[2] Charles L. Bugbee patterned it after the Carpenter Gothic style Mendocino Presbyterian Church, which the firm had designed in 1867.

Both churches feature tall side-entrance bell towers, steep gabled roofs and lancet windows, but according to writer Daniella Thompson: "...the Church of the Good Shepherd is considerably more ornate and playful than its severe Presbyterian model, ..."[3] On December 15, 1975, Good Shepherd became the second building in Berkeley to be named an Historic Landmark.

On December 1, 1986, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Church of the Good Shepherd-Episcopal.

The current priest-in-charge is the Reverend Este Gardner Cantor.

[6][7] Its associate pastor is the well-known theologian William Countryman.