Central Electrical Substation (former) – Alameda CA

City:
Alameda, CA

Site Type:
Infrastructure and Utilities, Electricity

New Deal Agencies:
Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)

Completed:
1936

Designer:
Andrew T. Hass

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
Yes

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the central electric substation for the City of Alameda, which has its own municipal electric power system.  It cost over $200,000, a considerable sum at the time.  It also served as the central fire alarm switching center for the city.

It is a steel-reinforced concrete building in Moderne style, rather narrow and high.  It has two large plaques on the front, one honoring the city’s board of public works and one the PWA (which was originally called the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works).  

Short & Stanley-Brown (1939) provide more detail about what the building contained: “Housed in the substation are banks of 4,000 to 11,000 volt transformers, high-velocity blowers and cooling radiators, voltage regulators, master-metering panels, and cubicles for incoming and outgoing feeders. The fire-alarm headquarters provides a junction point for all fire alarm circuits of the city.”

The building is still there but has been gutted of all its old equipment (no doubt, long since obsolete) and, regrettably, its west side is open to the elements.  

 

Source notes

Short, C. W. and R. Stanley-Brown (1939), Public Buildings: Architecture Under the Public Works Administration, 1933 to 1939. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office. 

Site originally submitted by Gray Brechin on June 10, 2011.
Additional contributions by Mike Metz, Richard A Walker.

Location Info


Grand St. and Eagle St.
Alameda, CA 94501
Alameda County

Coordinates: 37.775752, -122.2527

Site Details

Federal CostTotal CostSite #s
$217,671.00 $217,671.00 1407

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2 comments on “Central Electrical Substation (former) – Alameda CA

  1. The electrical substation and fire alarm headquarters are still here! The complex is on the southeast corner of Grand Street and Eagle Avenue. I am e-mailing some current photos.

    • Paul,
      Thank you for the photos. Unfortunately, a hacker stripped out many of our photographs in 2020, including 3 of yours. I have replaced them with my own, but if you see this message, please send me yours again.
      Thanks!

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Contribute to this Site

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2 comments on “Central Electrical Substation (former) – Alameda CA

  1. The electrical substation and fire alarm headquarters are still here! The complex is on the southeast corner of Grand Street and Eagle Avenue. I am e-mailing some current photos.

    • Paul,
      Thank you for the photos. Unfortunately, a hacker stripped out many of our photographs in 2020, including 3 of yours. I have replaced them with my own, but if you see this message, please send me yours again.
      Thanks!

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

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This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.