one now in use in this edifice.
Many members of the church and congregation lost their homes in the fire, and moved to other locations; but the
church continued its services without interruption -- first in the old church building on Allston Way, after that for a
short period in the ballroom of the Hotel Whitecotton, then for a year in the Armstrong School Auditorium, and then for
the third time in the Hillside Clubhouse, which had been rebuilt immediately after the fire.
The University of California in the meantime had acquired the church land, and with the proceeds of the sale the
church purchased the present site. Construction on this edifice started some months later, and the first service was
held Sunday, November 21, 1926.
Our gratitude is inexpressible in words to our faithful congregation, to the East Bay churches of our denomination,
and to the other churches and friends throughout the field of Christian Science for their generosity and love toward
this church, both in triumph and trial.
To our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, from whose funds the final payment on this edifice was made, we re-dedicate
ourselves as faithful followers in the movement she instituted for the healing and redemption of mankind.
We humbly express our gratitude to the Giver of every good and perfect gift, whose healing Christ we earnestly pray
may ever be in this house and say, in the words of David, “All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given
Thee.”
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Second Church of Christ, Scientist
Berkeley, California
Prepared by
Committee of Charter Members
Eighteen months after the foregoing statement was read at the Dedicatory Service, the Japanese attacked Pearl
Harbor in December, 1941, and immediately the members and congregation of Second Church were swept up in the
war effort. However, despite the dislocations of war and the demands on the time, labor, and thought of the
members, Second Church continued to progress, and by December, 1943, had purchased the residence immediately
to the north of the church edifice, at 1515 Spruce Street, to make room for a much needed Sunday School building.
By the end of World War II, the church services on Sundays were crowded. Not only were all the seats in the main
body of the church auditorium filled, but the benches along the sides were occupied, and a single row of folding
chairs was placed in the outside aisles at the end of each row to make room for the numbers who attended.
The Sunday School also was flourishing, and the well-known architect, Henry H. Gutterson, who had designed the
church edifice, was commissioned to draw up plans for a Sunday School building.
After several proposals had been presented, in September, 1949, a plan was approved and a contract was let to
erect a Sunday School building. The first service was held early in 1950.
Until this time, the first session of the Sunday School had been held in the church auditorium at 9:30 a.m. The center
seat in each second row was a jump seat, so that the teacher could lift the back of the seat ahead of her and sit
facing her class during the discussion period. When the Sunday School building was completed, solid sections were
inserted in these pews, which explains why there is a break in the center of every second pew in the church. The
second session of the Sunday School was restricted to the younger children and was held in the committee room and
the Board room in very cramped quarters.
During and immediately following World War II, many of the older homes in the church neighborhood began to be
broken up into apartments, or rented out in single rooms, and with limited garage space, the number of cars left
parked on the street increased greatly. As a result, the need for parking space for those wishing to attend church
services became evident, and in October, 1958, the church was able to purchase the parking lot on Arch Street.
In 1969 the Vine Street parking lot became available, and by that time additional parking space was greatly needed.
This lot abutted the church property and also gave direct access to the Arch Street parking lot, so it was voted in
May, 1969, to buy the Vine Street lot.
Second Church helped to pioneer two projects: one, the support with the other Berkeley churches of The Christian
Science Monitor newsstand sales activity; and the other, the delayed broadcasting of tapes of lectures after the
lectures have been given. Both activities had their beginnings in Berkeley and brought much blessing to the
community.
On May 26, 1971, a fire was started in the church edifice by an arsonist, who was never apprehended. An area from
the rostrum up to the organ loft was burned, but once again the organ was saved. The reconstruction of all the
damage was completed in the Fall of 1972. During this period all Sunday services were held in the church
auditorium, except for two services when the new carpet was being laid and the pews installed.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
1972