Oakland Waterfront Warehouse District

This 16-acre warehouse district in Oakland lies a few blocks northeast of the Port of Oakland's Inner Harbor, around 3rd, 4th and 5th Streets. It contains 24 contributing buildings and one contributing structure, the Posey Tube Oakland Portal. Most are one- to three-story brick, concrete and stucco warehouses with flat roofs, stepped parapets, industrial sash windows and truck doors. Fifteen of the contributing buildings date from 1917 to 1937, and the earliest warehouse, built in 1914 for the W.P. Fuller Paint Company, set the period of significance. Western Pacific Railroad's arrival in 1909 broke Southern Pacific's waterfront monopoly and drew businesses that built rail spurs and shipped goods across the western United States. Later warehouses, especially for wholesale grocers, sent packaged goods by water and helped broaden the port's cargo. Some buildings have been turned into offices and lofts, but the district keeps its overall character, and most of it appears as it did in 1954.