Oakes Field House, South Facade, 3rd Avenue, South Charleston
Photo: Ernest Everett Blevins, MFA © All Rights Reserved
Description
The Public Works Administration funded the construction of the Oakes Field House (former Recreation Building) in South Charleston in 1939.
The Recreation Building, as it was called in 1939, is a two-story brick building with gable and seven bays facing 3rd street. The central three bays have arched doorways evocative of Palladian windows. The building is about 72 feet wide and 115 feet long with a small one-story raised brick structure extending towards the Oakes Field. An addition (possibly original, date is unknown) of approximately 12 x 22 feet is on the northwest corner.
There are ten large two-story windows running along the west side of the building. They are now all or partially covered, but the windows appear intact underneath the plywood covers.
The eastern/southeastern edge of the Oakes Field. The building faces 3rd Street to the south, Oakes Field (KA-3713, WPA 1941) to the west and the street access to Oakes field to the north and residential area to the south and east.
Oakes is named after South Charleston L.H. Oakes.
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Source: Kanawha County Schools, “1966 Building Program Summary: Secondary and Special Facilities,” Charleston, West Virginia: Kanawha County Schools, 1966 p. 85.
Oakes Field Site Plan
Source: Kanawha County Schools, “1966 Building Program Summary: Secondary and Special Facilities,” Charleston, West Virginia: Kanawha County Schools, 1966 p. 85.
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PWA Plaque on Oakes Field House, 3rd Avenue Facade
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Oakes Field House Interior looking north
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Oakes Field House, West Facade from Oakes Field Stadium stands, South Charleston
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City of South Charleston plaque, just below PWA plaque, on Oakes Field House, 3rd Avenue Facade
Source notes
Historic Property Inventory Form site KA-3712, West Virginia State Historic Preservation Office.
Kanawha County Parcel Viewer (https://gis.kanawhacountyassessor.com), accessed March 16, 2018.
Kanawha County Schools, “1966 Building Program Summary: Secondary and Special Facilities,” Charleston, West Virginia: Kanawha County Schools, 1966 p. 85.
Multiple Site Visits (2015-2018) by Ernest Everett Blevins
"South Charleston to Dedicate Two New Structures Thursday," Charleston Daily Mail August 20, 1939, p. 4.
Project originally submitted by Ernest Everett Blevins on March 26, 2018.
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