If Manhattan's Flatiron Building had an ornate, West Coast cousin, it might well be the Cathedral Building. The twelve-story building was constructed in 1914 at the intersection of Broadway and Telegraph Avenue, and because of the small plot of land it occupies, it has a thin profile similar to that of the Flatiron Building. The building's architect, Benjamin McDougall, was reportedly influenced by Manhattan's ornate Woolworth Building. The Cathedral Building was considered to be one of the finest examples of the Gothic Revival architectural style, and at the time of its construction, it was the first Gothic Revival high-rise west of the Mississippi River.&nbsp; After sitting empty for several years, the building has recently been transformed into high-end condominiums and office space. In 2015, a Bay-area artist, Zo Ziegler was commissioned to create a mural on the building's north-facing wall that commemorates the signing of the United Nations charter in 1945.&nbsp; The Cathedral Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

More Info

Located on a narrow sliver of land at the intersection of Broadway and Telegraph Avenue, the Cathedral Building is one of the most striking buildings in Oakland. Originally known as the Federal Realty Building, the structure got its nickname because of its terra cotta spires which resemble a Gothic cathedral. 

Cathedral Building 

Admin

This walking tour winds through downtown Oakland and includes stops at several of the city's historic theaters and buildings. The tour includes prominent downtown buildings, landmarks like Latham Fountain and Tribune Tower, and several sites related to the African American history of Oakland.  

The Paramount Theatre was originally conceived as a movie palace during the rise of the motion picture industry in the late 1920s.&nbsp;In 1925, Paramount Publix Corporation, the theater division of Paramount Pictures, began a construction program resulting in some of the finest theaters built in the United States.&nbsp;The Paramount Theater in Oakland opened at a cost of $3 million on December 16, 1931. The gala premiere on the Grand Opening was attended by Kay Francis, star of the opening film,&nbsp;The False Madonna, as well as cast members Conway Tearle, Charles D. Brown, Marjorie Gateson and William Boyd. Other notable guests included California's Governor&nbsp;James Rolph and Oakland mayorMayor N. Morcom.&nbsp;In June 1932 the Paramount closed after being unable to meet its operating expenses of over $27,000 per week. The Paramount stayed closed for nearly a year. When it reopened in May 1933, it was under the management of Frank Burhans, who was commissioned to get the Paramount out of debt. His method for achieving this was to operate without either a stage show or an orchestra, and to unscrew light bulbs in an effort to reduce energy expenses.&nbsp;In the 1950s, popcorn machines and candy counters were installed, and on the lobby walls the incandescent lights were taken out and replaced by neon tubing in red and blue. But despite the theatre's success, it was losing customers to television towards the end of the 1950s and 1960s.This forced the Paramount to close for a second time in 1970 as it just couldn't compete with the smaller movie theatres.&nbsp; The building was purchased by the Oakland Symphony Orchestra for $1 million who reopened the Paramount on September 22, 1973. The Oakland Symphony sold out nearly all seats on subscription sales and sold out a majority of individual concerts. But despite this, the building was still a financial burden. Rather than take on these mounting costs, the Oakland Symphony transferred the Paramount to the City of Oakland for $1, in exchange for forty years of free rent. They continued with that agreement until the Oakland Symphony Orchestra filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 1986.Seeing an opportunity, a group of seven private citizens banded together and approached city officials with the idea of managing and operating the Paramount on behalf of the city as a nonprofit organization. They agreed, and the management structure has remained to this day.

Constructed in 1931, The Paramount Theatre is an incredible Art Deco performing arts and movie palace with 3,434 seats. It was designed by architect Timothy L. Pflueger. Construction on the theatre began in late 1930 and was completed in 1931, with the grand opening on December 16, 1931. The building fell into a state of disarray for three decades until it was purchased by the Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association in 1972, which completed the restoration of the building. On January 7, 1975, the Paramount Theatre was designated as an Oakland Landmark and in 1976 the theatre was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Paramount Theatre

After two years of construction, The Oakland opened on October 27, 1928. It was the age of "movie palaces," and the Oakland was no exception; the house organ was a Wurlitzer Opus 1960 with 15 ranks of pipes and a staff of 150 people was needed to run the theater.&nbsp; When the theater opened, an estimated 20,000 people thronged the building. At the time, the Oakland was the biggest theater in Oakland, and one of the first to show "talkies," or motion pictures with sound. The building itself, with its massive dome and Middle Eastern-inspired architecture, was a marvel.&nbsp; The following year, the theater was purchased by William Fox and renamed the "Fox Oakland." &nbsp;For more than thirty years, the Fox Oakland was a staple of downtown San Diego, but suffered with the advent of television. The theater closed its doors in 1966, opening only sporadically over the next few years for special events. In 1973, the building survived an arsonist's fire but declined in subsequent years and narrowly escaped demolition more than once.&nbsp; After numerous attempts to restore the theater, serious efforts at restoration began in the 1990s. In February of 2009, after sitting empty and largely decrepit for forty years, the Fox Oakland reopened as a music venue. In its most recent incarnation, the theater has hosted such performers as B.B. King, Bob Dylan, and Green Day. It is also home to the Oakland School for the Arts, a charter school founded in 2002 for arts students in grades 6-12.&nbsp; The Fox Oakland was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

For most of the twentieth century, the Fox Oakland Theatre operated as a movie theater. It ceased operations in 1970, but reopened in 2009 as a concert venue. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Fox Oakland Theatre 

Jill
Vialet and Mary Marx established The Museum of Children’s Arts (MOCHA) in 1989.
They created this museum in order to support children in the community, and to
allow them to showcase their creativity and imagination. Soon after MOCHA
opened, they partnered with several local schools and were able to organize art
exhibits at several hospitals and other buildings throughout the city. They
have also partnered with several other arts and scholastic establishments in an
attempt to help children broaden and improve their literacy and artistic
abilities.&nbsp;They also wanted to allow&nbsp;children to be surrounded by a positive and
educational stimulating environment where they are encouraged to not only
learn, but to grow as well.
 MOCHA
moved to a new location in order to offer more programs to the youth. They also
felt that they would have a better opportunity to assist in generating more
family-oriented activities and programs in the area. They have made a positive
impact in several areas around their community, such as low-income families,
schools, and libraries, where they have joined together with parents, teachers,
artists, and students. MOCHA feels that educating children about art is
necessary in order to allow the child to develop socially, emotionally, and
culturally.&nbsp;According to Leticia Padgett who is
the museum manager, and a teaching artist, MOCHA doesn’t offer any specific activities
or projects for those with special needs. However, teaching artists who are
affiliated with the museum do travel to different Spectrum special needs schools,
to do art with individuals with special needs. The teaching artists create
projects and activities that they feel relate to the children at each specific school.
MOCHA also has an open studio which is held on Fridays and Saturdays, where
they have different activities such as: a painting wall, collage making, and
modge podge. Each open studio has a theme, such as colors and light. MOCHA
feels they are contributing to the future of art history by having programs
where teaching artists go into schools, libraries, and underprivileged areas
and help the children create an outlet that they normally wouldn’t have without
art.&nbsp;Reaching the children of the
community has always been a goal of this museum, and this is how they feel they
will truly make a difference.

The Museum of Children's Arts (MOCHA) was formed by Jill Vialet and Mary Marx in 1989. They created this museum in order to support children in the community, and to allow them to showcase their creativity and imagination. MOCHA eventually moved to a new location in order to offer more programs to the youth, and to have a better opportunity to assist in generating more family-oriented programs. MOCHA has made a positive impact in several areas around their community, such as low-income families, schools, and libraries, where they have joined together with parents, teachers, artists, and students. MOCHA feels that educating children about art is necessary in order to allow the child to develop socially, emotionally, and culturally. 

Museum of Children's Arts 

Eugene and Ruth Lasartemay, Jessie and Dr. Marcella Ford had no idea that their inspiration to collect historical articles and oral histories would lead to such an amazing place such as the African American Museum and Library at Oakland. There collections were&nbsp;strictly&nbsp;on the artifacts and oral presentations that were&nbsp;solely&nbsp;based on Oakland, The Bay Area&nbsp;and California. In 1965 the collections that were maintained by the Lasartemay's, Jessie&nbsp;and Dr. Ford turned into the East Bay Negro Historical Society. After&nbsp;realizing&nbsp;their success in people wanting to come in and learn more on this issue they decided to get a bigger place and thats how the location and name African American Museum and Library at Oakland developed.&nbsp; with 160 collections and 80 years of African American in the East Bay Collected, The Lasartemay's, Jessie&nbsp;and Dr. Ford's&nbsp;once just stacks of information and history became an entire room and an entire building of collections. There are as many as 400 Videos that can be watched and learned through out the Museum and Library which allows room for education purposes and&nbsp;field trips. There is a huge selected of 12,000 books&nbsp;strictly&nbsp;on the collections of African American History in Northern California and the widespread that spread around the world. From Martin Luther King Jr. to Malcom X and many more, so much information has been maintained and collected to create this amazing place.&nbsp; As you can tell not all of this place is just a Library of collections but also a huge Museum is presented on the second floor of the building. This museum is unique in the fact that it presents host and original&nbsp;exhibitions&nbsp;that focus on Northern California. A lot of museums focus on many areas of the country but its great to see what has happened to many places that as a Californian you would have&nbsp;never imagined happened where you grew up.&nbsp;Although&nbsp;this&nbsp;building has always been a home to books since it was a popular library in the 1900s, it has kept its purpose as now a historical place in Northern California.&nbsp;

Many people would not believe how much African American History was created and developed in Northern California. Most people remember a lot of riots and movements that transpired down in the southern California region around Los Angeles. Because of this, a museum was created and build to educate the many people that did not know what had happened in their own backyards. This museum was created to educate the Bay Area on how much has happened there when it comes to the African American lifestyle and struggles in the centuries before. The African American Museum and Library at Oakland was a creation of four people who started collecting oral histories and artifacts and in 1946 and their aspiration became a dream many will never forget. 

African American Museum and Library at Oakland, CA

The church was originally founded in 1869 by a Reverand name Laurentine Hamilton, who had previously been a minister at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland but was charged with heresy and forced to resign his ordination. Most of his parish joined him, and formed a new church, the First Independent Presbyterian church, which later became the Independent Church of Oakland. &nbsp;By 1886, the new reverend, Charles Wendte, reorganized&nbsp;Church into the First Unitarian Church of Oakland. They constructed this Romanesque style church for their congregation in 1891 and have been there ever since.&nbsp;During construction of the church and for at least a few years afterwards, the minister lived in a house on the opposite side of 14th Street.Since the Church's inception, the neighborhood&nbsp;has changed dramatically. The Oakland Public Library was built next door in 1904 and by 1910 an apartment building was built across the street which signalled the changing of the area into a working class one with subdivided houses and apartments. By 1951, there was a police garage and fire station on Grove Street a block away and in the 1960s, the route of the Grove-Shafter freeway&nbsp;was established west of the church across Castro Street.&nbsp;

The land on which the First Unitarian Church of Oakland stands upon was purchased in November 1888 from Jane K. Sather, a patron of the University of California. Construction of the Church began in 1890 and was completed in September 1891, although it was used for various activities while still unfinished. The building was designed in by Walter J. Mathews in a solid masonry Romanesque Revival style which departed radically from California's then predominant wood framed Carpenter Gothic style churches. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake damaged the building heavily but did not destroy it. The church is listed as California Historical Landmark and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

First Unitarian Church of Oakland

The building design consists of three tiers in a "wedding cake" style. The bottom tier, which acts as the building's foundation, houses the Mayor's office, the city council chamber, hearing rooms, and a police station with a firing range in the basement. The thinner second tier is a ten-story office tower and the top floor of this section (the 12th floor) houses a 36-cell jail with an outdoor yard that has been unused since the 1960s.&nbsp;Above the second tier is the two-story podium with a clock tower on top.The exterior of the building is made of white granite and terra cotta, while the inside of the building is white and Black marble. The building was nicknamed "Mayor Mott's wedding cake" after former Oakland Mayor Frank Kanning Mott, one of the key figures in securing the new City Hall Building.&nbsp;On October 13, 1911, President William Howard Taft laid the cornerstone for the new city hall and it opened to the public some two and a half years later on March 12, 1914.In 1989, following the Loma Prieta Earthquake, City Hall suffered large amounts of structural damage and had to be closed down. Rather than tearing the building down and starting again, it was decided that the old building should be retrofitted to protect it from seismic activity. Extra steel beams and concrete was used to reinforce the building's structure such that the building can now move up to 20 inches either side during an earthquake.The repair project cost a staggering $85 million.

Constructed in 1914, the Oakland City Hall is the seat of government for the city of Oakland, California. Standing at the height of 320 feet (98 m), it was the first high-rise government building in the United States. At the time it was built, it was also the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. This new Beaux Arts building replaced the previous City Hall building which formerly stood on the same plot. The building was designed by New York-based architecture firm Palmer & Hornbostel in 1910, after winning the $5,000 grand prize in a nationwide design competition over 27 other competitors. 

Oakland City Hall

The late 1800s were years of explosive growth for Oakland. These were also years of tremendous growth for department stores, when they were built to essentially be palaces of retail. One of Oakland's finest department stores was Kahn's, which opened in 1879. After several years of growth, Israel Kahn's department store moved into a new building in 1912. The new building was designed by architect Charles W. Dickey. The original 1912 building was a Y-shaped structure with a large dome crowning the intersection of the three legs. An addition in 1923 transformed the building into a somewhat irregular L shape. The dome, which sat directly on the flat roof of the building, was thirty-six feet tall.&nbsp; In 1960, the store was rebranded as Rhodes Department Store, and in the 1970s it became one of a few Liberty House Department Stores on the mainland United States. The Liberty House store closed in the mid-1980s and was still empty when it was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.&nbsp; It would be a decade before a full restoration of the property was undertaken. Rotunda Partners bought the property in 1999 and began a $50 million total restoration and modernization of the building. The renovation was largely the work of developer Phil Tagami, who gained notoriety during the Occupy Oakland protests when he faced down protesters outside the Rotunda with a shotgun. The renovation took three years to complete, and the Rotunda reopened in 2001, offering seven stories of office and retail space. Because of its striking, classically-inspired interior, the Rotunda is also used as an events venue.&nbsp; The Rotunda was named an Oakland Landmark in 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Built in 1879, the remarkable structure now known as The Rotunda was originally Kahn's Department Store. After changing ownership numerous times over the years, the building suffered considerable damage from the Loma Prieta earthquake.  The building underwent a $50 million restoration beginning in 1999, and has since reopened as The Rotunda.

The Rotunda, Oakland 

The fountain was created by French sculptor Raphael&nbsp;Peyre and depicts several scenes, including a cherub restraining a man from beating a donkey. The large bowls surrounding the base were intended as horse water troughs and between the troughs were drinking fountains for people, with and the overflow from those ran into smaller basins for dogs.The Fountain was unveiled during a ceremony led by the City of Oakland and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on April 12, 1913. Before the unveiling, there had been only one memorial to local citizens in Downtown Oakland, the Jack London memorial oak tree in Frank Ogawa Plaza. Mr. Latham passed in 1876 and&nbsp;Mrs. Latham in 1909. Shortly after her mother’s death, Milton and Edith Latham furthered the family’s work in animal respect activism by creating the Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education, whose purpose was to teach the respect of animals and others in schools, and whose initial offices were in the Latham Square Building overlooking the fountain.&nbsp; The inscription on the fountain reads: “Erected to the memory of James H. Latham and Henrietta Marshall Latham as a tribute to their humanity. Presented to the city of which they were earliest residents by their children under the auspices of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Erected March 1913”.

Constructed in 1913, the Latham Square Fountain commemorates the lives of James H. Latham and Henrietta Marshall Latham. The fountain was a gift from Edith and Milton Latham who wanted to honor their parents, James and Henrietta Latham, who were pioneers of Oakland and promoters of Humane Education. James Latham was born in Ohio, served in the US-Mexican war at age 17, and worked for Wells Fargo & Co. before opening what was then the largest brokerage business in San Francisco. He lived with his wife Henrietta, whose family had been involved in the gold rush, in a mansion on 17th and Jackson where they raised their three children, Edith, Milton and Charles.

Latham Fountain

Joseph Knowland, a former U.S. congressman, acquired the&nbsp;Oakland Tribune in 1915 which at the time was located in the old Golden West Hotel. In 1918, when the previous tenants moved out, Knowland had his eye on a nice location at Thirteenth and Franklin. He envisaged the building and its adjacent warehouse as the site of a first-class newspaper facility. He began purchased the building and moved the Tribune there.The building had stood since 1906 and was a product of designer D. Franklin Oliver. The attached warehouse, which became the&nbsp;Tribune's press room, was built in the 1890s on the site of the old Pantages Theatre. The now-familiar clock tower, designed by Edward Foulkes, was added in 1923 to complete the Tribune Tower as it appears today.&nbsp;The Tribune Tower gained national attention in 1923 when Harry Houdini escaped from a straitjacket while dangling upside down from the ninth floor of the building. (It took him five seconds). The building was declared a city landmark on May 4, 1976.In 1979, Gannett Company bought the newspaper and the Tower from the Tribune Publishing Corporation, later selling the&nbsp;Tribune&nbsp;to its editor and publisher, Robert Maynard and his wife Nancy Maynard, the first African Americans to own a major daily newspaper in the U.S. After the 1989 earthquake, the newspaper was forced to move &nbsp;offices, and the tower remained empty for the next six years when it was purchased for $300,000 by John Protopappas.&nbsp;The building sold for $8 million to Tom Henderson, CEO of&nbsp;SFRC &nbsp;and an Oakland native. In 2017 Tom Henderson was sued by the US Government and accused of running a fraudulent investment scheme with Chinese investors' money and his case is still ongoing as of 18/06/2017.

Stoof at 305 feet, the Tribune Tower is a 22-story building located in downtown Oakland. The building itself was constructed 1906 and the tower was later erected in 1923. It is currently the 11th tallest building in Oakland. The architecture of the tower was inspired by St Mark's Campanile in Venice, Italy. The building was opened by Joseph R. Knowland on January 1, 1924, as the home of the Oakland Tribune newspaper, and became a symbol of both the Tribune and the city of Oakland.

Tribune Tower (Oakland)

<div>The national register of historic places registration form says: "This building is a seven story Beaux Arts store and office building of steel frame reinforced concrete construction, with a first floor base, a transitional second story, and a five story shaft with articulated end bays. The lower part is clad in rusticated mottled beige terra cotta; the shaft is clad with variegated dark orange brown combed pressed brick. Ornamentation is Romanesque and early Renaissance. The shaft has tall slightly recessed arched bays of paired windows, with straight-headed end bays. &nbsp;The semicircular bay arches enclose paired semicircular arched windows on the top floor, below a narrow corbeled galvanized iron cornice.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>The storefront at 386 Fourteenth Street has a deep blue glazed tile base and wood paneled inset art glass show windows. &nbsp;Most of the ground floor is intact; some windows have been replaced. &nbsp;Plans indicate that the structure was designed to hold five additional stories."&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>On June 6, 1995 the building was designated Oakland Landmark #121. </div>

The Alameda County Title Insurance Co. Building is located on the corner of Fourteenth Street and Franklin Street in Oakland. The building was designed by architects McCall & Davis in the Beaux Arts style as an office building and was completed in 1923-1924 by Dinwiddie Construction Company. On the back of the building is the magnificent but faded mural, Mitzvah: The Jewish Cultural Experience.

Alameda County Title Insurance Co. Building

There is some evidence to suggest that the family business did not actually move from this building in 1927 but was instead renamed, causing the confusion. Mr. Howden Senior retired in 1927 but it is possible his sons renamed the business but continued trading. In 1938, James Rolph III, candidate for lieutenant governor and son of a former governor of California and mayor of San Francisco, used the building as his Alameda County campaign headquarters.More recently the building has housed the Howden Market, a market-deli-cafe serving fresh local produce, organic groceries and carryout foods. The owners of Spice Monkey next door renovated the vacant space and are stocking the store with home-made sauces from the restaurant as well as dips, teas, and spices. The building was designated as a city of Oakland landmark in 1984.

Designed and constructed in 1925 by McWethy and Greenleaf for Robert Howden, the Howden Building is a commercial structure with intricate Spanish Baroque/Moorish ornamentation. His company, Robert Howden and Sons, occupied this building and sold mantels, grates as well as floor and wall tiles. The Howden family business operated in the building from 1925 to 1927, when the company moved to a location in Piedmont. Today, the building lives on as a space for the Spice Monkey Restaurant, a beauty salon, a bookstore and a psychic reading office on the first level.

Downtown Oakland Walking Tour

Cathedral Building

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information