CC SA-BY Our Oakland
The Foulkes Building is a Beaux Arts derivative store and office building located at 419-23 Fifteenth Street, Oakland, California was designed and built by architect Edward T. Foulkes in 1924.
This is a small two story steel frame and reinforced concrete building on an interior lot with an unusual marble front and metal classical ornament. It is a single bay enframed window wall, originally designed for two stores on each level. The ground floor has been remodeled, and the second floor retain its polished green veined black marble surfaces and bronzed metal trim, framing an elongated Palladian window with a marble tympanum panel, pilasters, and slender urns. The facade terminates with a bronzed festoon band, a slightly projecting marble cornice, and a scrolled center parapet with bronzed urn finial.
The front of the building originally contained a two story vestibule open to the street with glass showcases at both levels. Is was designed to support up to four additional floors. Architect Edward T. Foulkes, best known for the Tribune Tower, appears to have built this store as a speculation, reflecting the lucrative real estate market in 1920s Downtown Oakland.
This historic building is #52 on the list of District Contributors for the Downtown Oakland Historic District Registration Form.
detail. CC BY-NC 2.0 by Jed Sullivan
Links & References
- National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Downtown Oakland Historic District
