Samm/Dalton/Cooper Mansion and Cooper Brothers Grocery - Oakland

Samm/Dalton/Cooper Mansion and Cooper Brothers Grocery ¹

The Samm/Dalton/Cooper Mansion and Cooper Brothers Grocery (historic name: Samm (Jacob)/Dalton (Henry)/Cooper (Freddie) House and Corner Store) was originally constructed in the Italianate style from 1877 to 1878, and occupied by Jacob Samm, proprietor of the Bay City Roller Flour Mill [seriously? Bay City Roller?!?].

Prominent politician Henry P. Dalton, a who served on the City Council and as Alameda County Assessor, remodeled the home in the Queen Anne style from 1895 to 1896.

In 1898 the mansion was featured in a photographic spread of “Representative Oakland Residences” that was published in Alameda County Illustrated in its 'modernized’ (and current) Italianate-Queen Anne form. Originally the house was distinguished by its Italianate front portico with curving grand front stairs, large elaborately carved double doors with glazed windows, an arched glass transom, angled bay windows on front and sides, and arched round-cornered windows, and later remodeled with Queen Anne details including gables over the bays with fish-scale shingles, pendants and other ornament.

During the Great Depression and World War II the home was converted into apartments and a rooming house.

The structure was expanded in 1948 to include a corner store, an example of a post-war entrepreneurial pattern in evidence throughout the district. The home and store were purchased by the Cooper brothers in 1962.

On May 18, 2004, the property was designated Oakland Landmark #136, under Zoning Case #LM04-001. The property (the house and store) has been determined to be eligible for the National Register as an anchor contributor to the Oakland Point Historic District.

Samm/Dalton/Cooper Mansion and Cooper Brothers Grocery ¹