West Virginia Road Commission – Buckhannon WV

Description

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) built the office of the West Virginia Road Commission in Buckhannon. A building plaque states that the project was built by the WPA in 1940 and sponsored by the State Road commission of West Virginia. The gable stone inset bearing the 1939 date suggests that construction begun that year and was completed sometime in 1940.

The parcel is listed as district 02, map 2, parcel 19, although parcels 17 and 18 located behind the site are also now state property. The portion of the 1940 building is recorded in deed book 0096, page 313 for 0.82 acres. The property was expanded by 0.77 and 0.51 acres with the additional parcels.

The building is constructed in similar sandstone finish and facade design to the larger, better known Division of Highways (DOH) Garage complex built in 1941 along US 33 at Bushy Fork Crossing west-northwest of Buckhannon.

The design of the building is distinctive, giving it an appearance of an airplane wing profile on the street façade. It appears this is a barrel roof with a saltbox feature added to the side to give it an asymmetric look. The higher portion of the profile is above a garage door and the lower portions is over an office entrance. The blue sign with 04901 appears to be a DOH inventory number for the building.

The street façade has double windows on each side of a garage, while the openings on the office portion of the façade alternate between windows and doors. All windows are 12 frame metal on the garage portion and designed to open in the center. The office windows are 6 panes wide and 3 elongated panes tall of metal, and do not appear to open. The windows and garage have a smooth, reddish color sandstone lintel and the windows have a rough cut stone still of the same color, which sets them apart from the lighter tan and light brown stone of the walls. The office door appears to be a replacement with a window and two panels and modern knob hardware. The garage door appears to have been replaced at an unknown time. There is no evidence of the original garage door as being wood or metal.