Preservation Park Info

Preservation Park Photographs

During the 19th century, Oakland was a prosperous and bustling city. Rail lines terminated in Oakland, not San Francisco. Boat traffic in turn met these rail lines to import or export goods to other parts. With all of this commerce traffic, downtown Oakland prospered and grew. Services popped up to support the people working the docks. With the services came more people, offering in turn more services or additional lines of work. One source I looked at said that at a time Oakland was the largest city in California. (The source did not list the year though.)      The Victorian style was in vogue during the time. Many of the buildings were built in this style. If you look down 10th street, you can see the business buildings that were built in this style. Homes were also built in this style. Lots of homes.      There are still Victorian homes all over Oakland. However unlike San Francisco, artistically minded individuals with disposable income have not moved in to mass to restore them. That is true for most of Oakland except for one small square area on 12th street called Preservation Park. I believe the site originally contained six Victorian homes situated on 11th street. These homes were to be spared demolition from the encroachment of two freeways during the 20th century. However, other Victorian neighborhoods were not to be spared that fate. A civic minded individual proposed to move some of the Victorians to a street adjoining 11th street and form a park. The idea was to preserve some of Oakland's past.      The Victorians in the park are well preserved and it is safe to walk around during the day time. (It is locked up at night). Unlike San Francisco, there are placks telling whose house it was and what the style of home is. There is one added bonus to these Victorians. They were restored with the original Victorian era paint colors. You can see what the Victorians really looked like. Unlike the multi colored Victorians of the Castro and Haight in San Francisco.      There are other restored Victorian homes in Oakland. However, this is a good collection of them. Furthermore, they are painted in the style that Victorian homes would have originally have been painted in. Though San Francisco has masses of colorful Victorians, few are painted in the original style.   Please e-mail any comments to

Each photo is a thumbnail. Click on the photo or select the title to view in higher resolution Italinate Style Neat Porch Queen Anne Style Higgins House Basuke House Queen Anne + Statue Italinate Knox Buckley House Storage Tower? Center of the park White House A look downtown Thank you for viewing Viewing Options More Victorian Photos Oakland Virtual Photo Tour San Francisco Bay Area Photographs San Francisco Travel FAQ San Francisco Travel Books Guestbook Photos for Sale San Francisco Virtual Photo Tour U.S. Photos