Anatomy of a Public Records Search:
Religious History Tolls Through the Years
of an Oakland City Landmark

OAKLAND -- Our investigation into one of Oakland's most historic buildings began in the sterile offices of a modern downtown building and ended in the loft of a dusty pipe organ.

We chose to research a building at 1433 Madison Street in downtown Oakland near Lake Merritt that looked like it was once a church, but now is one of the Bay Area's major Islamic centers. The three-story building, which occupies more than 38,000 square feet, was built in its time in one of Oakland's most exclusive residential areas.

The exterior white stucco walls, arched entryways and the two four-story towers crowned with metal Spanish tile that front the building, are reminiscent of California's Spanish Colonial period, when missions dotted California's coast. Today, the building is hailed as an example of Mission Revival architecture.

Day one

On Tuesday morning, Joe, Rachel and Roya set off for the Alameda County Assessor's office to begin a property records search on a building located at Madison and 15th Avenue near Lake Merritt in Oakland.

We typed into a computer database the address 1433 Madison, learning the hard way that "street" versus "avenue" made a significant difference in the search query results.

A green screen that reminded us of Atari video games listed the names of the current owner and several other names, which we scribbled down. Before we made the two-block trek to the Alameda County Recorder's office to look for deeds, we checked the parcel number against an index and city map to verify the building in mind.

At the recorder's office we typed in the owners' names, including Islamic Association of Berkeley, Madison Street Temple Association and Thelma Warner. We had to try variations of the first two names, using abbreviations and sometimes, just typing in the first word of the organization. Finally, we found scanned computer images of the building's deeds and some related civil court records.

Next we went to the Oakland Historical Room located in the main public library on 14th Avenue, where we got our lead about the building's historic status. A document from the state Department of Parks and Recreation indicates that the building was declared a historic site in the mid-1980s.

After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Oakland Scottish Rite spent $17,223 to buy the lot at 15th & Madison, historical records show. The building permit for what became the Scottish Rite Cathedral was issued on January 20, 1908 and the owner was listed as the Masonic Cathedral Association. The total cost of the building was $210,000, which included $60,000 for the furnishings and $5,000 for the pipe organ.

By today's estimates, the cost equals approximately $3.8 million (calculations based on the Consumer Price Index inflation calculator, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics).

We found that there was some dispute about the building's ownership, which appeared to change hands frequently. By the 1920s, the fraternal order could not accommodate its 4,313 active members, so they commissioned the current Scottish Rite Temple located today at 1547 Lakeside Drive.

But who owned the building next?

Day two

On Wednesday, Michael went to the county zoning board, located at 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza. He checked out building permits using names learned from the recorder's office. Some of the names on the permits were unintelligible, signed with what looked like a quill pen and scanned onto microfiche.

A permit from 1926 indicated Allan Hillman was the builder for a $7,000 project to replace the stucco and the gutters. The Scottish Rite Association was the owner at this time.

In 1937 another permit, issued this time to replace the roof Spanish tiles with singles, indicated that the building belonged to the Aahmes Temple Shrine Association.

The file also revealed building violations as well as the permits filed to correct them. In 1958, the Department of Urban Renewal cited the structure and required the building to remove a gas plate from the sleeping room and to cap or plug a gas line in the building's basement.

Microfiche records ran until 1977, when the owners of the building appeared to be William Vosburgh and a R. Thomsen.

We also know that Thelma Warner owned the building, when it became known as the Madison Street Temple. Warner died in 1993, after which there was a lawsuit disputing the building?s ownership. Warner's estate manager won a quiet title against the Madison St. Temple Association in 1994, retaining the property rights.

Rachel and Roya did web research on this day, including Lexis-Nexis searches. Roya found a good the UC Berkeley Library a terrific starting point for investigations into historic buildings and places of worship.

See http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/sfindex.html. Joe meanwhile called the Scottish Rite order.

Day Three

On Thursday, we went back to the library. Roya looked for an Oakland Tribune article dated March 16, 1908, which she found on microfiche. The article about the Scottish Rite Cathedral's unveiling described the church as "one of the handsomest fraternity structures in California." (That day's front page included a headline that said "Mother defends daughter in her engagement to marry Japanese servant," which echoed the recent class obituary exercise about the life of the black civil rights leader and his personal experiences during the era of racial segregation.)

Rachel went to the main library's reference desk, where she found information on the temple's designers, Carl Werner and Matthew O'Brian, who were prominent Masonic architects. Both had attained the highest (33rd degree) level of initiation in the Scottish Rite.

Current Scottish Rite Masonic President John Beringer told Joe in a phone interview that Thelma Renhert Warner bought the Madison Street Temple.

Warner rented out the building to various Masonic organizations, and a black church in the 1980s (Joe checked an archive of phone books for a name, but didn't find one). The property had fallen into tremendous disrepair by the 1990s, according to historical records.

We also looked for Warner's probate record. Her file was in storage; it would take up to five days to excavate, an Alameda County clerk told us.

We were unable to trace back the owner before Renhert, but Joe thinks the property was transferred in the early 80s, so there's a chance that the previous owners were William Vosburgh and R. Thomsen.

Records show that the Islamic Association of Berkeley placed a downpayment of $260,000 to purchase the property. They need $300,000 more to pay off the building and $200,000 for repairs.

What the building looks like today

The religious director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Dr. Hamid Mavani, gave us a tour of the old building Thursday morning.

Persian rugs line most of the hardwood floor surfaces in the three-story building. A modern office and bookstore of Islamic literature in Farsi, Arabic and English are located on the first floor. On the main floor is the red room (named for the color of the velvet cushioned pews, carpets and walls), where Joe thinks the Masons carried out their secret rituals.

The original Christian crosses and the stars of David imbedded in the room's stain glass windows are covered up delicately with Arabic calligraphy written on fabric and paper. One cross and star remain uncovered. This was a conscious decision on the part of the center, Dr. Mavani said, "to show there is unity in all the faiths."

Some of the fixtures of the original building include a copper electrical plate stamped with the date "1906." Caps and valve covers stick out of the wall from gas pipes, possibly left over from the 1958 Department of Urban Renewal order.

The doors are adorned with elaborate handle plates bearing masonic symbols, such as monogram stars and pyramids. An eagle crest is also iconed on the door knob, which looks gothic. Several old doors are nailed shut, like the old school telephone booth. The oak banisters bare carved letters, "S" and "R" probably for Scottish Rite.

The Center has plans to make some changes to the building?s exterior to reflect a more Islamic theme.

-- Reported and written by Roya Aziz, Rachel Barron, Michael Kai Louie and Joe Rogers