Campanile

# 55

The Campanile, or more formally, Sather Tower, is the symbol of both the university and Berkeley. On clear days the city’s most prominent landmark can be seen from across the bay. Jane Kron Sather funded it as a memorial to herself, just as she funded Sather Gate as a memorial to her husband, Peder Sather.

The slender tower is tapered inward three and half feet from its base to its belfry. It then becomes a vertical shaft up to the pyramidal spire. A lantern tops the spire and sculpted flames terminate each of the four corners. Images invoking the “light of knowledge” are frequent motifs in early 20th-century university architecture.

The Campanile is built on the site of a revered flagpole which was the center of early campus life. The pole was situated among the first three major university buildings, South Hall, North Hall and Bacon Hall, of which only South Hall survives.