City of Emeryville Town Hall

Emeryville incorporated as a town in 1896 acquiring this original 125 x 125 sq. ft. lot at the southeast corner of Hollis and Park Ave in 1903.

The original Town Hall was built that year at a cost of $8,491 and still stands as the oldest building in the Park Avenue District surviving earthquakes and the ravages of time.

The architectural design is turn of the century neoclassical. The building was originally brick, but at some point was covered with stucco. It has an impressive copper clad dome that originally had a cupola on top. The front of the building features two-story Doric columns and pilasters. There is a rustic, Baroque stone archway entrance.

Not only was official city business conducted in the building, it also housed the police department and the city jail which was located in the basement.

The building served the city’s administrative needs for 68 years until 1971 when the city outgrew it and it fell into disrepair. The city moved its government offices to the Peninsula where they operated for the next thirty years.

In 1997, Emeryville’s government made plans to move its administrative offices back to the historic core of the city. The old town hall building was retrofitted and refurbished as council’s chambers . It was completed in December 2000.

The Fisher-Friedman Architects designed 17,500 square-foot glass-walled wing that houses the city’s administration offices and the City Attorney’s offices was completed in 2001.