HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Julia Morgan's 1930 'Little Castle' on Durant Avenue — a National Register hotel and members' club whose Gothic-Moorish corridors lend themselves to atmospheric haunted lore.
2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Hotel rooms available to the public; club spaces and pool are members-only. Morgan's Bar and Lounge is open to the public.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic hotel with elevators; some original architectural features have steps
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1930 · Julia Morgan architecture · National Register of Historic Places (1977) · California Historical Landmark No. 908 · Originally Berkeley Women's City Club · Surviving Julia Morgan urban building still in original use
The Berkeley Women's City Club commissioned Julia Morgan in 1927 to design a combined clubhouse, hotel, swimming pool, dining, and event facility for the city's professional women. Morgan, who was then in the middle of her decades-long collaboration with William Randolph Hearst on Hearst Castle, accepted the commission and produced one of her most concentrated and recognizable urban buildings.
The six-story reinforced concrete structure at 2315 Durant Avenue opened in 1930. Morgan combined Gothic, Moorish, and Romanesque references in an interior that includes an arcaded indoor swimming pool, multiple courtyards, a grand stairway, member lounges, a library, and 36 hotel rooms. The building was given the nickname 'Morgan's Little Castle' by Berkeley residents — a play on the much larger Hearst Castle.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and designated California Historical Landmark No. 908. In 1962, declining membership led to the building's opening to all members regardless of gender. The Berkeley City Club Conservancy has overseen preservation work since 2002. In 2018 the basement bar reopened as Morgan's Bar and Lounge.
Decades of deferred maintenance and seismic concerns have made the building 'endangered' per a 2019 Berkeleyside report. A capital campaign has been raising funds for restoration. As of 2026 the City Club continues to operate as a private members' club and small public hotel.
Sources
The Berkeley City Club's haunted reputation is more atmospheric than incident-based. The building's Julia Morgan-designed corridors — long, narrow, dimly lit, ornamented with Gothic vaulting and Moorish-influenced screens — invite the imagination. Guests staying overnight regularly report difficulty sleeping, unexplained nighttime sounds, and the sensation of not being alone in the public spaces.
Writer and artist L. John Harris spent the month of June 18 to July 16, 2015 at the Club while his Berkeley home was unavailable and posted a daily journal that Berkeleyside subsequently published as 'Diary of a haunted summer at the Berkeley City Club.' Harris used the word 'haunted' partly in a literary, atmospheric sense — describing Morgan's 'ode to Renaissance palazzos, Spanish castles and all things Gothic' — but the piece is also the closest the building has to a sustained personal narrative of its night-time character.
The Daily Californian's 2017 'Haunted places in Berkeley' roundup lists the City Club alongside the more incident-anchored UC Berkeley sites, and the building consistently appears in regional 'most haunted' shortlists. No named entity, specific witness, or dated incident anchors the lore. We frame the City Club's reputation as architectural and atmospheric — the kind of place that feels haunted, anchored in actual high craft rather than in actual recorded death.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Book one of the 36 hotel rooms inside Julia Morgan's 1930 'Little Castle.' Long-stay guests have described the atmosphere as 'haunted' in the literary sense — wandering corridors and Gothic-Moorish public spaces invite the imagination.
The City Club offers periodic public architectural tours of Julia Morgan's design, including the indoor pool, member lounges, and roof terrace. Check the website's events calendar for current dates.
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See current room rates and availability at Berkeley City Club.
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