| Address: | 5th and Rosewood, Hugo, Oklahoma | County: | Choctaw |
| Started: | 1938 | Completed: | 1939 |
| Agencies: | WPA | NRHP: | NO |
Current Usage:
City Property
Description:
A building of ten classrooms or more, Robert E. Lee school is a single story, T -shaped (144′ x 64′ horizontally with a 55′ x 44′ vertical extension for the gymnasium) structure constructed of red brick laid with a running bond. The brick was salvaged from a condemned building at the same location. The roof is flat with parapets, except over the gym where it is arched. The front entryway is centrally placed and decorated with pilasters. Angular lines, a frieze at the roof line, and roof extensions give the structure an art deco quality. Windows encased in metal are placed by threes. The bricks are painted cream and the entryway appears to be slightly altered, but neither change impeaches the integrity of the original architecture.
The school building is significant because construction of it provided laborers on relief rolls in the Hugo area with useful employment and some economic security and because it created an educational climate more conducive to learning, replacing as it did a condemned structure. As a WPA school building, it is notable for its stylistic allusion to art deco and for its use of brick construction materials. It also suggests the relative “prosperity” of urban school districts as opposed to those in rural areas. Within the community the building is unique architecturally because of its style and workmanship.
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