UC Village, also called University Village or University Village Albany, is a housing community for students and postdocs who are married or have dependents. It is owned and administered by the University of California, Berkeley. It is located within the city limits of Albany about two miles away from the main Berkeley campus, at an elevation of 26 feet (8 m). It was originally known as Codornices Village, and later, Albany Village. It is also commonly referred to as The Village.
The University Village is located on the Gill Tract, at the foot of Codornices and Marin Creeks. It began as a federal housing project for some of the thousands of families of workers who came to the San Francisco Bay Area to work in various war industries during World War II, especially the Kaiser Shipyards in nearby Richmond and Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. It originally extended across the city limits past Codornices Creek into Berkeley as far south as Camelia Street. It was built on land leased from the university and other owners. Around 1954, some of the village buildings were acquired by the University of California. The Berkeley section was demolished.
During the war, the Key System constructed a massive wooden trestle through and over the heart of the village and the nearby Southern Pacific railroad's mainline for the Shipyard Railway to Kaiser Shipyards. It was dismantled at the end of the war.