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Politician Joseph R. Knowland, (1873-1966) purchased the Oakland Tribune newspaper from the Estate of William E. Dargie in 1915. Soon after buying the paper, the new owner began searching for more appropriate office quarters than the Golden West Hotel, where it previously resided. Breuner's, the large furniture store, left a large property (designed by architect D. Franklin Oliver in 1907) at 13th Street and Franklin Street in 1918, which Knowland bought and renovated into part of his new office complex. An adjacent warehouse was also obtained and transformed into the paper's printing press facility. On top of the former Breuner's Store and Warehouse, architect Edward T. Foulkes designed the tower shaft, modeled like so many towers of the period, on the Tower of San Marco in Venice, Italy. Knowland opened the new building on 011/01/1924, and it became thereafter a prominent symbol of the City of Oakland. The Rochester, NY-based Gannett Company, Incorporated, media conglomerate bought the Oakland Tribune and its office building in 1979. The Tribune Tower received significant damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, forcing it to close well into the 1990s. The Madison Park Financial Corporation bought the vacant building in 1995 for a paltry $300,000 and held it until 2006, when it changed hands to Edward B. Kislinger for $15.3 million. Thereafter, Madison Park Financial continued to serve as the property's management firm. Kislinger defaulted on his $10 million loan in 02/2011, Both Madison Park Financial and Kislinger invested money to renovate the landmark, resulting most noticeably in the building's clock and signage being replaced and relit on 12/22/2006.

Joseph Knowland also owned the early KLX Oakland radio station, which began transmissions in 1922. From 1923-1952, KLX had its studios in the Tribune Tower. The broadcasting antenna was located on the roof until 1952, when a larger capacity unit began operations on bayfront property.

Significant structural damage occurred to the Tribune Office Building on 10/17/1989, necessitating its evacuation;

PCAD id: 2616