{"nrhp_refnum":"79000467","name":"Federal Realty Building","other_names":["Pierce Bldg.","Cathedral Bldg."],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1615 Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakland","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.80631365000005,"lon":-122.26996966999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-01-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 14-story Gothic-style office skyscraper at 1615 Broadway in downtown Oakland, California, built in 1913-14 on a narrow triangular site where Broadway meets Telegraph Avenue. It was designed by architect Benjamin Geer McDougall.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is architecturally significant as the first skyscraper on the West Coast fully conceived in the Gothic manner. It solved the problems of skyscraper height and a trapezoidal site through emphasis on verticality. It is also significant as a symbol of Oakland's early twentieth-century building boom and its rivalry with San Francisco.","narrative":"Rising fourteen stories at the point where Broadway meets Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, this office tower was built in 1913-14 as the Federal Realty Building and later known as the Pierce Building and the Cathedral Building. Architect Benjamin Geer McDougall used Gothic design to deal with both the height of a skyscraper and an unusually narrow, wedge-shaped lot. Continuous bay windows, deep shadowed shafts, a steep hipped roof and many spires emphasize vertical lines. The steel-frame structure is clad in buff terracotta, with sheet-metal ornament at the top. The nomination calls it the first fully Gothic skyscraper on the West Coast and describes it as a symbol of Oakland's growth during a period of intense building and competition with San Francisco. The original ground-floor arcade has largely been lost to a restaurant conversion, though the entrance portals and the ornate marble lobby survive.","period_of_significance":"1913-14","architect_builder":"Benjamin Geer McDougall","architectural_style":"Gothic (\"Commercial Gothic\" skyscraper)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and occupied, with peeling paint and some chipped terracotta and damaged spires. The ground floor was converted to a fast-food restaurant in the 1960s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.839975-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/79000467.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000467/f359541edc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000467/f359541edc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Federal_Realty_Building_(Oakland,_CA)_2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Federal_Realty_Building_(Oakland,_CA)_2.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"98000813","name":"Downtown Oakland Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/california/downtown-oakland-historic-district-98000813/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858214","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5052203"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/federal-realty-building-79000467/"}