Industrial Hard Chrome Plating Co.
This 11,000 square feet concrete block structure at 5701 Hollis with the pyramid topped columns and ornate entryway was built in 1946 according to Alameda County assessor records.
The first record of its occupancy is in 1951, when an industrialist named James F. Tompkins opened a metal plating plant here named The Industrial Hard Chrome Plating Company.
Tompkins, born in North Dakota in 1912, moved to California as a young man attending high school in San Diego and later graduating from Stanford University.
During WWII, he served in the army. After he was discharged, he moved to Hillsborough in San Mateo county.
In the 1950s, Tompkins established three chrome plating plants within Emeryville including this location as well as one on 1401 Park Avenue and another at 1421 Park Avenue.
This plant was strategically located next to the Southern Pacific rail line and the industrial spur track that would become the Greenway.
Hard chrome plating is an electroplating process in which a layer of chromium is deposited onto a metal surface. Hard chrome plating has uses beyond just automotive accessories. It’s also used to toughen the interior of aircraft and Diesel engine cylinders among many other industrial uses.
Industrial Hard Chrome also operated a division that pioneered a nickel plating process called Kanigen.
The chrome plating process was noxious and Industrial Hard Chrome was charged, along with three other industrial firms in Emeryville, with dumping toxic substances into city storm sewers that flowed into the bay.
Tragically, Tompkins died in 1960 from a heart attack at the young age of 48. He was survived by his wife Frances, three daughters and two sons.
Tompkins’ brother Lewis, who also had expertise in mechanical engineering, took over the company and it continued to operate without interruption.
In 1962 the Industrial Hard Chrome Plating Co. consolidated with Electro Coatings, Inc. of Chicago, retaining their facilities in Emeryville.
In 1965, Industrial Hard Chrome Plating built a new plant at Seventh and Carlton Streets in Berkeley with 20,000 feet of floor space. The company completed their move into this facility by 1967 vacating the 5701 Hollis Street property.
In the 1970s, the owner of 5701 Hollis was Architectural Sheet Metal and used for sheet metal fabrication.
In the 1980s and 1990s, it was used for labspace by the State of California Health Department.
Over its many decades of industrial use, the company’s that occupied it released chemicals that polluted the property. It was necessary for the EPA to remove arsenic and chromium contamination from the soil behind the building in order to make the property safe for occupants.
The strip of Greenway, after lying fallow for many years, was completed in 2017.
As of 2024, it is occupied by a company called SuitX, which designs and manufactures wearable exoskeletons.
Additional history of the Industrial Hard Chrome Plating Company can be read on stop 27 of our Park Avenue District tour.
