Social progress for women was central to the activities of the College Women's Club. Founded in 1920 to serve the community and edify its members, the Club established scholarships, organized the city's first cooperative day nursery, and worked successfully to put a woman on the local police force. The hospitality given to foreign students helped bring the nation's second Rockefeller-financed International House to Berkeley.

Walter Steilberg's design for the group's residents incorporated a grand main floor with stage. He melded elements of the classical, Italian Renaissance, and arts and crafts styles and ornamented the building with his signature green Chinese tiles.

Source: Berkeley Historical Plaque Project

The building was seismically upgraded and restored to reopen as the Bancroft Hotel in 1993.