a T ..N E C m H E nlv R b. a 2* W N F. B C U ”a .m 0 9 B 6 0 N U J 11:..1. \(.\( Compliments of LAKE SH©RE [LAND C0, A, H, BREED, Managero Sent at the request of a ............................................................................ ~ ‘ DQiflf pro‘perl‘g. {ROM the time of the American conquest, every intelligent visitor to California has admired and praised the unique site Iln Old-time Farmstead Hidden in the mm 01‘ oakland. for a city of world-wide fame that is offered by the sloping valley that faces the Golden Gate, divided to the very heart by San Antonio Creek and Lake Merritt, and, as its final charm, r’ walled in on the east by a wonderful network of hills and ravines unsurpassed in beauty and healthfulness for residence purposes by the hills of any other American city. I Rec’d UCB ENVI .0 9 9 1. no 0 N U J Ia! /\/\(, \ , \x‘ The Adams Point Propert‘g. (ROM the time of the American conquest, every intelligent visitor to California has admired and praised the unique site Iln Old-time Farmstead Hidden in the Heart of Oakland. for a city of world-wide fame that is offered by the sloping valley that faces the Golden Gate, divided to the very heart by San Antonio Creek and Lake Merritt, and, as its final charm, walled in on the east by a wonderfu1 network of hills and ravines unsurpassed in beauty and healthfulness for residence purposes by the hills of any other American city. I a BMW 7740 ENVI RCDN DESIGN JUNCTION BROADWAY, SAN PABLO AVENUE AND FOURTEENTH STREET, OAKLAND. Central ‘Bank ‘Building on left; Wacdonougb ‘Bm’lding on. right; ‘Piedmont Electric Car in center—running time six minutes from this corner to “aldams ‘Point ‘Property.” Oak-toasted Jldams Point Peninsula. But here, as elsewhere, some localities are infinitely better than others ; here, by a chain of historical circumstances, Adams Point, a tract of mingled plain and gentle hill slopes, of oak- covered peninsulas and of water frontages on Lake Merritt, has remained untouched till now. All about it, growing cities have reached forth, planting suburban colonies far beyond, and even extending the city limits miles farther than the utmost bounds of this famous two-hundred-acre tract. Beyond it are fifty-thousand-dollar houses, macadamized streets, the best facilities for transportation, and all the conveniences of city life. Here, in the heart of Oakland, for a little while longer, are hay-fields and pastures, Wild- flowers, and glimpses of pioneer days. The human tide, so long held back, has risen above every barrier, and, as seldom before in the history of American cities, a great estate in the midst of a hundred and fifty thousand people is finally claimed by home-builders. 3 ON HADAMS POINT PROPERTY”—LOOKING WEST—SHOWING LARGE OAKS, AND SACRED HEART CONVENT IN THE DISTANCE. one Kittie Glimpse oi Pioneer Spanish zalii‘ornia. that Forgotten and Primitive Oakland of I851. The story of the growth of this long chain {of towns and cities begins in pastoral days. Sixty years ago, the wooded encinal, or Alameda peninsula, the San Antonio estuary, the broad Encinal de Temescal, the valley sloping northward towards San Pablo, and the encircling eastern hills rising into blue peaks, were but parts of the famous Peralta Ranch. Unfenced, unbroken by Spade or plow, clothed in springtime with wild oats so high that a man on horseback could sometimes tie the heads across his saddle-bow, golden with leagues of Wild mustard, illuminated for mile on mile with the most brilliant native flowers,—long ago driven from the valley to the remoter cafions,—this noble estate, now forever shattered, forms the historic background of the picture. . Americans had hardly begun to develop San Francisco before far-sighted pioneers recognized the advantages offered by the Alameda side. The late Edson Adams, together with Horace W. Carpentier and Andrew Moon, settled on the present site of Oakland, and laid out the 5 RESIDENCE OF W. W. WHITMAN, CORNER CHETWOOD AND PERRY STREETS. ‘Resfdence of Edwin F. {Murdock in the distance; bot/J one block north of “c/Idams ‘Point ‘Property.” 1] Bridge of San :Hntonio Redwood. that Once was in Politics. town in 1851. A primitive little ferry was soon established to San Francisco, which cost passengers a dollar each way and took five or six hours to get across. We get many and quaint glimpses of Oakland, as it appeared in 18 5 3, from news- paper articles of the time. “A place of squatter fences,” one writer says, “with one green redwood rail tacked on posts with nails obtained from the embers of the last great San Francisco fire.” In 18 52 a contract was let to build a bridge across the San Antonio estuary. This famous old Twelfth-street bridge was finished the following year at a total cost of $12,619. 56, the lumber from the lumber mills in the San Antonio Redwoods costing from $41.00 to $63.00 per thousand, and was run as a toll bridge. Tolls were 12 cents for persons on foot, 25 cents for horses and cattle, and 50 cents for vehicles. ON “ADAMS POINT PROPERTY’ ’—LOOK|NG NORTHWEST—SHOWING VERNON ST. RESIDENCES FACING HADAMS POINT PROPERTY.” The old bridge extended all the way on piles, and the tides swept through, there being no gates. Lake Merritt at high tide was a {great sheet of water covered with wild fowl, and full of fish. The oak-covered slopes east were lovely then, as now, and far more lonely. When the Oakland College and Brayton College School began, before Cohen’s railroad reached Oakland, when Hardy’s bookstore and Sanford’s drugstore were south of Seventh, and when one was in hayfields anywhere west of Washington or north of Twelfth, it happened some- nays of freedom, times that adventurous boys walked around Lake Merritt, past the brick kilns on the Clinton when we were Boys together. side, through acres of wild blackberries, willows and flowers. On the home stretch they could come by the northwest arm of the lake, across fields, and the old cemetery, to the College School. Streets cross, and houses stand now, where wild ducks used to swim. Along the west shore of the main lake the Merritt orchards and fields stretched over many an acre, and great scattered live-oaks stood here and there, even in these fields. From any of the hilltops, looking west and 9 VIEW ON “ADAMS POINT PROPERTY” LOOKING SOUTHWEST‘OAKLAND IN THE BACKGROUND. Oakland, and Its Surroundings of towns and Settlements. south, the general impression received was that of a forest of oaks, very thinly settled along Broadway, and hardly anywhere else. Since then cities have grown up on the old Encinal Temescal, on the Berkeley slopes, and along the old Contra Costa hills. The unique situation of the great Adams Point property has attracted the attention of every intelligent investor for nearly half a century, but the land was not on the market ; people had to go farther and build up other districts. Take a map [see page 38] and examine the relations of Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda to the beautiful diamond-shaped tract of 200 acres which includes Adams Point. North and south of Oakland Point the bay shore swings eastward. As a result, the whole growth and future development of the central bay shore region is thrust inevitably eastward into the hills and across the lake in two broad currents. A city founded on a plain may grow on every side of II LOOKING WEST ACROSS LAKE MERRITT, TOWARD SACRED HEART CONVENT. FROM “ADAMS POINT PROPERTY.” Bali-mile flit-dc: Outward from Oakland’s flitv Hall. the circle, but here all interests, as well as the gradual rise of the foothills, combine to focus progress towards Lake Merritt. This is a mere commonplace, a self-evident geographical fact. The usual city maps mark the distances from the City Hall, or practically from the union of Broadway, Telegraph Avenue and San Pablo, in half-mile three-quarter circles. The first half mile from this central point touches Adams Point, which is as near as the foot of Broadway ! It seems astonishing, and indeed almost impossible of belief, but so long has the city grown about this vacant wedge of unoccupied building sites that we are apt to forget its actual proximity to our banks and offices. L The one-mile circle passes through the center of the oblong zoo-acre tract, and on both north and south crosses through closely built up and costly residence districts. The one and a half mile circle falls away east of the entire tract, and even beyond Oakland Heights, but still crosses extensive residence areas. The two and a half mile circle passes through Piedmont Park, 13 4414 mg “undue“: mofi‘ imwmfl LOOKING NORTHEAST FROM THE “WILLOWS,” SHOWING ”ADAMS POINT PROPERTY ” AND THE FOOTHILLS BEYOND. the Bill flountrv Best for Residences. and the three and a half mile circle crosses Piedmont Heights, all finely developed residence districts. The four and a half mile circle touches the State University on the north, and, finally: the five mile limit takes in the bulk of Berkeley, and, crossing Laundry Farm, swings south of Fruitvale to the bay shore. For ten miles, north, south and southeast, the country is closely built up, following the lines of least resistance. The normal extent of growth to the eastward, in the hills beyond Lake Merritt, is not less, as a moment’s study of the map will show. The mile limit being long passed, the whole expansion of Oakland must inevitably occur towards the east, and from the bay shore. The increasing use of Oakland Creek for commercial purposes can only accentuate this movement, until every one who can possibly do so will live in the hills or beyond the lake. The great parks of the future Oakland will belong to the hill country ; scenic railroads will curve in and out of the ravines, height after height will be crowned with residences, and planted with trees and I5 H b (twink: PASTORAL SCENE AND LAKE SHORE VIEW ON “ADAMS POINT PROPERTY.” Especial Beauty oi the farther Shores of take merritt. flowers. In other words, the eastward trend of settlement north and south of Lake Merritt unites in the hill country beyond, and the Adams Point tract, much the largest undeveloped tract remaining, and much the nearest to the center of the city, will retain that supremacy of situation as long as Oakland endures. In all the leading cities of the United States elevations of land, however slight, have added immeasurably to the value and social importance of residence districts. The abundant illustrations which beautify this pamphlet show as far as possible in such brief space the surroundings and the especial charm of this region. They are excellent in themselves, well executed, selected with skill and judgment. To those who are most familiar with Adams Point and its environments, these photographs are perhaps in a sense somewhat inadequate, because a hundred or more of such views would still be difl'erent from each other, and all would be interesting. I7 VIEW TAKEN FROM SOUTH END OF “ADAMS POINT PROPERTY,” LOOKING ACROSS TO THAT PORTION OF THE SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE MERRITT LYING BETWEEN MADISON AND ALICE STS. The homes shown are those of (A. Schilling, George Greenwood, UVI. W. Kales, Thomas Crellin and :Alex. Wc‘Bean. -Dr —~.. Looking Over the take to the Best Residence District of Oakland. These views show the lake itself from. many points, across broad reaches towards placid, oak-grown points and sloping shores, which only wait for the cultured taste and ready purse to become as beautiful and famous homes of wealth and refinement as any on Newport Bay or the Hudson. They show the lake’s narrower arms and inlets, where future boathouses will nestle and arching bridges will cross. They show the nearness of the city, with its broad, well- macadamized streets, along which it is but ten minutes’ walk from the City Hall to the margin of the lake. In an especial sense they illustrate the unique value of this beautiful body of water, so near the center of Oakland, so surrounded with streets and homes. No one can be said to have seen Oakland unless he has been over the best residence districts on the western side of the lake, and north of Twelfth. From every opening and point of vantage along these streets the wooded heights beyond the lake rise in the midst of growing suburbs which will soon be as well and closely built up as the best portions of Oakland I9 RESIDENCE OF U. S. SENATOR GEORGE C. PERKINS, CORNER VERNON AND PERKINS STREETS. One block west from “Adam: ‘Point ‘Propertyl’ fiarden, Soil and Elimate of Bills and Peninsulas. itself. The whole district, with its stately and well-kept houses, which shows Californian prosperity free from ostentatious display and mere pride of wealth, is justly looked upon as one of the most attractive and noteworthy residence districts on the Pacific Coast. The charms of Oakland climate and Oakland society have brought families of means and prominence into this typical corner of the lake shore; but, as Oakland grows, business blocks, hotels and apartment houses, must inevitably encroach upon this famous district, and send the social leaders to the slopes and plains of Adams Point, so easily reached as to be a mere extension of the older residence quarter. While the illustrations in this little book show the city side of the region, by far the most fascinating group, to many readers will be those nature-studies which show the oaks on Adams Point, the high peninsulas, the low hill slopes, the beauty of the landward views, in brief the lovely places where there is room for building and for gardening upon almost any desired scale. 21 LOOKING EAST FROM "ADAMS POINT PROPERTY.” Ear-tamed Gardens on Shores of take mmm. Photographs can only incidentally show soil and climate, but these noble oaks and thick-tangled vines could grow only in the richest of garden soil, and in an especially favorable climate. Gardens of wonderful loveliness will be planted here in days to come,——azaleas, rhodo- dendrons, camellias, and thousands of things that elsewhere are grown only under glass. Just across an arm of the lake, hardly a stone’s throw away, on similar soil, the gardens of the late A. K. P. Harmon, at the foot of Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets, have won a wide and well~deserved fame. Indeed there are few places in the world where so great a range of vegeta~ tion, that is, as many thousands of species of plants from all climates, can be grown out of doors on one city lot as right here on the shores of Lake Merritt, either in the Harmon gardens or in the many beautiful grounds on Oak and Jackson streets, on Boulevard Terrace, or anywhere near the lake, where soil and climate are especially excellent. The garden possibilities of the 23 ,H.s.cnock-E~R~r:( VIEW ON EAST SIDE ORANGE STREET, BETWEEN PERRY AND PERKINS STREETS. Showing resident“ of Irmng j. ‘R. Cockroft, Louis Tasbeira, ‘Robert Lwcomb, Edw. ‘P. Cooke, Henry C. Cbesebrougb and AI. LVood. on West of "Jldams ‘Poin! ‘Property.” ur—mr - marvelous Rapiditv of Home-growth , Possible in Such a District. Adams Tract, east of the lake, enriched from the hills beyond, and lying between the branches of the lake, are undoubtedly better than anywhere else in this district. Everywhere on these sloping shores, so well illustrated herein, such exquisite variety of vegetation is possible as one finds on the Scilly Islands, which supply London with its winter daffodils, or along the famous Riviera. Excellent soil and drainage, varied surface, a climate that gives plants a most rapid development,——a land it is, in brief, of perennial bloom, and the raw newness of a house can be changed in a few months to the ripe stateliness of a real home. Study any of the fine modern houses illustrated in this little book, and see what climate does. In two years a new street in this district presents as fine an appearance, with its street trees, its gardens and its lawns, as one could obtain in other American cities after five or ten or even twenty years of continuous expenditure. 25 RESIDENCE OF CHAS. M. COOKE, OF HONOLULU, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. Corner ‘Uernon and ‘Perkins streets. “Built originally by Captain U4. 8". Simpson. Tbe residence on tbe rigbt is that of U. 8. Senator Geo. C. ‘Perkins,—-one block west from “:Adams ‘Pomt ‘Propertyfl’ Zostlv modem Houses on {lemon Heights, near the Hdams tract. Many of these houses which are so near the Adams Tract have cost anywhere from ten thousand to thirty thousand dollars. The photographs show them in great variety, and Visitors to Oakland are always taken up on the Heights to see the best residence districts of the city. The stately homes of United States Senator Geo. C. Perkins, of John L. Howard, of Chas; M. Cooke of Honolulu, H. 1., built originally by Captain Simpson, and of Captain Thomas Ewing, all on Vernon Heights, are especially notable. Only a few years ago this district was but an open field, and yet the rapid growth of trees on this soil and in this climate makes some portions of the street seem as if they had been occupied fifty years, so noble are the acacias and pines. Other superb homes in this direction, and lying far beyond the Adams’ property as measured in distance from the City Hall, are Mrs. Baldwin’s, E. P. Flint’s, Mr. Coflin’s, Mr. Zahn’s, Dr. Dow’s, Mr. Whitman’s and A1. Wood’s. All of these are striking in appearance, and some are built for great durability, so that they will ripen into famous and classic homesteads 27 LOOKING NORTH FROM FRANK E. HAVEN’S RESIDENCE, ABUTTING HADAMS POINT PROPERTY” ON THE WEST. Other Houses, Beyond the Ildams years hence, when the city has been built far beyond them and only multi-millionaires can keep unspoiled their acreage. Glimpses of these growing districts and beautiful homes one can gather to some degree from the illustrations which accompany these pages, but they are necessarily only glimpses from extensive and rapidly progressing additions, whose graded, macadamized, sidewalked and (nut, as measureasewered streets practically surround Adams’ Point and make it the heart and center of the entire from (any Ball. region, as maps and photographs, when taken together, will amply and indeed absolutely demonstrate. ' i It is seldom in the history of the development of a city that so centrally located a tract, so extensive in size, so varied in surface, so beautiful and satisfactory in every particular, is put upon the market in subdivisions to suit. Single blocks or perhaps tracts of a few acres have sometimes been held from sale in the heart of growing cities for a quarter of a century, to become 29 VERNON STREET RESIDENCES FACING “ADAMS POINT PROPERTY.” The homes sbown are those of [01711 L. Howard, Wrs. Isabelle ‘Baldwin, Col. Tbos. Ewing and Mrs. George ‘Bradley. suddenly the center of real estate interest, and to break out into piles of brick and stone, but one can search local histories in vain for a similar opportunity for home-seekers. The most exacting purchaser, after going over the entire circle of homestead properties in the. vicinity of Oakland, Summing an the more Salient Hdvantages 0' features of other locations with some that are absolutely its own. It has the lowlands and the the Place. could hardly fail to admit that the Adams Point 200 acres combines an epitome of the best uplands, the sequestered nooks, the broad outlooks over lake, bay and city, the magnificent inland views of the Coast Range, and, in brief, as fascinating combinations of beautiful views and noble building sites as California, the land of homes, can show in all her blossoming miles. CHARLES HOWARD SHINN. 31 VIEW OF “ADAMS POINT PROPERTY n FROM JACKSON STREET. “Piedmont ‘Power and ‘Batb House on left. Population. Educational. OAKLAND STATISTICS IN BRIEF. Oakland, a city of churches, schools, colleges, manufactures, business, wealth and industry, contains 60,000 inhabitants, and, with its adjacent towns of Alameda and Berkeley, ranks as the second center of population in California (estimated to have 100,000 inhabitants in 1897.) Seven thousand San Francisco merchants own superb homes in Oakland, and educate their children here. Electric cars night and day to the State University, with endowment, attendance and standards of scholarship which place it among the leading five universities of America. Oakland’s increasing population comes from every part of the Pacific Coast, all the way from Alaska to New Mexico. It has become the literary and educational center of the State ; it is the greatest railroad termini, and has the best harbor. No city in the United States has a brighter commercial future than Oakland. According to unimpeachable statistics Oakland is the healthiest city in the country. The Bealtbtulness. death-rate, which in 1882 was only 13.56 per 1,000, has fallen steadily each year; now it is but Real Estate. I 1.85, as against 24.00 for Boston, 23.52 for New York, and 18.36 for San Francisco. Oakland real estate values have risen steadily since the city was founded. One block on Broadway, assessed in 1886 at $163,000, was assessed in 1896 at $504,000. A like rise has occurred all along the line, and yet without a boom or disastrous break. Every one who has ever invested in Oakland property and improved it up to the times has been satisfied with results. 33 RESIDENCES OF A. F. COFFIN AND R. GEO. ZAHN, PERRY STREET. adjoining and abutting “gAdams ‘Poz'nt ‘Property ” on the north. commerce. manufactures. Business Future. The commercial tonnage of the city is upwards of 3,000,000 annually. The annual passenger traific between Oakland and San Francisco is over 2 3,000,000, last actual count. The assessed values of Oakland are, in round numbers, $47,000,000. At the rate of growth that Oakland has maintained since 1860 (or for 36 years past), there will be one million people living within five miles of the present site of the City Hall before another quarter of a century has passed. There are 98 manufactories in Oakland, giving employment to 6,000 persons in various industries, such as iron works, carriage factories, canneries, paint works, railroad shops, etc., etc. The banks have a capital stock paid up of nearly $2,000,000, and deposits of about $1 1,000,000. The harbor is being improved by the Government, which has already spent $1, 500,000, and will spend another million dollars. The largest ships unload at the wharves. Over three hundred railroad trains arrive and depart every twenty-four hours. Manufactures and business are rapidly increasing with the opening of the great Corral Hollow Coal Mines, the growth of electric lines throughout the suburbs and rural districts, and the expected advent of the San Joaquin Valley competing railroad. With cheap and abundant water supplies from two competing sourcss, with a modern and scientific sewer system, with cheap coal and light, and with the approaching end of the harbor controversy, Oakland, joining deep water and rail as does no other city in California, has solid foundations for its business future. 35 RESIDENCE OF DR. EDGAR L. DOW, CORNER PERRY AND VERNON STREETS. Henry T. u4tkinson’s residence on left,—One block west of (Adams ‘Point ‘Property. ' “i“.alsland @ @ Alameda and Berkeley/g. A. H. BREED, Manager, 1070 BroadWay, Oakland. | LAKE SHORE LAND (30., 33"» 4. “o c" 0' $7 +- UQMOd ‘9 3* \ MARY EM swm u.- 30‘ ‘5’ g A 0‘ ml,“ be 3. W?! J. DIN“! Wm. J. Dingee’s .“MAP oFm R ©AKLAND9 w - ALAMEDA A AND BERKELEYO u.- 2: 513m: 9! . 'sArHER --------- Showing Location ADAMS P®HNT PRoPERW. @ Lake Shore Land Co, A. H. BREED, Manager, I070 Broadwav, Oakland, Cal. En w—gndtu __- ....-._..’r This Map is drawn to a scale. POINT PROPERTY ” FROM THE VICINITY OF LAKE AND OAK STREETS. OF ”ADAMS POINT PROPERTY.” RESIDENCE 0F 5- V2 mum PRESS OP ‘ 3 : 7 .- 39.” :z . Has; cnocflfial COMPINY. 7‘;