The Chamber of Commerce Building, completed in 1927, was the first true skyscraper in Berkeley. Designed by Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr., who was a leading Berkeley architect of the prosperous 1920s, the building commemorated the civic importance of the Chamber of Commerce in that period.

It is an unusual and especially fine example of the early 20th century classically-derived brick and terra cotta skyscraper.

Excerpted from the NRHP nomination submitted in November 1984.

For more information about Ratcliff, please see National Register Listing 77000281: Berkeley Day Nursery.