The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced The Douglass at Page Woodson apartment community in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as one of only three winners of the 2018 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards. Given each year at the end of a juried competition, the Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards, the nation’s most coveted and prestigious, are bestowed on historic preservation efforts that demonstrate excellence in execution and a positive impact on the vitality of their towns and cities.
The restoration and adaptation of Page Woodson School into affordable apartments marks a vibrant cultural rebirth in Oklahoma City and is a source of pride for former students of the once-segregated school.
Constructed in 1910 as the Page Woodson School, the former all-white elementary school was renamed Douglass High School in 1934, when it transitioned to serve African American students from across Oklahoma City. Douglass became a center for progress during the Civil Rights Movement and frequently housed meetings of figures such as Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African American Supreme Court Justice. Many notable members of the faculty and student body were influential in the fight against segregation in Oklahoma City. The school went through many name changes and uses before the Oklahoma City School board finally voted to close it in 1993 as populations declined in the surrounding area.
After years of vacancy and vandalism, the school was purchased in 2013
with plans to restore the building’s Art Deco details and address the community’s needs.
Developed by Colony Partners and SCG Development and designed by Smith Dalia Architects, the restoration capitalized on the building’s outstanding example of Classical Revival red brick, its rich artisanal ornamentation, and educational themes to give this affordable housing solution a far more distinguished architectural identity than it would otherwise have today.
The Douglass at Page Woodson contains 60 affordable housing units and a historic community auditorium, which once hosted personalities such as jazz great Duke Ellington, restored for meetings, lectures, film screenings, and the arts.
Established in 2012, the Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards have honored distinguished individuals, nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and corporations whose skill and determination have added to the richness of their communities by preserving their architectural and cultural heritage. As the most sought after of all National Trust awards, the initiative recognizes efforts in landmark preservation, historic restoration, skilled craftsmanship, and educational and advocacy activities.
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards winners, chosen from among 50 nominated projects by a jury led by Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger, were honored as part of PastForward 2018, the nation’s largest historic preservation conference, on November 14 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco.