The Altenheim was founded in 1908 as a retirement home for German settlers in Oakland’s Dimond/Glenview district. Located on a six-acre hilltop, the original structures include a series of interconnected wooden buildings and a 1913 masonry residential wing bordered by three-and-a-half acres of terraced gardens.
In Phase I, the original single-occupancy rooms were combined to create 93 independent senior apartments, while preserving the wide daylit corridors and refurbishing the common areas. Phase II added three complimentary residential structures carefully placed to extend the pattern of enclosed courtyards. The completed facility provides 174 affordable units in a unique interconnected senior living community with a spacious lobby, a renovated 4,600 square foot multipurpose room with exposed heavy timber trusses, a library/ computer room, several sitting rooms, and multiple points of access to the hillside gardens.
The project is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.