In 1911, a cornerstone was placed for the construction of a new, Beaux Arts-style building at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza (14th Street and Broadway), during a grand celebration that included the President of the United States, William Howard Taft.

This month, the building - Oakland City Hall - marks its 100 year anniversary.

Oaklanders have much to be proud of in its century-old City Hall. The cream-colored terra cotta structure is still a beautiful marvel that is now a U.S. Historic Landmark.

When City Hall - the city's fifth - was built, it was considered cutting edge, setting many new trends for years to come. According to city records, Oakland's City Hall was the first in the country to bland the traditional civic functions with the modern high rise office building.

Oakland first shattered tradition when it began constructing of the 320-foot government building, breaking all building heights west of the Mississippi. Skyscrapers were just coming into vogue, so a building as tall as this one definitely stood out.

"In fact, you know there was no other building in all of California that was as tall as this," Annalee Allen, coordinator for Oakland's tours program, said. "So it was really, really making a statement."

Then there is the buildings frame, made of solid steel. This also was an emerging trend. The city's former City Hall, which stood where Frank Ogawa Plaza now is, was a much smaller wooden Victorian structure. Elevators, another new invention,also   were added to the building.

When the 14-floor building first opened its doors, it housed a city jail, a fire station, a hospital and a police station. The jail had its own elevator, kitchens, laundries and women's facilities. There were even open air exercise courts for those locked up. Eventually the jail, police and fire departments moved to other locations. The hospital also closed.

The design inside the building - a grand three level staircase; marble and brass and a large dome ceiling; a large council chamber; and roomy office spaces for many government services - signaled Oakland's emergence as a strong growth city.

At the start of construction, Oakland was going through a population boom where its residential numbers doubled to 150,000.

"It was an up-and-coming city, but things really started to take off after the (1906) earthquake because San Francisco was pretty devastated and Oakland suffered relatively little damage," Allen said.

Oaklanders of the time were itching for a new City Hall that would showcase its new modern ways and they supported Mayor Frank Mott's efforts for a new building by approving a $1.15 million bond measure to pay for a 20th century landmark. Once the bond was approved, a design competition was held, which drew some of the most top notch architectures of the day. Ultimately, New York-based architectural firm Palmer & Hornbostel won.

Getting a presidential visit wasn't easy at the turn of the 20th Century. With no airplanes, crossing the country from Washington, D.C., took days. Nevertheless, Grant made the trip to Oakland - attesting to the importance of the construction of the Oakland City Hall.

Although the building looks as good today as when it was completed in 1914, its foundation is much transformed, thanks in large part to the Loma Prieta Earthquake.

The building was evacuated and received some damage during the 1989 quake, however, thanks to money from FEMA, the building received significant earthquake retrofitting that includes 113 base issolators in the asement that can withstand a 7.0 earthquake on the Hayward Fault.