This stamp was made by a general contractor, not a sidewalk maker. It’s on Martin Luther King at 15th Street, in front of the building newly occupied by Flax Art & Design. However, Jacobs and Pattiani was the contractor of record for the Claridge Hotel building across the street, so maybe that’s the connection.
Harold B. Jacobs (1894-1948) was a contractor from a wealthy Alameda family who lived on Holman Road in Trestle Glen. But Alois W. Pattiani (1893-1966) had the eye-catching name, thanks to his father Alfred W.
Alfred Washington Pattiani (1855-1935) was best known as a fashionable architect-builder around the turn of the last century. As Christian Olson of edificionado puts it, “Alfred Pattiani was the builder of choice for the moneyed class in the East Bay for many years. His grand Victorian homes dot the oldest parts of Berkeley, Oakland, and most notably Alameda where his office was located.” The Berkeley Daily Planet published a story in 2006 about the maniacal restoration of a Pattiani house.
Born in Ohio of cultured Bavarian parents (his grandfather changed the family name from Fahrnbacher upon emigrating to the U.S.) — his father C. Alfred was a daguerrotypist and his mother Eliza a noted composer — Alfred Pattiani spent most of his life in the Bay area. Alois grew up in the family home at 1521 Central Avenue, Alameda, and worked for a while for his father. Sometimes he signed his name “Junior” despite not quite sharing his father’s name.
The Jacobs and Pattiani firm is listed only in the 1928 directory, at 337 17th Street. Alois Pattiani lived in San Francisco at the time, but he moved to Oakland and later lived at the north end of Bryant Avenue. There are reports of the firm doing business from 1928 to 1932, but its name disappeared from the directories.
I have found two Jacobs and Pattiani marks in Oakland, both in front of brick buildings. The other one is at 450 24th Street, perhaps Oakland’s prettiest Auto Row brick structure. See it here.
Oakland Underfoot 