The Sacramento Ziggurat: Unique Sacramento Architecture

Sacramento architect Edwin Kado designed the Sacramento Ziggurat, which sits on the Sacramento River. He designed the Ziggurat to resemble the ancient Ziggurats of Mesopotamia, which were massive pyramid-like structures built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians over four thousand years ago.

This unique piece of Sacramento architecture is 10 stories high and has step-like small structures that go up and create a building that resembles a pyramid. The original tenant was the Money Store, but since 2001 this building has been leased by the California Department of Government Services as its headquarters. 

The Sacramento Ziggurat is regarded as one of the most earthquake-resistant buildings in the entire world. With its state-of-the-art technology, it can withstand earthquakes of 6.9 on the Richter scale, partly due to being set on concrete and steel piles. It’s been said that the Sacramento Ziggurat could continue to function even after a disastrous earthquake for up to 30 days.

Of course, this information is all in theory, but it’s okay. We don’t have to test this out – some things are best to be left in theory. Another impressive quality of this unique piece of Sacramento architecture is that it does not appear to have any windows from the outside. This magical illusion was made using high-performance glass with a beige dot coating on the exterior, which matches the surrounding limestone.

The Ziggurat was designated as a Sacramento County Historic Landmark in 1981, and in 2016 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It is the headquarters of a few government agencies, including the California Department of Water Resources, The  California Highway Patrol, and the California Department of Justice.

Click here for more interesting tidbits about the Ziggurat.

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Photo Credit: The Registry

From the Factory Floor

Our engineering team discussing something spectacular in the works. Thanks “undisclosed client” until we release this project to the world’s stage.

by Gerald Olesker, CEO, ADG Lighting