c.1870 1
The Broadway Block was a 2-story building on Broadway between 11th and 12th, constructed about 1869.
Ads in January 1869 in the Oakland Daily Transcript list a number of businesses moving into the building, including Irwin, Gurnett, and Company and photographer William Ingersoll. The Oakland Library Association also opened a reading room there. 3 c.1885 it was home to photographer Elon Ormsby as well as Ingersoll.
It's unknown when the building was demolished, but the Novelty Theater opened at 1063-1065 Broadway (1117-1121 Broadway after renumbering) in 1902. 4 The 1912 Sanborn shows that half of the block as a 3-story building.
1889 Sanborn excerpt
Illustrated Directory, 1896
Oakland and Surroundings, 1885
1869. Broadway block is left of center. 2
crop of 1869 photo
Links and References
- LH1410 Society of California Pioneers, gift of Florence V. Flinn
- M0326_b07_f05_014 William Gardiner transportation collection, 1869-1951 at Stanford University
- Oakland Library Association—Opening of the Rooms To-Day Oakland Daily Transcript January 1, 1869
- Novelty Theater Opens Monday Evening Oakland Tribune September 20, 1902
