Hebern Electric Code Co. Factory (formerly) (Oakland, California)

 place with historical importance, Gothic revival (architecture), historical building, 1922_construction

This striking gothic style building was built beginning in 1922 by budding entrepreneur Edward Hugh Hebern, who was granted a patent in 1919 for a cryptological device based on rotors (somewhat similar to the German Enigma Machine), and was so confident of future success and lucrative government contracts, he built this building to be his company's manufacturing headquarters.

The striking three-story structure was built to accommodate 1,500 workers and had a luxurious office for Hebern. The 1923 Hebern Electric Code company stockholders’ report said it was “one of the most beautiful structures in California and said to be the only building in the State of true Gothic architecture throughout.” By the time it was completed the following year, it had cost somewhere between $380,000 and $400,000, an astronomical sum at the time, and a debt Hebern was unable to recover from.

The Hebern-Code building still stands today at 829 Harrison Street in Oakland, and is primarily used as Oakland’s Asian resource center.