The Oaks Historic Structure Report Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site
Panamerican Consultants, Inc. 2390 Clinton Street Buffalo, New York 14227, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. 330 Pfingsten Road Northbrook, Illinois 60062, WFT Architects, PA 770 North State Street Jackson, Mississippi 39202. 2019. The Oaks Historic Structure Report Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. National Park Service. Southeast Regional Office 100 Alabama Street SW Atlanta, Georgia 30303
At the request of the National Park Service (NPS), Panamerican Consultants, Inc. and its subconsultants, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE) and WFT Architects (WFTA), have developed this Historic Structure Report (HSR) for The Oaks, the home of Booker T. Washington, at 905 West Montgomery Road on the campus of Tuskegee University, Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, Tuskegee, Alabama. The Oaks is also located in the Historic Campus District. The Oaks was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 as a contributing feature to the nationally significant Tuskegee Institute National Historic Landmark Historic District (NRIS ID #66000151). The administratively determined Management Category is “Must Be Preserved and Maintained” and the Ultimate Treatment is “Preservation,” as characterized in The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties. The property is important within the site because it is an immediate link to Tuskegee Institute’s founder and first principal, and one of the most influential African Americans of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Booker T. Washington’s educational philosophy and his quest to provide economic independence for African Americans gained him a wide circle of influential friends and supporters, and helped propel Tuskegee Institute to the forefront of African American educational institutions. The Oaks is also significant for the role it played in the lives of the Washington family and in the administration of the Institute. The house was constructed in 1899-1900 as the home for Washington, his wife, Margaret Murray Washington, and his three children, Portia Marshall, Booker T., Jr., and Ernest Davidson. While The Oaks was, indeed, a home and a place of retreat for Washington, it also served as a place where visiting dignitaries, school administrators and staff, and friends were regularly entertained.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Panamerican Consultants, Inc. 2390 Clinton Street Buffalo, New York 14227; Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. 330 Pfingsten Road Northbrook, Illinois 60062; WFT Architects, PA 770 North State Street Jackson, Mississippi 39202
- Date of Issue
- 2019-10-01
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- TUIN
- Keywords
- Booker T. Washington, Historic Structure Report, Margaret Murray Washington, The Oaks, Tuskegee Institute
- Subjects
- CRIS-HS: 091220: The Oaks (091220)