Cloyne Court Hotel and Casino (or simply known as Cloyne) is an academic themed substance-free student-run cooperative residence. Cloyne is part of the Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC), a student-run nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high quality, low cost, cooperative housing to students who would not otherwise be able to afford a college education. The BSC provides housing for over 1,300 students in the Berkeley area. Founded in 1933, the BSC is now the largest student cooperative in the nation.
The BSC and all included houses are grounded in values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. For more information on cooperatives visit this website. Cloyne does this on a grand scale with a capacity of 140 people!
House highlights! There is a garden in the court yard along with several balconies, a sauna and basketball court. Inside there are 84 residential rooms, three study rooms, an industrial sized kitchen, library, meditation room, music room, weight room and more.
Fun Fact: Cloyne Court Hotel is a national historical landmark and Pokemon Go pokestop!
History
Cloyne Court Hotel was built in 1904 by the University Land and Improvement Company, which included several University professors, University benefactresses Phoebe Apperson Hearst and Jane Sather, future Regent James K. Moffit, Dr. Louis Lisser, John L. Howard, Warren Olney, Dr. Kasper Pishel, Louis Titus, John Galen Howard, the architect of the building and James M. Pierce, the later owner of the hotel. The building originally contained 32 suites that were not connected by common hallways, but instead connect by private stairways to the first floor public areas. That’s why the wings of the house do not connect on the second and third floors!
Cloyne Court was sold by the Pierce family in 1946 to the University Students’ Cooperative Association (former name of the Berkeley Student Cooperative), and operated as an all-male house. In 1972, Cloyne Court became a co-ed house.
In 1970, the USCA was forced to sell the property to the Regents of the University of California, upon the threat of an eminent domain acquisition by the University. Currently, Cloyne is leased to the BSC with a peppercorn lease.
After a series of drug-related incidents on the premises, most notably the overdose of a resident in 2010, the BSC’s Board of Directors voted in Spring 2014 to make Cloyne Court the Substance-Free Academic Theme House. The house was renovated over Summer 2014, and reopened in Fall 2014.
