Temple of Wings
Bernard Maybeck/A. Randolph Monroe, Architects; 1911
City of Berkeley Landmarks
designated in 1992
In one of Berkeley’s more eccentric experiments in living, Charles and Florence Boynton built their family residence as a version of a Greco-Roman temple with no walls. Two circular, open-air porches were ringed by 34 concrete Corinthian columns. Canvas shades were hung between the columns in bad weather. A curving roof formed the building’s “wings.” And a central open-terrace served as a stage where Mrs. Boynton, a girlhood friend of Isadora Duncan, taught generations of dance students.
The Berkeley Fire of 1923 burned all but the columns and the home was rebuilt with more conventional rooms. It was remodeled again after the Boynton family sold it in 1994.
Marker is on Buena Vista Way, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
