U.S. Naval Air Station, Telephone Workshop & Storehouse, Mustin Avenue, Pensacola, Escambia County, FL

Significance: Constructed in 1943 as the Telephone Workshop & Storehouse, Building No. 738 played a supportive communications infrastructural role at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola during World War II, and later a series of other infrastructural roles as the station's aviation training mission evolved. Available original plans do not list an architect and contractor. The building is probably a design from a standardized Bureau of Yards and Docks (BuDocks) plan, constructed by local or regional contractors who were building dozens of other structures at NAS Pensacola in the early months of World War II. The red-brick-clad, load-bearing, clay-tile structure lacks distinctive architectural features but references the Georgian style found elsewhere on the installation, with a hipped roof and symmetrical fenestration. In 1953, minor interior alterations to the building preceded its re-designation as a laboratory for the installation's central power plant. By 1983, a tenant command at NAS Pensacola - The Naval Air Rework Facility (NARF) - was using the building for unspecified purposes, most likely as offices. Between 1983 and 1993, a handicap accessible ramp was installed at the primary entrance on the north facade. Sustaining few alterations since its construction, Building No. 738 remains compatible in form, scale, and materials to its original design. Building No. 738 is located in the southeastern section of NAS Pensacola, within the boundaries of the Pensacola Naval Air Station Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The National Park Service designated this district as a National Historic Landmark (NHL) in 1976. Neither nomination clearly defines the district's period of significance; however, the text addresses only those buildings erected prior to 1919. Because of its 1943 construction date, Building No. 738 was not mentioned in either nomination.
Survey number: HABS FL-496
Building/structure dates: 1943 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1953 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1983 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 76000595