New Oklahoma National Register Listings
Linda Ozan
lozan@okhistory.org
09/28/12
Oklahoma City, OK
For Immediate Release
The Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office is pleased to announce one new National Register of Historic Places listing. The National Register of Historic Places is our nation’s official list of properties significant in our past.
The Mayfair, located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County is significant as an example of a property type that is specified in the multiple property form for “Midtown Brick Box Apartments, 1910-1935, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.” These apartments help convey the historic development and growth in the Midtown area of Oklahoma City. The Mayfair is among the last of the Midtown Brick Box Apartments to be constructed during the period of significance. The Midtown Brick Box Apartments represent a distinct alteration in the Midtown’s previous forms of multi-family dwellings such as wood-framed duplexes, or flats for two-, four- or six families. The Brick Box Apartments are significantly different from these housing forms and they provided amenities such as the “latest” in kitchens and bathrooms, as well as personal services that were not available in more basic multiple dwellings.
Perhaps more importantly, the Mayfair represents a portion of the city’s social history because it helps reflect the transitions in living areas for white collar workers, and it represents their ideas about what was acceptable apartment housing. When the Mayfair was constructed, most wealthy residents who settled in Midtown prior to 1910, had continued to move north both within Midtown and out of the Midtown area from 1910 to 1935. During this period, blue collar workers had continued to move north as well, moving further into Midtown but staying mostly south of NW10th Street. Midtown by 1930 tended to be white collar north of NW 10th Street, and blue collar south. The Mayfair’s location was in the northern most section of Midtown, an area where the more well-to-do moved as they continued their northward migration into other areas over several decades.
Listing in the National Register is an honorific designation that provides recognition, limited protection and, in some cases, financial incentives for these important properties. The SHPO identifies, evaluates, and nominates properties for this special designation
