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Wilcox Block (ca. 1869) 1

The Wilcox Block & Annex is located at 821-833 Broadway and 459-475 9th Street in Oakland, California. One tenant of the Wilcox Block was W. W. Elliott, publishers of Oakland and Surroundings. The buildings are still there, though some details have been changed. The Wilcox Annex on 9th Street is also known as the Gladstone Building.

The Wilcox Block was constructed by Captain P. S. Wilcox in 1868, The Wilcox was the first three-story brick building in Oakland, the highest structure in the City at that time. Completed shortly before the Oakland terminus of the Transcontinental Railway, the Wilcox block typified the increased development that was burgeoning landward on Broadway in anticipation of rail-related business and travelers.

The brand-new building survived the 21 October 1868 earthquake intact owing to its strong construction, with abundant iron ties holding its walls together.2

On April 12, 1983 the Wilcox Block & Annex was designated Oakland Landmark under Zoning Case #LM 83-22.

Wilcox Block, Broadway, Oakland (ca.1869) 1View of Oakland, from Wilcox Block, looking North (ca. 1870) 1View of Oakland, from Wilcox Block, looking East (ca.1870) 1

View of Oakland, from Wilcox Block, looking Northeast (ca.1860) 1View of Oakland, from Wilcox Block, looking Southwest, with Goat Island in the distance (ca.1860) 1View of Oakland, from Wilcox Block, looking West (ca.1870) 1

1885 3

Links and References

  1. Society of California Pioneers collection at Calisphere
  2. Halley's Centennial Yearbook of Alameda County (1876), p. 260
  3. Oakland and Surroundings W.W. Elliott 1885
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