PG&E Central Warehouse Group

PG&E’s Transformer Repair Facility has been operating since 1925 and is among the utility company’s oldest active facilities.

PG&E was among the many companies that established operations in the East Bay following the devastation of San Francisco from the 1906 earthquake.

The complex of four buildings that comprise the former Laboratory (70,000 sq. ft.) and Central Warehouse Group were constructed between 1924 and 1925. They were designed by PG&E staff architect Ivan C. Frickstad.

The three buildings north of 45th Street (4525 Hollis Street) were constructed as the Central Warehouse Group to help “centralize” PG&E’s supply department. The building south of 45th Street (4245 Hollis Street) was the PG&E Engineering Department Laboratory.

In the 1950s & 1960s the facility expanded southwards taking over the former Gardner Electric Manufacturing Company (4227 Hollis St.).

The six relief sculptures at the 4525 Hollis building were created by local artists Scott Donahue and Mark Rogero and are intended to depict the history of the utility company that was founded in 1905.

Following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, all buildings except the laboratory were retrofitted. The Laboratory building has sat vacant since 2010 and is a designated “significant structure” by the city. PG&E’s 2016 plan to demolish it was met with resistance.

Both buildings are determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.