The architectural firm of Bliss & Faville designed the Oakland Hotel, a massive Italian Renaissance Revival building that occupies a full city block.

From 1912 until 1943, the hotel was Oakland's finest hostelry and among the finest in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its opening provided an important commercial stimulus and constituted a major step in the city's development.

Guests included Presidents Wilson, Coolidge and Hoover, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhardt, Sarah Bernhardt and Jean Harlow. Mary Pickford sold Liberty Bonds at the hotel in 1918.

In 1943, the hotel was taken over by the Army for use as a regional hospital. All of the furnishings were auctioned off. After the war, the Veterans Administration gained control and continued operating the hospital until August 1963.

After 1963, the uilding was vacant for several decades.

Source: NRHP nomination submitted in 1979.

When we photograped the Oakland Hotel, it was operating as a 315-unit affordable housing community for seniors most of whom were from South-East Asia.