Montgomery Ward and Company, Oakland
historic place
In Oakland, California, the Montgomery Ward and Company building stood as a significant landmark in Alameda County. Erected in 1923, this nine-story concrete structure was designed by Montgomery Ward's in-house architect, W. H. McCaully. Located at 2825 East 14th Street, now International Boulevard, it was Oakland's largest industrial building, encompassing 910,000 square feet on a ten-acre site. The building served a dual purpose: it housed a retail department store on its lower floors and functioned as the company's vital West Coast mail-order warehouse. This made it a crucial distribution center for Montgomery Ward's catalog business, recognized for its state-level significance in commerce. On June 15, 1999, the Montgomery Ward and Company building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, this designation came after the building had stood empty for 11 years. Despite opposition from preservationists, the structure was demolished in 2000. The site is now home to the César E. Chávez Education Center, completed in 2003. The Montgomery Ward building represented a key era of mail-order and retail commerce in Oakland.