CC SA-BY Our Oakland

The Tapscott Building is a 4-story brick building at the northeast corner of Broadway and 19th. It was built for Ernest N. Tapscott in the 1920s at 1916 Broadway.

The 1922 design was by Reed and Corlett, who designed the Oakland Bank of Savings Building. 1 By December 1922, the building was occupied, 3 including Skaggs Broadway Market which on the ground floor. 4 The 1923 directory lists numerous businesses and offices in residence. Standard Oil leased the entire top floor. 2

In 1928, architect and engineer John J. Donovan had his office in the Tapscott Building.

In 2006, the 56-story Encinal Tower was proposed for the site. The building had been empty for a number of years. Later, another developer proposed a shorter 28-story building.

In 2022, construction began on the 39-story 1900 Broadway building:

The mixed-use 395-foot tall tower will create 452 apartments, 6,700 square feet of ground-floor retail for several possible tenants, and 40,000 square feet of mixed-use amenity space. Next to the tower, Behring Co is also undergoing the adaptive reuse of the Tapscott building, a four-story brick structure standing for a hundred years since 1922. The Tapscott Building will soon become a modernized office building with a refurbished historic facade, contributing 70,000 square feet of office space to the city. 5

CC SA-BY Our OaklandCC SA-BY Our Oakland

Links and References

E.N. Tapscott 6

  1. Building and Engineering News, Volume 22 January 7, 1922
  2. Tapscott Building Ornament to Broadway Oakland Tribune September 24, 1922
  3. Work Is Rushed on Big Downtown Buildings Oakland Tribune December 24, 1922
  4. Broadway Market ad Oakland Tribune December 15, 1922
  5. SFYIMBY Visits 1900 Broadway With Colin Behring, Downtown Oakland sfyimby.org March 1, 2022
  6. Who Made Oakland? by Florence Crocker, 1925 (p.69)