{"nrhp_refnum":"89000194","name":"Kahn's Department Store","other_names":["The Rotunda","Liberty House Department Store"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1501--39 Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakland","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.80594978200003,"lon":-122.27088202999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-03-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large Beaux Arts department store building at 1501-39 Broadway in downtown Oakland, California, begun in 1912 for Kahn's and expanded in 1923. It is now a seven-story office building organized around a skylit rotunda, also known as the Rotunda Building or Liberty House.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a fine example of early twentieth century Beaux Arts commercial architecture. Its interior rotunda is a rare local example of a large, publicly accessible Beaux Arts space. The exterior and dome also contribute to the historic fabric of downtown Oakland. When built, it was the third largest department store in California and the largest in Oakland.","narrative":"Kahn's Department Store occupies an irregular, L-shaped lot at 1501-39 Broadway in downtown Oakland. Designed by Charles W. Dickey and opened in 1912, it was originally a Y-shaped steel-frame building topped by a thirty-six-foot elliptical glass dome. In 1923 a six-story concrete addition by architect E. W. Cannon filled the northeast corner of the site. Inside, a ninety-five-by-seventy-five-foot rotunda rose through the building, ringed by classical columns and balustrades. The brick exterior is trimmed with terra cotta and marble. At completion it was the third largest department store in California and the largest in Oakland, serving the city's growing middle class after the 1906 earthquake. Later alterations covered the storefronts and filled in parts of the rotunda, but a 1984-1988 rehabilitation restored the 1912 storefront and rebuilt the rotunda from photographs and drawings. The building now serves as offices, and its dome remains a distinctive feature of the downtown skyline.","period_of_significance":"1912-1923","architect_builder":"Dickey, Charles W.; Cannon, E. W.","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated 1984-1988 and converted from a department store to an office building with ground-floor retail; the 1930s-40s storefront alterations were largely reversed and the rotunda was reconstructed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.911706-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/89000194.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000194/659d0e0e14-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000194/659d0e0e14-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kahn%27s_Department_Store_(Oakland,_CA).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:Kahn%27s_Department_Store_(Oakland,_CA).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/123858251","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahn%27s_Department_Store","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123055077"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/kahns-department-store-89000194/"}