BlockFrom the record
One of 160 National Register listings published here for Alameda County · listed in 1996 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Oakland Free Library-Alden Branch
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. 17 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1895.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
- Listed as. Oakland Free Library--Alden Branch - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
- Address. 5205 Telegraph Ave., 500 52nd St., Oakland, 94609
- When was it listed? February 1996
- Category. building
- Also known as. California Carnegie Libraries MPS
- Census division. Oakland
- Architectural style. Tudor Revival architecture
- National Register reference number. 96000105 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1895 to 1993The 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.
Fires near this property
241 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 241 fires within 5 miles of Oakland Free Library-Alden Branch between 1992 and 2020, burning about 370 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 | 168 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 28 |
| Smoking | 15 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Debris and open burning | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 6 September 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection | not named |
| 5 September 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Santa Clara Unit | ANZA |
Mines and quarries near this property
10 of 23 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 23 workings within 5 miles of Oakland Free Library-Alden Branch: 7 past producers, 6 occurrences, 5 producers, 4 unknowns. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Mercury, Stone, Lead. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Hills | Sulfur-Pyrite, Copper, Lead | Past Producer | Galena, Pyrite | |
| Kaiser Industries Corp | Clay | Producer | ||
| Unnamed Location | Calcium | Prospect | ||
| Tunnel Rock | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Tunnel Rock | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Occurrence | ||
| Berkeley Hills | Lead | Unknown | ||
| Unnamed Location | Lead | Occurrence | ||
| Henry J. Kaiser | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Henry J. Kaiser Co. | Stone | Past Producer | ||
| Henry J. Kaiser Co. | Stone | Past Producer |
Storms near this property
16 since 1996Regional 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 |
Maps showing this location
17 surveysUnited 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.
- 1895 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:62500
- 1899 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:62500 - 7 printings
- 1915 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:62500 - 6 printings
- 1947 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Oakland West quadrangle1:24000 - 2 printings
- 1955 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
- 1957 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Oakland West quadrangle1:24000 - 5 printings
- 1960 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1978 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
- 1985 USGS San Francisco quadrangle1:250000
- 1993 USGS Oakland West quadrangle1:24000
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 milesOther 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
 | University High School | 0.4 miles | 1992 |
 | Ladies' Relief Society Children's Home | 0.5 miles | 2006 |
 | Treadwell Mansion and Carriage House | 0.7 miles | 1977 |
 | Remar Bakery | 0.7 miles | 2002 |
 | South Berkeley Community Church | 1.0 miles | 2007 |
 | Oakland Free Library-Golden Gate Branch | 1.1 miles | 1996 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 96000105 in Record Group 79. |
| Alameda County | All 160 listed properties in this county. |
Provenance
- Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
- Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
- How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
- Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
- Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
- Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.