Montgomery Ward and Company
Why it's listed
Oakland's largest and tallest industrial building, this Art Deco complex at 2825 East 14th Street holds 910,000 square feet on an eight-acre site. Three eight-story reinforced concrete buildings, designed by company engineer W.H. McCaully and built by Wells Bros. in 1923, 1924 and 1926, form an L-plan with arcaded bays, broad steel-sash windows and three corner towers. A four-story building was added in 1959, and a 1964 storefront addition altered the northeast frontage. The interior is open floor space supported by mushroom columns on 20-foot centers. Montgomery Ward, a Chicago-founded mail-order firm, opened the Oakland plant a decade after its first West Coast warehouse in Portland, Oregon. Good rail and road links let it fill orders for rural and small-town customers across the western states faster than before. It operated as a distribution center for more than sixty years, which is the basis for its recognition as significant to commerce at the state level. The building is now vacant.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues significance at the state level under Criterion A in the area of commerce. The Oakland plant served as a major West Coast distribution center for the company's catalog business, operating alongside the Portland and Dallas plants for over sixty years. Its rail and road connections allowed quick delivery of farm equipment and household goods to rural and small-town markets across the western states.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 99000691, listed June 15, 1999. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 2825 E. 14th St., Oakland |
|---|---|
| County | Alameda County |
| Listed | June 15, 1999 |
| Reference number | 99000691 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1923-1948 |
| Architect / builder | McCaully, W.H. |
| Architectural style | Modern Movement: Art Deco |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Vacant since Montgomery Ward left; interior cleared of partitions and shelving. A 1964 parking garage was demolished in 1996, and the exterior has broken glass and a dark brown paint scheme. |
| Acreage | 8 |
| Coordinates | 37.77975, -122.23094 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 99000691.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.