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1941 1

Campbell Village (or Campbell Village Court) is a housing project in West Oakland. It was Oakland's first "low cost housing" project, dedicated in 1941. 1

The architects were a board of architects for the Oakland Housing Authority: Carl I. Warnecke, Hugh C. White, John J. Donovan, Henry A. Minton, and Frederick A. Reimers.

Demolition and Construction

67 houses and the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church had to be demolished to make way for the project. In 1939, the City announced that construction was supposed to start in January 1940, but it appears that construction actually started a few months later, since a photograph taken on January 10, 1940 showed that demolition had just started on the original houses on the site. 2,3,4 The 1940 photo also includes a sign indicating that the Cleveland Wrecking Company was selling "used building materials" from the site. 4

Links and References

  1. Campbell Village, Local Housing Project, To Be Dedicated Oakland Tribune August 3, 1941
  2. $800,000 Oakland Housing Job to Start in January Oakland Tribune September 15, 1939
  3. Artist's View of West Oakland Housing Project Oakland Tribune September 15, 1939
  4. Looking SE from Willow and 10th Streets, January 10, 1940; typical scene in West Oakland, photo by Moses Cohen, Online Archive of California
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