March 14, 2008

Fire destroys historic IBM building on Cottle Road

Photo by Craig Allyn Rose / San José Fire Department

By Sean Eastwood
Staff Writer

IBM’s historic building 25 is gone. It’s the fourth historic building to go up in smoke in San Jose since last summer.

The three-alarm fire last Saturday destroyed IBM historic building 25, the birthplace of the flying head disk drive, which allowed real-time on-line transactions such as airline reservations.

More than 80 firefighters responded to the scene. The structure was built in 1957 and has been vacant for more than 10 years at the IBM complex on Cottle Road.

Fire Captain Anthony Pianto said the 69,000-square-foot Building, eligible for city landmark status, was “a total loss.” He reported no neighboring buildings were damaged, and there were no injuries. Arson is suspected.

Building 25, built in 1957, was the home of IBM's San Jose Research and Development Labora-tories. It burned down last week. Photo courtesy of Susan Brandt-Hawley.

IBM has an agreement to sell the property including building 25 to Lowes, the big box home improvement retailer. Lowes' wanted to demolish Building 25, but the move did not sit well with the preservation council. Its six-year legal fight was just about over, and both sides were ready to settle this week to preserve a portion of the building and make the parking lot slightly smaller. Now, the preservation group hopes that a portion of the building can be restored.

Building 25 was "a radical departure from the solid wall construction of most industrial and laboratory facilities of the time," wrote San Jose planning officials in a special report last year. The design would start the West Coast trend for a pastoral campus like settings.

Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev visited Building 25 in 1959.

Building 25, built in 1957, was the home of IBM's San Jose Research and Development Labora-tories. It burned down last week. Photo courtesy of Susan Brandt-Hawley.