Joseph S. Emery Estate

The unmarked site now occupied by a strip mall and skate park was once the estate of Emeryville’s founder, Joseph Stickney Emery.

Born in New Hampshire in 1820, Emery journeyed to San Francisco in 1850 in search of gold and fortune. He started a stonework contracting business and provided stones for several prominent buildings in San Francisco including the U.S. Mint.

In 1859 he purchased a 185-acre track north of Oakland. Emery subdivided the tract and sold lots to land-hungry settlers. His property became the nucleus of the emerging community of Emeryville.

In 1868 Emery built a stately two-story Italianate Victorian mansion at the northwest corner of Park and San Pablo Avenues. 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.

Emery died in 1909 at the age of 88 and is buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.

Emery’s descendants occupied the house for another 15 years. In 1912 the house was moved to 4325 San Pablo Ave. to make room for the Oaks Ball Park.

The mansion was razed in 1946 after a plan had been approved to build a new City Hall on the site (a plan that never materialized).

The site previously had a plaque recognizing this as a historic place but was removed during the construction of the skate park and never replaced.