Liberty Iron Works

This building on the corner of 59th & Doyle with the distinct art deco facade was originally built for Sacramento-founded Liberty Iron Works circa 1932.

Liberty was the first of many businesses that have occupied the 30,000 square foot building over its history.

Liberty manufactured a wide range of steel and iron products. This facility had a department that built large aluminum truck tanks and trailers.

In 1936, A.M Castle & Company (named after founder Alfred M. Castle) acquired the property from Liberty. A.M. Castle distributed and manufactured steel products including plates, rivets, beams, and similar structural materials.

In 1941, A. M. Castle began construction on a larger plant in West Oakland and sold their Emeryville factory to the Industrial Equipment Company.
Industrial Equipment Company was involved in construction, mining and industrial equipment. They were formed through a partnership with Bechtel and The Henry J. Kaiser Company for construction of the Boulder Dam.

Kaiser sold their interests of the Industrial Equipment Company to Bechtel who in 1945 moved their operations to Bechtel’s San Leandro plant.

Kaiser acquired the 59th street plant for unnamed “postwar operations” as they looked to pivot from the production of military to civilian products.

These postwar operations turned out to be a production automobile in partnership with fellow industrialist Joseph W. Frazer. They hoped their combined ingenuity would challenge the lock the “Big Three” Detroit automakers had on auto manufacturing and satiate a pent up demand for new cars.

It was here under the watchful eye of Henry Kaiser himself that Kaiser engineers designed and mocked up the first fenderless car designs of the postwar era. These clean-lined cars were initially a tremendous hit with the public leaving Detroit scrambling to catch up. Production of the model was done at an idle B-24 bomber factory in Willow Run, Michigan that Kaiser acquired and refitted with a modern assembly line.

By 1949, Detroit was in fact able to catch up and surpass Kaiser’s designs at a substantially lower price. Kaiser continued to focus on safety features and styling while Detroit focused on power which it turns out, consumers preferred.

Sales continued to dwindle until the Kaiser was discontinued in 1955. The plant was dismantled and reconstructed in Argentina where the very same car was produced as the Kaiser Carabela until 1962.

1945 was also the year that Kaiser founded their Healthcare division, Kaiser Permanente. This facility continued to operate as an administrative office for Kaiser’s new Healthcare system.

Part of the space was leased to International Harvester who operated a manufacturing plant across 59th street.

In 1963, the building was leased to The Banding Corporation who manufactured steel strapping for lumber companies and steel mills.

In 1966, The Charles M. Bailey Company acquired the building from Kaiser moving their offices from Folsom Street in San Francisco.

By this time, Charles Bailey had passed and his wife Maude Bailey had inherited the company assuming the title of President.

With a workforce of 55 employees, the company manufactured automatic control valves for water, oil, natural gas, and other uses.

Maude Bailey died in 1976 at the age of 98. The Charles M. Bailey Co. survived her death and continued to operate their office in Emeryville until about 1985.

The building was next acquired by Fordham Properties and remediated, renovated and partitioned for office space.

For a period in the 1990s it was home to a print and online publication known as the East Bay Monthly (formerly The Berkeley Monthly).

It is currently occupied by a variety of architecture firms and design studios.