Littlepage Building - Oklahoma City, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 28.175 W 097° 30.457
14S E 635404 N 3926143
Located in a district named Deep Deuce, this building is one of the few remaining commercial buildings from a bustling African American day gone by.
Waymark Code: WMAY0P
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 03/09/2011
Views: 4
The Littlepage Building was built in 1924 by brothers Junius Singleton and Alfred Louise Littlepage. Their wives were Aner and Mobelia. The name block on the building reads "1924 J.S. & M. E. LITTLEPAGE", the M.E. designating Mobelia. The building was initially the M & M Hotel on the second floor, with businesses on the ground floor. Then, in 1935, the brothers operated the hotel, which was renamed Littlepage Hotel. The hotel had 25 rooms and has been occupied by many well-known African Americans, including Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fats Domino, Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Roy Campanella and Billy Ekstine.
A smaller two-story building was added at the rear in 1947 as an apartment building, connected to the hotel on the second floor. The last business occupant vacated the building in 1990. At the time of nomination to the Register in 1996 (#95001500), the building was vacant and not in use, with all doors and windows boarded up. Fortunately, in the ensuing years, the building has been renovated and is currently in use.
This is a two-story brick building which originally had three storefronts on the north, and four storefronts on the east. There were retail businesses on the ground floor and the hotel upstairs. The current renovation has two storefronts on the north, with the west storefront converted to windows. There are three storefronts on the east, with the corner occupancy having a door on both the north and east. All doors and windows are now metal-framed. On the second floor, the north elevation has five pairs of double-hung windows, with the east elevation having eight pairs of windows.
The corner occupancy does not have a business name showing, just the stylized letter "S" on the cloth awning. The occupancy on the west side of the north elevation shows the words "Coffee/Bakery." It could not be determined if the second floor is in use at this time.
As with the other remaining commercial buildings in this eastern portion of Oklahoma City, they are what remains of a very healthy, active African American commercial district that once flourished in this part of town. Today, the area is known as Deep Deuce, and the remaining buildings are being renovated, with many new apartment/condominium buildings being constructed in the area.
[Information on the history of this building can be found at the Register nomination link below.]