Observatory Hill

History

This rise just west of McCone Hall was the site of the Students' Observatory, built in 1885 to house a variety of astronomical instruments, including a 20" telescope. Two years later, the observatory added the first seismographic equipment deployed by the University of California, and in 1891 a glass conservatory was built on the hill as part of the original campus botanical garden. The conservatory was razed in 1924; the observatory moved to Lafayette in 1965. The site is now an open space for relaxing or studying, bordered on its south flank by the new C.V. Starr East Asian Library and Chang-Lin Tien Center for East Asian Studies.