Playhouse at Montclair Park

Updated August 2022

Almost everyone who grew up in Montclair played in the park. The park was always full of kids.

If you visited or played in the park from 1960 to around 1993, you would remember the two-story playhouse. It was built in 1960 and was located by the swing sets.

By 1993 the playhouse was boarded up due to fires and covered with graffiti. It is rumored the fires were caused by teens or someone smoking in the house.

I enjoyed playing in the small playhouse. I would pretend I lived there and that my best friend lived next door.

Built-in 1960

In 1960 the Montclair Junior Women’s Club of Montclair held fundraisers and worked with the Oakland Recreation Department to finance a playhouse for the park in Montclair.

The 120-square-foot playhouse incorporated such features as kitchenettes with running water. toy stoves and refrigerators. Each unit had a living room with a built-in play television set and a circular metal stairway leading up to the sleeping balcony and sundeck.

The structure’s exterior was covered with heavy wire to create the illusion of a closed building. Bright colored squares of orange, yellow, turquoise, and white decorate the front of the playhouse.