Rockwell Field

Rockwell Field District occupies the southeastern part of Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego. It preserves the industrial and residential core of the first permanent Army airfield in the United States, which operated on North Island between 1912 and 1935, when the Navy took over. Of 63 buildings, 56 contribute to the district. Most are Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival structures built in concrete, terra cotta and stucco. They follow a 1917 site plan by Detroit industrial architect Albert Kahn, along with housing added after the Emergency Relief Bill of 1932. The listing was revised because an earlier nomination described a landing site tied to the 1924 round-the-world flight, in an area that was actually Navy land, and described none of the real Army buildings. The revised nomination ties significance to the early history of military aviation and to the district's architecture. Despite some alterations, the buildings still convey the character of the field during its Army years.