Coordinates: 37°48′22.25″N 122°16′12.93″W / 37.8061806°N 122.2702583°W / 37.8061806; -122.2702583
| Federal Realty Building | |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Cathedral Building | |
| Location: | 1615 Broadway, Oakland, California |
|---|---|
| Area: | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built: | 1914 |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 79000467 |
| Added to NRHP: | January 2, 1979 |
Located in Oakland, California, the Cathedral Building, originally named the Federal Realty Building, was the first Gothic Revival style skyscraper west of the Mississippi River. It is also called the "Wedding Cake" for its appearance, which resembles New York's Flatiron Building. Its narrow, triangular form is a result of its location on Latham Square, where Telegraph Avenue branches off diagonally from Broadway. It was built by architect Benjamin Geer McDougall, who designed the steel framed building. The building has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was developed by Brog Properties, a Downtown Oakland development firm. They are renovating the building for mixed residential and commercial units. Currently over 70 percent occupied, the historic building houses prominent architectural and engineering firms such as JRDV Architects and TJC and Associates, Inc.
Famous quotes containing the words cathedral and/or building:
“The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“I love art, and I love history, but it is living art and living history that I love.... It is in the interest of living art and living history that I oppose so-called restoration. What history can there be in a building bedaubed with ornament, which cannot at the best be anything but a hopeless and lifeless imitation of the hope and vigour of the earlier world?”
—William Morris (1834–1896)