List of tallest buildings in Oakland

Oakland, the third most populous city in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the U.S. state of California, is home to 40 buildings taller than 200 feet (61 m) as of 2026. Eighteen buildings in Oakland reach a height of 300 feet (91 m) or more, the fourth most of any city in California, after San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Oakland has the second largest skyline in Northern California and the Bay Area. The tallest building in Oakland is the 28-story Ordway Building, built in 1970 at a height of 404 feet (123.1 m).^[1] Atlas, a residential tower that is the city's second tallest, is less than a foot shorter at a height of 403 feet (122.9 m).^[2]

Tallest buildingOrdway Building (1970)

Tallest building height404 ft (123.1 m)

Taller than 100 m (328 ft)12

Taller than 200 ft (61.0 m)41

Quick facts Skyline of Oakland, Tallest building ...

Skyline of Oakland
Downtown Oakland in 2014 as viewed from the Berkeley Hills, with San Francisco in the background
Tallest building	Ordway Building (1970)
Tallest building height	404 ft (123.1 m)
Number of tall buildings (2026)
Taller than 100 m (328 ft)	12
Number of tall buildings — feet
Taller than 200 ft (61.0 m)	41
Taller than 300 ft (91.4 m)	18

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Oakland rose as a major city alongside San Francisco in the late 19th century. The city's earliest high-rises, the Gothic Revival style Cathedral Building and the Beaux-Arts Oakland City Hall, the first high-rise city hall, both rose in 1914. At 319 ft (97 m), the city hall was among the tallest buildings in the United States west of the Mississippi River at the time, second to Seattle's Smith Tower. A minor construction boom occurred during the 1920s, including the completion of the Tribune Tower, home to the Oakland Tribune newspaper. Following the Great Depression, few tall buildings were added to the city until the 1960s.

A larger building boom took place in Oakland from the 1960s to 1990s, shaping the city's current skyline. Several office towers were completed in part due to companies founded by American Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, including Ordway Tower, headquarters of Kaiser Permanente; the Kaiser Center, former headquarters of Kaiser Industries; and the Kaiser Engineering Building. Commercial high-rise development fell in the 1990s, during which two major governmental buildings were constructed instead: the two-towered Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and the Elihu M. Harris State Office Building. A residential apartment boom began in the late 2010s,^[3][4] with Oakland adding more housing units than San Francisco in 2019.^[5] New buildings in the skyline include Atlas, 1900 Broadway, and 17th and Broadway, Oakland's second, third, and fifth tallest buildings respectively. The boom has dwindled by 2024 in part due to financial constraints and other factors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6][7][8]

Oakland's tallest buildings are concentrated in Downtown Oakland, which is north of the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880, east of Interstate 980, and west of Lake Merritt; a few high-rises sit on the shores of Lake Merritt. The Skylyne, completed in 2020 in Temescal, is the tallest building in the neighborhood and outside downtown. Downtown Oakland and its skyline is located across the San Francisco Bay from nearby San Francisco. From some angles, such as from the Oakland Hills, the two skylines are visible together.