In 1861, three brothers from Montreal, Canada, came to Oakland, Alameda County, California, to
establish a brick yard. They were Peter N., Philip Hilaire, and Edward Remillard. Their firm was
named Remillard and Brothers, and they opened an office and yard at Clay and 2nd streets, Oakland, and
a brick plant in nearby Brooklyn. In 1879, the firm incorporated to become the Remillard Brick Company. Peter N.
Remillard was President, Phillip Hilaire Remillard was Vice President, and P.H. Lamoreaux was
Secretary.
When the clay deposit at Brooklyn was exhausted in 1872, Remillard found a new clay deposit at Greenbrae,
near San Rafael, Marin County, California, that same year. They purchase 75 acres of land and erected field
kilns. The clay pit was located behind the plant. 75 employees made 75,000 brick per day, or 10 million per
year by 1898. Schooners carried the bricks from California City to Oakland and San Francisco. In 1891, Remillard
built a 16-compartment continuous Hoffman kiln, which still stands today. This increased brick production to
12 million per year. Also the number of employees increase to 100.
From 1872 to 1882, the Greenbrae yard furnished much of the common brick in the San Francisco Bay area.
The bricks were used in most of the prominent buildings in San Francisco and Oakland. These included
city halls, hotels, banks, hospitals, schools, churches, breweries, mills, stores, and homes. Examples can
be seen at Ghiradelli Square and St. Francis, San Francisco, the Nichols Block, Oakland, and the Remillard
Greenbrae yard kiln and chimney. Remillard during this period nearly had a monopoly on bricks. By 1904, the
demand for brick had decreased to the point where Remillard temporarily shut down the Greenbrae yard. But it
was started up after the 1906 earthquake increased the demand for bricks again. Production continued at a
declining rate until the yard closed permanently in 1915.
In 1978, the Greenbrae yard, with its Hoffman kiln and tall brick chimney, was placed on the National
Register of Historic Places, thanks to the early preservation efforts of Countess Lillian Remillard Dandini.
She wanted to preserve the Greenbrae yard as a monument to her father, Pierre N. Remillard. In the late 1980s,
Ray Kuratek and his firm, Intermark Interests, transformed the brick kiln into a French restaurant.
Remillard brick in the wall of the Hoffman kiln, Greenbrae yard.
The crude bricks are probably from the original field kilns.
Remillard brick in the wall of the Hoffman kiln, Greenbrae yard.
These are examples of better quality bricks.
Common brick is orange-red to pale red to reddish brown, with visible white, red, and black clasts on the surface,
with abundant holes and pits. Better quality brick showed little or no clasts. Rough, gritty surface texture.
Irregular edges and rounded or broken corners. Some show prominent lip around top edge. Some display transverse mold
striations on sides. Hand-molded, sand-struck, soft-mud process. Length 8 1/4 - 8 3/4, width 3 7/8 - 4 1/4, height
2 1/2 - 2 3/8. Bricks on the chimney flue were as thin as 2 inches.
Source
California Division of Mines Bulletin 38, 1906, p. 242
California Division of Mines Report 11, 1893.
California Division of Mines Report Rept 12, 1893-94.
Oakland Tribune, 1887-1906.
Oakland Tribune. Alameda County. The Oakland Tribune, Oakland, 1898.
Remillard's Romantic Dining In An Old Brick Kiln. San Francisco Magazine, May 1990, P. 55-56.
Wood, M.W. History of Alameda County, California. Oakland, 1883.
