Norman Southridge Addition Historic District Tour

On April 21, 1889, the site that would soon become the town of Norman was open prairie except for a handful of railroad buildings. By nightfall on April 22, 1889, Norman had expanded to a city of approximately 500 citizens, with temporary structures quickly being constructed to establish the town. Through the first half of the twentieth century Norman continued to grow, with the population reaching 5,004 by 1920.

Taking advantage of Norman’s population boom, George Miller platted a new residential subdivision called The Southridge Addition in 1922, just south of downtown Norman and east of the University of Oklahoma. Most houses were constructed by 1950, with only a few more built in the early 1950s.

In 2014, residents of the Southridge Addition expressed interest in becoming part of a locally designated historic district. On October 11, 2016, the Norman City Council adopted a historic preservation zoning overlay for the Southridge Addition, thereby protecting the neighborhood's historic character.

The residents' enthusiasm for their historic neighborhood continued as they sought to have the Southridge Addition listed in the National Register of Historic Places. On August 13, 2018, the Southridge Addition Historic District was successfully listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Southridge Addition Historic District comprises seventy-two buildings, fifty-five of which are considered contributing to the district. The seventeen remaining structures are considered non-contributing to the district because of their age of construction, lack of historic integrity, or significant modifications to historic elements. A non-contributing historic structure is a building within a designated historic district that doesn't significantly contribute to the district's overall historic or architectural character. Contributing structures retain a high degree of architectural integrity and were built during the district's period of significance.

The Southridge Addition Historic District is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its contribution to Norman's development. It is architecturally significant for its diverse collection of popular mid-twentieth-century residential architecture, including Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Minimal Traditional, Mission/Spanish Colonial, and Classic Revival.

This tour contains 24 stops, of which 19 properties are part of the National Register-listed Southridge Addition Historic District. These National Register properties illustrate the diversity of residential styles in the Southridge Addition Historic District. The remaining properties with stops in the tour are included either because they demonstrate the importance of historic preservation or are integral to the neighborhood. Properties that are part of the National Register-listed Southridge Addition Historic District are indicated in the tour stop description for that property.

This tour begins at the southern end of the Southridge Addition Historic District at the small neighborhood park, Earl Sneed Park. It then works its way toward the north side of the district, ending on East Boyd Street near the main entrance, which is located at Classen Boulevard and East Boyd Street.

How to use the Southridge Addition Historic District tour

This self-guided tour will lead you to various tour stops where you can learn more about Norman's historical homes and buildings. Begin by tapping the "Download Tour" button at the bottom of this screen, then "Start Tour" when the content finishes downloading. From there, you'll be asked to allow location services- this app uses your GPS location to autoplay audio content, so please grant them permission when asked.

If you don't want to allow GPS location services, you can still enjoy the Southridge Addition Historic District tour. To access the content without location services, there are two methods available:

To access the map, tap on the folded map icon at the bottom of any tour stop screen. This will take you to a map of the area that shows the physical location of each stop, as well as a list of all the stops that you can scroll through. Click on any stop and a pop-up of the tour stop screen will appear. You can advance to the next stop from there by tapping “Next” or you can tap “Close” and return to the map. To exit the map completely, tap the “Close” button on the top, left-hand side of the map.

To access the list, tap the icon in the upper right corner of the screen that looks like a bulleted list and the Stop List will pop out. Tap on the tour stop you wish to see. Once on a tour stop screen, you can tap “Next” to advance to the next stop, or you can tap the icon again to pop-out the entire list of stops.