$1 Houses!

UC Berkeley has an offer for an enterprising buyer in the San Francisco Chronicle: two turn-of-the-century homes for just $1. Well, and a commitment deposit of $100,000 and a commitment not to destroy any of the surrounding trees.

Actually, this may be a good deal for the buyer (I have my doubts), but it's a terrible deal for historic preservation. As is usually the case, Berkeley wants the land and not the houses. Prohibited, philosophically disinclined, or otherwise limited from demolition, the university offers the houses up for removal. In the process, the houses will be at minimum removed from their historic context -- it's better than demolishing them, but not much. Most likely the houses will suffer significant damage and lose a lot of their historic fabric.

It's too bad Berkeley can't apply some of its famed alternative thinking and figure out a way to incorporate these houses into its campus plan. Surely some departments need office space, or some students need housing. Or, heck, other articles in the Chronicle have been reporting on Berkeley's efforts to find permanent housing for its new President and Provost -- maybe they'd like to move in?