Sidney and Irene Dearing Memorial Project

This project will create a memorial to Sidney and Irene Dearing at Triangle Park, near the home where they once lived.

Project Detail

Location: Triangle Park, at the intersection of Magnolia and Wildwood Avenues.

Status: In design

Background

Sidney and Irene Dearing were Piedmont’s first black homeowners. After purchasing a house in Piedmont through an intermediary in 1924, they were subjected to a yearlong campaign of harassment, threats, and violence, including multiple bombs placed at their property. They were ultimately forced to sell their home to the City at a loss under threat of seizure by eminent domain.

The City’s work to recognize and memorialize the Dearing family’s experience in Piedmont and the City government’s role in their forcible expulsion formally began in May 2022, when the City Council directed the Park Commission to develop recommendations for a physical memorial to the Dearing family to be constructed in Triangle Park.

Over the next year, a subcommittee of the Park Commission engaged in a series of facilitated conversations with relatives of Sidney and Irene Dearing, as well as community stakeholders. This work grew into a set of guiding principles, including a request from the family that the memorial should not be limited to the injustice Sidney and Irene Dearing experienced in Piedmont, but also reflect their lives and accomplishments outside of and in spite of this tragedy.

Design Process

The City has engaged Oakland-based landscape architect Walter Hood (Hood Design Studio) to develop conceptual designs for the memorial.

Hood and his team are working with members of the Dearing family and a Technical Advisory Committee composed primarily of City staff to develop two preliminary design concepts, which will be shared publicly for community feedback in early 2024. This feedback will inform the final design.

Construction

The City hopes to begin construction of the memorial in summer 2024.

Updates

• 10/24/2023: The City has engaged Oakland-based Hood Design Studio to develop conceptual designs for the memorial for Sidney & Irene Dearing in Triangle Park.

Documents

• City Council staff report: Update on efforts to memorialize the Sidney and Irene Dearing Family at Triangle Park (April 3, 2023)
• City Council staff report: Consideration of naming the City’s Triangle Park as “Dearing Family Memorial Park” (May 16, 2022)

Video

• Design phase kickoff: Walter Hood: Landscape /Meaning / Representation | Recovering Voices… Presentation by project designer Walter Hood, Hood Design Studio (November 7, 2023)
• City Council: Update on efforts to memorialize the Sidney and Irene Dearing Family at Triangle Park (April 3, 2023)
• City Council: Consideration of naming the City’s Triangle Park as “Dearing Family Memorial Park” (May 16, 2022)

Contact

Rosanna Bayon Moore, City Administrator, [email protected]