Income Securities Building - Oakland

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The Income Securities Building is an Art Deco office building constructed in 1928 and is located at 360-364 - 14th Street. It was designed by architect Frederick H. Reimers and sculptor John Stoll; ² the builder was Charles W. Heyer.

1928 ²

"The six story Art Deco bank and office building on an interior lot has a steel frame structure with reinforced concrete floors and brick curtain walls. The facade is three bays wide, with a ground floor base and a five story shaft, clad with rendered concrete slabs. There is a polished gray granite base about 6' high. The bays are framed on both levels by angularly fluted piers. Ground floor entries have deep reveals, inward slanted tops, and paired copper doors. Three cast stone bas-relief spandrel panels at the base of the upper bays depict "General Activities," "Architecture," and "Commerce and Shipping." Windows are vertically separated by concrete spandrels with geometric motifs, and piers are capped with a stylized eagle motif on the parapet. The exterior is unaltered except for a canopy across the ground floor.

The design by Oakland architect Frederick Reimers and San Francisco artist John Stoll was widely noted for its innovative "sculptural conception" and probably influenced the nearby Central Building and Loan Building (369 Thirteenth Street, 1929). It is part of the strong Art Deco theme in the district." ¹

This historic building is #42 on the list of District Contributors for the Downtown Oakland Historic District Registration Form.

Sculptures

The bas relief sculptures on the front were created by John Stoll, a Bay Area artist who worked on the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition of 1915. The 3 panels are titled "General Activity", "Architecture", and "Commerce and Shipping".

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Today

The building is currently home to the Greenlining Institute and the Oakland Post. In May 2020, work began the AscenDance mural on the side of the building.