Casa Blanca

Casa Blanca is significant because it is the best extant example of the Mission Revival style in Norman, Oklahoma.

The community of Norman, the home of the University of Oklahoma, increased its population from five thousand people in 1918 to twelve thousand people in 1925. This increase in population is reflected in the development of property along Boyd Street, the north boundary of the University of Oklahoma. In 1918, very little of the Boyd Street frontage was developed and approximately fifty percent of the property one block north of Boyd was occupied, predominantly by small two story residences and single story outbuildings. By 1925, a dramatic change occurred. Property values nearly doubled between 1922 and 1925 and the same area shows a proliferation of buildings along Boyd Street and adjoining side streets directly north of the university. These include large commercial buildings, residences, a motion picture theater, a masonic lodge, boarding houses and fraternities. Very few lots were vacant or underutilized. One of the buildings constructed during this expansion was Casa Blanca, which started out as the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house. The finishing touches were put on the building during the last week of September, 1925.

Casa Blanca's location anchors the east' end of a neighborhood commercial district now known as "Campus Corner." Sparked by the Panama-California Exposition of 1915, in the mid-nineteen-twenties "a craze for Spanish architecture swept the country. "O Campus Corner was part of this craze. The most distinctive and cohesive physical attribute of Campus Corner is the predominantly Mission Revival style of many of its commercial buildings. However, throughout the years, almost all of these Mission Revival buildings were subject to re-modelings which have greatly altered their character, especially at the street level; or damage from neglect and fire.