H75.77.133

"First Baptist Church, Oakland, California, after Earthquake, April 18, 1906". Black & white photogravure printed on heavy stock buff paper,. (5/2002, G. Weininger, from Oakland Heritage Alliance News, Spring 1999, pp. 8-11, Philip Meads, Jr.): Oakland's First Baptist Church, one of two remaining sandstone buildings in Oakland, was completed in 1904 to replace one at a different site that had burned in 1902. It is of the Romanesque Revival style and was apparently based on the design of an ancient German cathedral built by Charlemagne and inspired by Biblical passages. The church was severely damaged in the earthquake of 1906 but its reconstruction was designed and supervised by Julia Morgan early in her architectural career; her family had lived near the church at its previous location and she had become a member and Sunday School teacher there. Stained glass windows were given as memorials through the year 1925. The organ, for which Andrew Carnegie contributed funds, is one of the few remaining in the United States built by the Murray Harris organ company of Los Angeles. Many of the interior elements, with their carvings representing various aspects of Christian iconography, were created by Swedish carpenters. For further descriptions and information, see the above article and the church's web site: www.best.com/ ~ snc/. (The second paragraph above refers to this building as it was reconstructed in the years following the 1906 earthquake.)