# Oakland City Hall

Oakland City Hall is the seat of government for the city of Oakland, California. The current building was completed in 1914, and replaced a prior building that stood on what is now Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. 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. The City Hall is depicted on the city seal of Oakland.
The building was designed by New York–based architecture firm Palmer & Hornbostel in 1910, after winning a nationwide design competition. The building, constructed in the Beaux-Arts style, resembles a "rectangular wedding cake". It consists of three tiers. The bottom tier serves the foundation. It is three stories high and houses the mayor's office, the city council chamber, hearing rooms, and a police station with a firing range below in the basement. The thinner second tier follows; it is a ten-story office tower. The top floor of this section (the 12th floor) houses a 36-cell jail with an outdoor yard that has gone unused since the 1960s. Above the second tier is the two-story podium with a clock tower on top. The exterior is built of white granite and terra cotta, while the inside is built of white and black marble. The building was nicknamed "Mayor Mott's wedding cake" after former Oakland Mayor Frank Kanning Mott, a key player in passing the bond to pay for the new City Hall, who was married the same year construction began.
In 1983, the Oakland City Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the building suffered from major structural damage and was immediately closed down. Instead of tearing it down and replacing it with a newer building, city leaders decided to retrofit it seismically. To do so, steel columns in the foundation were cut and they were replaced by rubber bearings. Steel beams were added to support the steel structure and concrete walls were added to support existing walls. The building can now move laterally 18-20 inches in an earthquake. The city hall was repaired along with the downtown revitalization project of building new office buildings. The repair project cost $85 million.

## Description of the Physical Appearance

Oakland's City Hall, situated at the heart of downtown Oakland, occupies a full city block on the western side of Washington Street between 14th and 15th Streets, facing Memorial Plaza, often referred to as City Hall Plaza. Crafted in the American Beaux-Arts style by the esteemed New York architectural firm Palmer and Hornbostel, the building was erected between 1911 and 1914. Its design comprises a three-part, vertical structure: a grand three-story base, standing at approximately 56 feet tall with a width of 184 feet along Washington Street and a depth of 124 feet. Above this base rises a ten-story tower, towering approximately 161 feet high, 103 feet wide, and 68 feet deep, crowned by a cupola housing a four-faced clock tower soaring approximately 343 feet above the sidewalk.
The building's layout distinctly separates the ceremonial spaces on the base level from the administrative offices housed in the tower. Its main facade features a slightly projecting, columned entry portico flanked by matching wings. Clad in California granite, the surface is adorned with subdued glazed terracotta embellishments depicting a blend of classical and Californian motifs. Tall recessed window bays culminate in arches on the third floor of the base and the eleventh floor of the tower. The foundation comprises a robust slab of concrete and steel, measuring two feet six inches thick, underlying the entire edifice. Despite undergoing numerous interior modifications and alterations over time, the building has preserved its fundamental integrity.

## Significance

Oakland's City Hall stands as the fifth iteration in the city's history, marking a pivotal milestone as the first municipal building in the United States to blend ceremonial functions with a modern high-rise office tower. Its construction coincided with that of the Woolworth Building in New York City (1911-1913), a project designed by Cass Gilbert, who notably received an honorary prize in the nationwide competition for Oakland City Hall's design. The architectural excellence of Oakland City Hall encompasses its strategic placement, distinctive form, arrangement of ceremonial areas, and the meticulous craftsmanship evident in its decorative elements, particularly the intricate terra cotta work, including the imposing ornamental torches and the frieze on the ground floor.
The Council Chamber, renovated in 1957, exudes elegance, while the vestibule and rotunda leading to it serve as exemplary illustrations of the American Beaux-Arts style. Noteworthy historical figures, including President William Howard Taft and Hiram Johnson, among others, graced the cornerstone-laying ceremony in 1911. Additionally, the esteemed Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Earl Warren, briefly occupied an office within its walls in 1920. Throughout its extensive history, Oakland City Hall has welcomed many distinguished guests, standing tall as a symbol of civic pride and prominence. Though overshadowed by taller structures in the surrounding skyline, its commanding presence in the heart of the city remains undeniable, anchoring its central urban space with enduring significance.