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IBM San Jose Building 25 Monument by Ronald Horii
I used to work for IBM. One of the buildings that I occasionally went to was Building 25. At the time, it was the headquarters for the division and mostly had bigwigs in it. I didn't need to go there except for special meetings and classes. It had some interesting items on display, like the original 350 RAMAC, the first commercial disk drive system, which was invented, developed, and manufactured in San Jose. Pioneering disk drive research and development work was done in Bldg. 25, which was built in 1957. As the plant site grew, research and development moved to other buildings, and 25 was mainly used for administrative and educational purposes. When IBM sold the division to Hitachi, they planned to tear down 25 and build a Lowes hardware store in its place. There was a legal battle to preserve the building for its historical value. That became moot when the building burned down in a mysterious fire in 2008. After that, the Lowes store was built. Its building decoration is reminiscent of Bldg. 25 and other buildings of that era on the plantsite. Sitting in the Lowes parking lot, next to Autozone, is a small monument that tells the story of Bldg. 25 and IBM's San Jose campus. Here are pictures of it.
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Links:
IBM Goes West: https://www.fastcompany.com/3064902/ibm-goes-west-a-73-year-long-saga-from-punch-cards-to-watson
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Bldg. 25 under construction:
https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt000033v3/
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View of employees working in bldg. 25:
https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt1v19r846/?brand=oac4
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View of outdoor recreation area:
https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt7k4039pz/
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IBM 350 RAMAC: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/engineering-history/landmarks/90-ibm-350-ramac-disk-file
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Bldg. 25 demolition on hold due to court order: https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/11/06/judge-again-blocks-razing-of-famed-ibm-building-25/
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Bldg. 25 burns down:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2537769/ibm-s-building-25--designed-to-foster-employee-creativity--burns-down.html
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Monument to Bldg. 25:
https://untilsuburbia.com/visit-the-birthplace-of-the-industrial-campus-ibm-building-025-san-jose/
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Bldg. 25 monument and RAMAC Park:
https://designobserver.com/feature/a-memorial-to-random-access-memory/32218
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Ghosts of IBM San Jose, 1/31/22 (my album):
https://tinyurl.com/yckje9bj
........................................................
Album created 2/21/22, pictures from various times.
I used to work for IBM. One of the buildings that I occasionally went to was Building 25. At the time, it was the headquarters for the division and mostly had bigwigs in it. I didn't need to go there except for special meetings and classes. It had some interesting items on display, like the original 350 RAMAC, the first commercial disk drive system, which was invented, developed, and manufactured in San Jose. Pioneering disk drive research and development work was done in Bldg. 25, which was built in 1957. As the plant site grew, research and development moved to other buildings, and 25 was mainly used for administrative and educational purposes. When IBM sold the division to Hitachi, they planned to tear down 25 and build a Lowes hardware store in its place. There was a legal battle to preserve the building for its historical value. That became moot when the building burned down in a mysterious fire in 2008. After that, the Lowes store was built. Its building decoration is reminiscent of Bldg. 25 and other buildings of that era on the plantsite. Sitting in the Lowes parking lot, next to Autozone, is a small monument that tells the story of Bldg. 25 and IBM's San Jose campus. Here are pictures of it.
........................................................
Links:
IBM Goes West: https://www.fastcompany.com/3064902/ibm-goes-west-a-73-year-long-saga-from-punch-cards-to-watson
........................................................
Bldg. 25 under construction:
https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt000033v3/
........................................................
View of employees working in bldg. 25:
https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt1v19r846/?brand=oac4
........................................................
View of outdoor recreation area:
https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt7k4039pz/
........................................................
IBM 350 RAMAC: https://www.asme.org/about-asme/engineering-history/landmarks/90-ibm-350-ramac-disk-file
........................................................
Bldg. 25 demolition on hold due to court order: https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/11/06/judge-again-blocks-razing-of-famed-ibm-building-25/
........................................................
Bldg. 25 burns down:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2537769/ibm-s-building-25--designed-to-foster-employee-creativity--burns-down.html
........................................................
Monument to Bldg. 25:
https://untilsuburbia.com/visit-the-birthplace-of-the-industrial-campus-ibm-building-025-san-jose/
........................................................
Bldg. 25 monument and RAMAC Park:
https://designobserver.com/feature/a-memorial-to-random-access-memory/32218
........................................................
Ghosts of IBM San Jose, 1/31/22 (my album):
https://tinyurl.com/yckje9bj
........................................................
Album created 2/21/22, pictures from various times.
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