The Shorey House

The Shorey House is one of the oldest buildings in West Oakland, built in 1872-73 at Oakland Point “where rail and water meet.” It became home to the Shorey family in 1888., Captain William Thomas Shorey (1859-1919) was born in Barbados. As a young man, he served as an apprentice seaman. In 1880, he sailed from the East Coast, around the Cape of Good Hope, and eventually to San Francisco aboard the whaler Emma Harriman. By his fourth trip aboard this vessel he was commander. He earned the coveted Master's License, which permitted him to pilot ships of any size, anywhere in the world. His exhibitions of bravery and selflessness were chronicled regularly in the San Francisco dailies., In 1886 he married Julia Ann Shelton of San Francisco, daughter of a prominent African-American family. They had five children. Julia Shorey and the children often accompanied the Captain to sea, and she wrote vivid accounts of their voyages., Before and after his retirement from the sea, William Shorey was a prominent civic figure. In 1903, influential black citizens from around the Bay Area attended a dinner at the Shorey house to welcome Booker T. Washington, who spoke to raise funds for educational growth and his school at Tuskegee., In 1907 the far west end of 8th Street was renamed Shorey Street by City ordinance. Captain Shorey was the first black Oaklander to be so honored., The Shorey house was restored and enlarged in 2007, by YuFen Chien, designer, and Biren Talati, developer. The house is a Mills Act participant and a City of Oakland Landmark. The entire Oakland Point District has been formally determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and is on the California and Oakland Registers.