The Emery Mansion
In 1946, the City of Emeryville celebrated its Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of its incorporation in 1896. Ironically, that same year, the old Emery mansion was razed, having stood 78 years. Now, on the occasion of Emeryville’s centennial, it is appropriate to recount the life of Joseph Emery, the founder of Emeryville, and the fate of his landmark residence.
Joseph Emery
Emery was born in New Hampshire in 1820 and mastered the trade of stonecutter as a young man. At the age of 30, he journeyed to California in search of gold and fortune, arriving in San Francisco in 1850. After trying his hand in the gold fields for a few months, he returned to San Francisco, where he started a stone contracting business.
Stone quarried by Emery on Yerba Buena Island and Angel Island in the 1850s was used to build many imposing buildings in San Francisco. Emery also provided the stone, quarried in British Columbia, to construct the famous San Francisco Mint, which still stands.
In 1859, having made a fortune from his business, Emery purchased a 185-acre tract of land for $8,000 in an unincorporated area north of Oakland. He subdivided his tract and sold parcels to land-hungry settlers. In 1871, he financed the building of the San Pablo Avenue Horse Car Railroad, spurring the development of the Emery Tract. This tract became the nucleus of the emerging town of Emeryville, which incorporated in 1896 and came into existence largely through Emery’s efforts.
Emery Mansion
Meanwhile, in 1868, Emery built a stately, three-story Italianate Victorian mansion at the corner of Park and San Pablo avenues, at the east end of what became known as the Emery Tract. The foundation was built to Emery’s specifications out of “enduring stone.” It held firm during the great 1906 earthquake, and the house survived undamaged. The mansion’s spacious rooms had eight-foot doorways and twelve-foot ceilings from which hung large, ornate chandeliers of crystal and brass; the many fireplaces were decorated with ornate tile. The grounds were beautifully landscaped with palm and eucalyptus trees and well-manicured hedges.
Italianate Architecture
Emery had a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside from the many windows in his residence. Looking south, he could gaze down San Pablo Avenue towards Oakland two miles away. To the west were Shell Mound Park and, in the distance. San Francisco Bay. To the northwest. the Oakland Trotting Park, a one-mile horse race track, dominated his view. Eastward, the Berkeley Hills loomed on the horizon.
The house was a fine example of Italianate architecture, and like many Italianates, it featured windows with segmental arches topped by heavy Window hoods to imitate the windows used in brick and stone construction. The low-pitched roof was also typical, as were the heavy corbels or “brackets” used under the eaves, which gave rise to a common synonym for Italianate—the Bracketed Style.
The Emery mansion lacks one common Italianate trademark: a square, flat-roofed tower, which was usually reserved for more palatial structures.
Death of Emery
Joseph Emery died at the age of 88 in 1909. In 1912, the Emery mansion, at the time 44 years old, was moved up San Pablo Avenue to 43rd Street to make room for the Oakland Oaks Ball Park. which was built on the original site.
Emery’s descendants occupied the house for another 15 years. After 1927 the house passed through many hands. In 1946, the Emery mansion was razed after a plan had been approved to build a new city hall on the site. The men who wrecked the old house, although trained only in the art of destruction. were amazed at the superior workmanship of this splendid structure. One old-timer, appalled at the loss to East Bay architecture, remarked: “we shall not see it’s like again.” The plan to build a new city hall on that site never materialized and the old City Hall on Park Avenue, built in 1903, did not close until 1971.
This story originally published in 1996 for the Emeryville Centennial Celebration and compiled into the ‘Early Emeryville Remembered’ historical essays book.
