John Tupper and Lawrence Reed constructed this building for their music store, which they established in Berkeley in 1906.

Architect William Raymond Yellland, a UC Berkeley graduate, designed many storybook structures. This one features clinker bricks, wood beam ceiling, slate roofs, balconies, fanciful decorations and a monumental fireplace. The iron cutout on the chimney top announced the Sign of the Piper restaurant, once located upstairs.

Following a 1959 fire, the Tupper & Reed moved next door.

In 2005, Tupper & Reed closed, just shy of being in business on Shattuck Avenue for a century. Details in The Berkeley Daily Planet.

When we photogrphed the building in January 2016, it was home to Tupper & Reed Coktail Bar.