| Kaiser Center | |
|---|---|
| Kaiserplaza.jpg | |
| Alternative names | Kaiser Building |
| General information | |
| Type | Commercial offices |
| Location | 300 Lakeside Drive Oakland, California |
| Coordinates | |
| Completed | 1960 |
| Height | |
| Roof | 118.72 m (389.5 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 28 |
| Design and construction | |
| Owner | The Swig Company |
| Main contractor | Robert E. McKee Contractor, Inc. |
| Architect | Welton Becket |
| References | |
| [1][2][3] | |
Kaiser Center, also called the Kaiser Building, is a 28 story office building located at 300 Lakeside Drive, adjacent to Lake Merritt, in downtown Oakland, California, designed by the architectural firm of Welton Becket & Associates of Los Angeles. The property is bounded by Lakeside Drive, which terminates and joins Harrison Street at the site, 20th-, 21st-, and Webster-streets. When completed in 1960, it was Oakland's tallest building, as well as the largest office tower west of the Rocky Mountains.[4] A three-story office/retail building adjacent to the main tower was completed in 1963.
The building's roof garden was designed by San Francisco-based landscape architecture firm, Theodore Osmundson & Associates, and was the first built in the United States after World War II. After the main building’s completion, Kaiser occupied a penthouse apartment on the 28th floor as his personal residence for several years, and reportedly commissioned the roof garden so as not to look down on a bare concrete roof.
Kaiser Center was the headquarters of Kaiser Industries, a Fortune 500 conglomerate headed by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. The building is currently home to the headquarters of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), which recently relocated from its former administration building atop the Lake Merritt station, due to earthquake concerns.
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