American Baptist Seminary of the West

Claiborne M. Hill Chapel

2509 Hillegass Street
Berkeley

The origins of the Berkeley Baptist Seminary precede the gold rush in California, with the establishment of a Baptist mission in San Francisco in 1848.  The Seminary opened September 1, 1890 in Oakland.  It reopened fourteen years later at its present site in Berkeley with the Reverend Claiborne M. Hill as president.

The main building at the corner of Dwight Way and Hillegass, designed by architect Julia Morgan, was built in 1921.

The brick and stone Gothic chapel designed by architect Walter Ratcliff was completed in 1950 and was dedicated to the memory of Reverend Claiborne M. Hill, who served as president for a third of a century.

The dominant stained glass window in the chancel is a reproduction of “The Christ of the Great Commission” painted by noted liturgical artist Warren Sallman of Chicago as a memorial to Reverend Samuel B. Morse, who served from 1886 to 1897 as the President of California College (the predecessor to the Seminary).  The reproduction of that painting in stained glass was done by Carl Huneke, Century Stained Studio, San Francisco, who also designed and created the other stained glass windows in the Chapel.

Dr. Eugen Neuhaus, Professor Emeritus of Art, University of California, was the consultant for the stained glass art in the Chapel.