ARCHITECTURAL SITES: Barksdale Field Historic District
Main Architect was the Lead Construction Quartermaster, Captain George E. Lamb.
Sites Completed: 1932-1939. Cost: $ 3.5M (initial costs, 1930-33).
Historian Notes:
Eight type structures selected to represent the Historic District – French Colonial Revival style of architecture:
¨ Headquarters Building: Completed in 1932 with 10,332 square feet by WC Salley, Monroe, LA . Original use: Headquarters Building. Current use: Headquarters, 2d Bomb Wing.
¨ Post Hospital: Completed 1933 by H B Ryan Co, Chicago, IL. Square footage: 32,252. Original use: Hospital. Current use: Base Engineering Administration.
¨ 330-man Barracks: Completed in 1933, large barracks of 67,320 square feet above the basement featuring with three stories above ground level with an attic in an E-shaped building mass. Contractor was Ashton Glassell Company, Shreveport, LA. Original use: Barracks. Current use: Shared headquarters building for Air Force Global Strike Command and Eighth Air Force.
¨ Water Standpipe (tower): Completed in 1934 with French Colonial Revival masonry octagon-shaped shell built over the existing metal water tower. (Metal water tower built during time of construction of the Headquarters Building.) Constructed by Pittsburg-Des Moines Steel Company, Dallas TX. Original and current use: Water Standpipe.
¨ Brant House (Commander’s Quarters): Completed in 1934 by the Worsham Brothers, Knoxville, TN. Square footage is 3,130 of living space larger when including porches, patios and attic. Brant House was constructed to be the Commander’s House and is the only Field Grade Quarters, Type D house on Barksdale. Two storied house is unique as the only one with an attached single-car garage. Original use: Commander’s house, first occupancy was 1936 with first occupant being Brigadier General Brant. (Residence was named in 2007 in honor of General Brant.) Current use: Residence of Commander, Air Force Global Strike Command.
¨ Officer Residences: Single family housing. Several styles were constructed with most built in 1934 and 1935 mostly by Worsham Brothers, Knoxville, TN. Square footage varies by type, but usually 3,220 square feet. Original and current uses: Family Housing.
¨ Enlisted Residences: 30 Duplexes, constructed 1934 by Landis & Young, Bloomington, IN. Square footage: 2,520. Original and current uses: Family Housing.
¨ Chapel: Completed 1939, unknown contractor. Original building was 5,440 square feet featuring a T-shaped chapel, joined by L-shaped service wing and bell tower. Original and current use: chapel.
Historian’s Note: Although it was planned for Barksdale Field to be physically in Bossier Parish, the land was bought by a bond issue from the City of Shreveport with the assembled land for the base annexed to the City of Shreveport and then deeded to the U.S. Government for one dollar. Barksdale Historic District listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1992 (District #92000332) containing 264 buildings and structures.
Source: Barksdale Field Historic District; Building Biographies from Architect Office, 2d Bomb Wing; Grabill Studio Collection, LSU-S archives (Collection 542, Vol IV).
