Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1895.
“The Cathedral Building, built in 1914, was the first Gothic Revival style skyscraper west of the Mississippi River, located in Oakland, California.”
Wikipedia article Cathedral Building, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 160 National Register listings published here for Alameda County · listed in 1979 · category: Building.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The ground this property stands on, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 249 fires within 5 miles of Federal Realty Building between 1992 and 2020, burning about 326 acres in total. None started naturally. 28 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 174 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 28 |
| Smoking | 18 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 9 September 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2005 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 8 September 2004 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Santa Clara Unit | SMALL |
| 7 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | not named |
| 6 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 6 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Federal Realty Building: 6 producers, 3 past producers, 1 occurrence. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Sulfur-Pyrite, Copper, Silver, Sulfur, Silver, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alum | Sulfur, Silver, Copper | Past Producer | ||
| Kaiser Industries Corp | Clay | Producer | ||
| Alma | Sulfur-Pyrite, Copper, Silver | Occurrence | 1892 | |
| Alum | Sulfur-Pyrite, Copper, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Ada Sand and Gravel Pit No 2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Kaiser Sand & Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Kaiser Sand & Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Moller Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Quarry | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Sanderling Dredge | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Oakland, the town this property stands in, in 16 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 7 hail, 4 flood, 3 flash flood, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2017 | Hail | Oakland | $5,000,000 | Damage dollar amounts is a low estimate. Impacts are not fully known, but any individual car crash would likely exceed this amount. |
| December 1996 | Heavy Rain | Oakland | $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| December 1996 | Heavy Rain | Oakland | $1,000,000 | no account filed |
| December 2025 | Flash Flood | Oakland | - | Vehicle stuck in three feet of water on westbound Interstate 580 west of 35th Avenue. |
| January 2020 | Flood | Oakland | - | Roadway flooding at I-580 W and Coolidge Ave off ramp. Number 1 lane flooded from Coolidge to Grand. |
| January 2020 | Flood | Oakland | - | Roadway flooding at WB-580 and Coolidge, slow lane flooded. |
| January 2020 | Flood | Oakland | - | Roadway flooding at I-580 W and Coolidge Ave off ramp. |
| November 2019 | Hail | Oakland | - | Public reporting pea-sized hail in Alameda. Reported via twitter. |
| March 2018 | Hail | Oakland | - | Several reports of pea-sized hail in Oakland via social media. |
| April 2018 | Hail | Oakland | - | Small accumulating hail observed in Oakland. |
| April 2018 | Hail | Oakland | - | Small hail observed in east Oakland. |
| April 2018 | Hail | Oakland | - | Media report showing accumulating small hail in Oakland. |
| February 1999 | Hail | Oakland | - | Smal hail fell in and around the Oakland Zoo. |
| January 1998 | Flash Flood | Oakland | - | flooded basement at Whittier Elementary School |
| December 2002 | Flood | Oakland | - | no account filed |
| December 1996 | Flash Flood | Oakland | - | no account filed |
United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Kahn's Department Store | under 500 feet | 1989 |
 | Downtown Oakland Historic District | 0.1 miles | 1998 |
 | Oakland YWCA Building | 0.1 miles | 1984 |
 | Oakland City Hall | 0.1 miles | 1983 |
 | Pacific Gas & Electric Company Building | 0.1 miles | 1986 |
| Alameda County Building and Loan Association Building | 0.2 miles | 2016 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 79000467 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Alameda County | All 160 listed properties in this county. |
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