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Currently known by residents as "Loth," Lothlorien is a cooperative house consisting of two former mansions built next to the University of California, Berkeley, located on 2405 and 2415 Prospect Street. Like Kingman Hall, Casa Zimbabwa and Cloyne Court Hotel it is one of the most well known houses in the Berkeley Student Cooperative system. Both buildings are considered to be significant for their architecture and location, as well as history of its residents. With North House built in the 19th century for George Hebard Maxwell, one of the initial water rights advocates in the United States. Beginning in 1910s both mansions were converted into group homes, hosting multiple fraternity and sorority organizations. In the early 1970s both became home to the One World Family Commune cult that practiced a New Age, UFO centered religion. In 1975 the complex was sold to Berkeley Student Cooperative to become Lothlorien the vegetarian themed house. Lothlorien has retained some principles of the previous residents - a communal culture that emphasizes vegetarianism and artistic creativity and rejecting individualism and conservative social norms. It is known for progressive activism and is considered to be one of the flagships of the organization.

History 1883 to 1972
The North House on 2405 Prospect Street, was built in 1883, and designed by Clinton Day, a prominent Bay Area architect, who designed the City of Paris building in San Francisco, and Architectural Building and Metallurgical Laboratory at UC Berkeley. Known as the Maxwell House it was originally built on the intersection of Channing Street and Piedmont Way, a California Historical and Berkeley Heritage Landmark, built by Frederic Law Olmstead and considered a prototype for his parkway. The house was built for George Hebard Maxwell, at the time a young lawyer and an up and coming Republican Party organizer. Who took on water access cases for small agricultural land owners, and became a recognized public proponent of water reclamation and communal irrigation projects and later became the co-author the National Reclamation Act. The house was sold by the Maxwell family in 1903 and moved two blocks up to Prospect Street sometime before 1909. The North House is one of three remaining 19th century houses built on Piedmont Avenue. The South House on 2415 Prospect Avenue was built in 1906 for an established lawyer Phillip G. Galpin.

With the completion of Memorial Stadium in 1923 and the International House in 1929, the Piedmont Avenue neighborhood transferred from one of quiet, expensive mansions into Berkeley's student-oriented home for Greek Life with numerous fraternity and sorority houses. Both houses served as homes to often boisetrous Greek organizations and student dormitories until 1960s. During this period both houses became property of a single owner and now share a common courtyard.

One World Family Commune
In early 1973 the two properties were rented by the One World Family Commune (OWFC), a UFO and Christianity based new religious movement, considered by some to be a cult, and led by Allen Noonan. A New Age, hippie community, it was largely composed of young people, rejecting of capitalism and western religion, and instead centering on artistic expression and a closer connection to nature through macrobiotic diet and psychedelics, embracing communal living and non-monogamous relationships. It was formed in 1967 in San Francisco by Allen Noonan, a 51 year old year old artist and UFO enthusiast. He opened the first vegetarian restaurant in the city, completely operated by the commune's members. Following a brief stop in Marin County the main branch relocated to Berkeley. In 1970, it opened the One World Family Natural Foods and Entertainment Center was located in a large building on Telegraph Avenue and Haste Street in Southside part of Berkeley.

That year, OFWC rented the former residence of Acacia fraternity on Piedmont Avenue, this was followed by another move, and by early 1973 the OWFC settled at North and South houses, its final Berkeley location. The commune wasIn early 1973 moved to the North and South houses, its final Berkeley location. The houses were named Novida and Altamira and were home to 55 adults and 25 children. Centered on artistic expression, members performed at home and in public, part of the natural foods and entertainment center was "Far Outs" an airbrushed clothing store and OFWC bands often performed at public venues. While on Prospect, a group of members including their leader, began practicing Natural Selection a tantric yoga group sexual activity. One of the members stated that: "We could see the benefit of going beyond the mortal-minded status quo programming in order to provide for one another the health benefits in exchanging hormones and energies in right sexing and the accompanying increased telepathic communication, while at the same time ridding ourselves of false programming of shame, guilt, jealousy and possessiveness." By 1975 OFWC began decreasing in size and due to financial struggle and the two houses being sold to Berkeley Student Cooperative, the commune relocated to a a twelve bedroom mansion in Stockton.

Lothlorien
Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) bought both houses the summer of 1975, and opened Lothlorien as vegetarian themed co-op that fall. Residents refer to themselves as elves after the elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy book The Lord of the Rings, who inhabit Lothlórien. Although there was no connection, organization or member wise, between BSC and One World Family Commune, Lothloriens retained some key principles of OWFC. From Spring 2001, Communities: Life in Cooperative Culture: "The commune's story always piques our collective imagination, perhaps because we seem to share more than a little in common: for example, we're a vegetarian house; they ran a vegetarian restaurant on Telegraph Avenue. They were a community with a mystical philosophy and some supposedly wild gatherings; we're also a community with uncommon, if disparate, beliefs, and some decidedly uninhibited gatherings."

Like OWFC Lothlorien is known for its rejection of conservative social norms. Customs with elements of folklore and mythology are part of Lothlorien culture, with new members being encouraged to go through an annual ritual of initiation.

Because Lothlorien is a Berkeley Student Cooperative (BSC) vegetarian themed house, all house-bought food is vegetarian and house bylaws prohibit preparation, storage, or consumption of meat in common space. Many residents of Lothlorien are vegetarians and vegans, but type of diet is not a condition of residence. Collaboration and community living are emphasized, it is the only BSC house to make decisions by Quaker based consensus, rather than majority vote. House council meets weekly, and usually consists coordinator reports and proposals such as budget expenditures. Proposals are adopted when all those present at council come to consensus on the issue, a member can raise a major objection meaning that they are considering moving out if the proposal is adopted. Raising the objection results in denial of the proposal.

Political activism and environmental concern is one of the main themes of the Lothlorien community. Often, members major in different fields of environmental science and/or actively participate in protests. Lothloriens joined other activists in the university oak grove controversy, where a tree sitting near the Memorial Stadium lasted from December 2006 to September 2008. Lothlorien also organized and passed a UC Berkeley referendum creating an annual $100,000 fund for green initiatives at the university.

Killing of 'Bibi' Lee
In 1984 Lothlorien, Roberta 'Bibi' Lee, a former Lothlorien disappeared while jogging in Oakland hills with two Lothloriens, one of whom was her boyfriend Bradley Page. At this time Bibi and Page were undergoing a stressful period in their relationship. During the jog, Bibi separated from the two Lothloriens and never arrived at the end point. The two walked back to the parking lot, but could not find her. Alone, Bibi's boyfriend drove along path to look for her, coming back approximately twenty minutes later. Even though they were unable to find her the two drove back to Lothlorian. Later that day Page and several housemates went on a pre-planned to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He reported her missing the next day.

The trail was searched extensively by the police and volunteers, and several days later someone reported seeing her on the side of the road forced into a van by a heavy set man. Berkeley and Oakland Police departments along with the FBI became involved in the case. At the same time, Page, Bibi's friends and other Lothloriens set up Treehaven a command center for a coordinated search, more than 2,000 volunteers participated with approximately 3 million flyers distributed along the west coast. Five weeks after her disappearance, Bibi's body was found close to where she was last seen. Page was interviewed by the police, and admitted to killing her during a struggle after finding her. He further admitted to going back the same night and having sex with her corpse. An hour and half after his admission, he took back his statements claiming that he imagined the events due to stress. Page was arrested, with almost all of Lothloriens refusing to believe he was guilty. Page's an initial 1986 trial ended in mistrial due to a hung jury, and in 1988 he was retried and convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years, he was released on parole in 1995 after serving two and a half years.

Over the years Bibi's death has been has been integrated into Lothlorien folklore. The narrow room that she lived in, on the top floor of one of the houses, it is now known as the "Spirit Room" with the whole floor considered to be haunted by her ghost.

Structural Layout
Lothlorien consists of two adjacent houses: North House at 2405 Prospect Street, and South House at 2415 Prospect Street. The two houses surround a common courtyard area and share a communal kitchen and dining room in the South House. There is a tree house, and in 2010, Lothlorien was the first co-op house to install photovoltaic solar panels.