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Since July 30, 1996, the Redevelopment
Agency of the City of Oakland has owned the Fox Oakland Theater
Building (1807-29 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA). From its
opening in 1928 until its first closing in 1962, the theater
showed a regular bill of movies and its two commercial wings
were occupied by retail and office tenants. By 1972 the theater
had stopped hosting special events and ceased showing movies
altogether; its seats were removed in the following years.
All remaining commercial tenants departed during the 1990s.
When the City of Oakland purchased the
property in 1996 for $3 million dollars, the entire complex
was nearly vacant and in disrepair due to weather, vandalism,
and neglect. The City began a multi-phased process of improving
the theater for eventual use as a performing arts center.
The first phase was completed in 2000 and involved a full
roof replacement at a cost of $1 million. Several tons of
accumulated dirt and debris were removed from inside the theater
during this phase, including cartons of civil defense rations
that had been stored (and forgotten) in the basement during
the Cold War.
In 2001 the second phase, removal and rehabilitation of the
theater's marquee and blade sign was completed for $650,000.
The San Francisco office of John Sergio Fisher and Associates
provided critically important architectural design services
for this challenging project (click
here to download a cut sheet that has photos : pdf format
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the free Adobe Acrobat Reader here to read PDF's). The
completed project involved restoration of the 1928 blade sign,
rehabilitation of the 1935 marquee, and repair and maintenance
of the 1946 cloud-theme ceiling beneath the marquee.
Wagner Electric Sign Company of Elyria,
Ohio removed the marquee and blade sign, shipped them to Ohio,
carefully repaired and rebuilt them, shipped them back to
Oakland, and reinstalled everything (see
photographs of their work). Every effort was made to ensure
that the restored sign would be a lasting work of art, including
using gold leaf rather than gold paint on the blade to outline
individual letters in the word OAKLAND.
The newly-restored marquee and blade were
re-lit during a festive celebration on Thursday, November
29, 2001, where Mayor Jerry Brown "threw the switch"
to re-ignite this once-bustling stretch of Telegraph Avenue
and start its rebirth. The Art Deco Society of California
presented the City of Oakland with a 2002 Preservation Award
and FOOF with a certificate of appreciation for the successful
completion of this project.
The third phase involved preparation of a Master Plan report
by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, which was completed
in May 2001. This report studied five potential reuse options
for the Fox costing from $19 million and to $67 million, and
included a market analysis, programmatic and architectural
studies for each option, cost data, financial projections,
and community input. The cost of the plan was $350,000. For
further information on the Master Plan report, contact the
City of Oakland's project manager, Jeff Chew, at 510-238-3629.
During January through June of 2000, the City began work on
what has now become Phase 4, the Façade Restoration
Project. A condition analysis of the commercial storefronts
was completed and presented to the Landmarks Board on March
13, 2000. Subsequently, work on plans and outline specifications
was started but could not be completed due to a significant
shortage of funds and competing priorities.
In November 2002 the City was awarded a
$375,000 grant from the California Heritage Fund Grant Program,
matched by $375,000 in Central District Redevelopment Funds,
to revisit this phase and to accomplish as much of the façade
restoration as possible with the $750,000 available. For updates
on this project, visit our Current
Projects.
Meanwhile, the City recognized that private philanthropy would
play a significant role in any efforts to restore and reuse
the theater, and began working closely with a group of pro
bono professionals to identify minimum costs of reopening
the theater as a work-in-progress — a "Ruin"
— that can be used as a performing arts theater until
money can be raised to pay for a complete restoration. For
updates on this project, visit our Current
Projects.
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