Blake Garden (Kensington, California)
Blake Garden is a teaching facility for the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design in the hills of Kensington, California, a census-designated place of the East Bay region of the Bay Area in Northern California, approximately 4 mi (6.4 km) north of the main University of California, Berkeley campus. It was originally designed by landscape architect Mabel Symmes for the estate owned by her sister and brother-in-law, Anita and Anson Blake; the trio lived in Blake House, a mansion on the estate designed by architect Walter Danforth Bliss and completed in 1924. The Blakes deeded the grounds to their alma mater, the University of California, in 1957, which took full control after Anita's death in 1962, implementing a redesign by Geraldine Knight Scott starting from 1964. Blake House served as the official residence of the President of the University of California from 1967 to 2008. Since 2009, Blake Garden has been open to the public on weekdays.
Formal Garden with reflecting pool and Blake House in Blake Garden
Western facade of Blake House, from the Lower Lawn
Eastern facade of Blake House
Formal Garden and grotto with reflecting pool, east of Blake House
Kensington is an unincorporated community and census designated place located in the Berkeley Hills, in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area, in Contra Costa County, California. In the 20th century it was considered part of Berkeley, although it is across the county line. House numbers follow the pattern used in Berkeley, and Kensington shares two zip codes with the Berkeley Hills area.
Blake Garden, Kensington
Don Víctor Castro, a Californio ranchero and politician, owned the area where Kensington was founded, as part of his Rancho San Pablo.
Entrance to Ardmore Path
Stein's pharmacy at Amherst and Arlington