Hillside first opened in the Fall of 1901 on the nearby southwest corner of Le Roy Avenue and Virginia Street.

The 1930s work included upgrades pursuant to the Field Act which resulted from the 1933 Long Beach earthquake.

The school used it for their Berkeley campus from August 2012 until December 2016, when they closed the building due to unmet seismic retrofit needs.

In 2018, the German School sold the property to Finnish entrepreneur Samuli Seppälä [fi], who plans to use it for artist studios.

[6] Area residents have used Hillside's playground as a de facto neighborhood park since it was constructed; a pedestrian path is heavily used.