Ethel Moore Memorial Building - Oakland

The Ethel Moore Memorial Building is a currently unused building along the Lake Merritt channel. It was built in memory of social activist Ethel Moore after she died in 1920. It is also sometimes referred to as the Ethel Moore Memorial Clinic, as it was originally constructed to house a public health clinic for the poor of Alameda County.

Shortly after Moore's unexpected death in 1920, people began calling for some sort of memorial to her work. Various ideas were put forth, including a dormitory at Mills College, which was also constructed around the same time. Charles W. Dickey was the supervising architect, and ground was broken in 1921. Moore's nephew, Albert Arthur Moore, turned the ceremonial first shovelful of dirt. ¹ The building was dedicated in December 1922. ²

The building housed "the social service exchange, executive offices, diagnostic clinics, public health library, the headquarters of the Tuberculosis Association, and the Visiting Nurses' Association." ³

Today the building is owned by the Oakland Unified School District, and its future is uncertain. It appears to be undergoing "demolition by neglect", with the windows left open and no repairs. In 2013, flooding damaged the nearby Paul Robeson Administration Building and forced OUSD to move its offices. In 2015, they made plans to demolish both buildings and construct a new "Dr. Marcus Foster Educational Leadership Campus" in their place.

1922