Oklahoma’s Residential Landscape: A Mix of the Vernacular and High Style

Oklahoma’s Homes Reflect The States Historical Past

 

Nestled in the Midsouth region of the country, Oklahoma – the 20^th largest state in the U.S. – covers 69,903 square miles and is bordered by five states: Colorado and Kansas in the north, New Mexico in the West, Arkansas in the east, and Texas in the south. It’s the place where four cultural regions meet: the West, Midwest, South, and Southwest.

In this state of farmlands, hills, mountains, and man-made lakes lies an architectural landscape that is as historic and diverse as New England, California, the Carolinas, and other states with multicultural histories. From the beehive grass houses and earthen mounds constructed by indigenous Native tribes to small rustic cabins and farmhouses of the pioneers, the extravagant and marvelous mansions of the 1920s, and the 21^st century’s glass-and-steel buildings, Oklahoma has a remarkable variety of architectural styles in its homes.

Join us as we uncover the interesting origins and growth of Oklahoma’s residential architecture.

 

House Styles in Oklahoma

1.  Historic Brick and Stone

In 1889 when the U.S. Congress instituted a policy of phased openings of Indian lands by run, lottery, and auction, Oklahoma experienced immediate growth and expansion in some of its cities. Guthrie, in particular benefited from the Land Run of 1889, when overnight it gained 10,000 new residents who began to develop the town as a modern brick and stone “Queen of the Prairie.” While Guthrie lost its distinction as the first capital city of Oklahoma to Oklahoma City, it is nationally prominent for its collection of historic brick and stone buildings and its Victorian architecture “that provides a backdrop for Wild West and territorial-style entertainment, carriage tours, replica trolley cars, specialty shops, and art galleries”.

The architect responsible for many of Guthrie’s historic brick and stone buildings is Joseph Pierre Foucart, a Belgian-born immigrant, who became the first architect to establish a practice in Oklahoma. Foucart also designed two brick private residences.

 

2.  Victorian Architecture/The Queen Anne Style

Around the time of the 1889 Land Run, the Queen Anne style, one of the most colorful and decorative styles under the broad umbrella of Victorian architecture was at its peak popularity. Outside of Guthrie, Oklahomans were building Victorian style cottages and Queen Annes. There was a statewide fascination for the style’s fanciful and eccentric features, including multiple gables, wide overhanging eaves, multiple chimneys, painted balustrades, wooden or slate roofs, towers, turrets, and elaborate decor details.

 

3. Early 20^th Century – Diverse Styles

With the Queen Anne fading into the background in 1910, some other styles came into the picture and became popular. Among them were:

 

Art Deco

In contrast with the Revival styles that were also fashionable in Oklahoma during this period, the Art Deco was the first design to embody ideas of the Modern Age in architecture. The style came into prominence in 1922 – thanks to Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen who submitted an Art Deco design for the Chicago Tribune Headquarters. While his design was rejected, it was publicized across the country and touted as an exciting new style.

After the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs held in Paris in 1925, the Art Deco style enjoyed its brief time (1925 to 1940) in the limelight. And through that span, it had an impact on art, fashion, and furniture.

Art Deco style features include: a sleek, linear appearance, smooth wall surface decorative elements that use geometric forms, zigzags, chevrons, and set back front facade. Artist and designer Adah Robinson built her own Art Deco home and studio in 1924 with the help of architects Bruce Goff and Joseph Koberling. Constructed of hollow tile with leaded glass and terrazzo floors, the 1,400-square-foot home faces the park, has a two-story living room, a sunken conversation area with a fireplace, and an open balcony that runs the length of the room.

If you want to bask in Art Deco architecture, the place to visit is Tulsa with its collection of Art Deco gems – ranging from high-rise office buildings, schools, churches, and homes.

 

Colonial Revival (1910-1955)

A touch of early American life is embodied in the timeless and simple beauty of the Colonial Revival style. Typically rectangular with a symmetrical facade, these homes can be one,  one-and-a-half, or two stories with a hip or side-gable roof with dormers. The front door is usually centered and accentuated with a pediment, columns, fanlight, or sidelights. Windows are multi-pane and symmetrical.

 

Mission Revival Style (1890-1915)

Quite simple with its unadorned stucco exterior walls, the style is made for regions with tropical climates like Oklahoma, California, the South, and the Southwest. Patterned after the minimalist and austere Spanish mission churches built in remote small towns, Mission Revival style homes have these features: shallow-slope roofs with red tiles, covered archways and windows, square towers, parapets, courtyards, and gardens.

 

4.  How about Eclectic Styles?

Oklahoma is a complex mix of rural and urban forces with a historic collection of vernacular and sophisticated architecture. Coupled with the various cultures of its settlers, it’s not surprising to find many eclectic residential designs within the state.

We have the brick and stone mansions in Oklahoma City and Ponca City, Queen Annes in Guthrie and other amazing residences in Bartlesville, Norman, Stillwater, and Tulsa. From the pre-historic era to the 21^st century, Oklahoma’s architectural landscape is lined with bungalows, Craftsman, Tudor, Prairie, contemporary, traditional, and ranch style homes.

 

 

 

 

A Brief Look at Pre-1900 Oklahoma

The Pre-Historic Age Spiro Mounds

Long before the French explorer Jean-Baptiste Benard de la Harpe flew his flag over the beehive grass houses of Wichita Indian villages in the future state of Oklahoma, there was a Native American civilization that existed – and built permanent communities – in eastern Oklahoma, the seat of ancient Mississippian culture.

One of the most significant Native American sites in the country,  the Spiro Mounds were created and used between 850 and 1450 AD by Caddoan speaking Indians. This civilization grew from a small farming village to a vital and sophisticated cultural center that influenced a large part of the Southwest region. It featured various styles of more than 40-foot-tall earthen mounds for religious, ceremonial, and residential purposes, and contained valuable art and artifacts dug from the burial mound.

The 12 mounds – one burial mound, two temple mounds, and nine house mounds – were constructed in layers from basket loads of dirt and were a supreme regional power with ceremonial areas and a support city. They were home to an extensive trade network, a working political system, and a highly developed religious center.

The Spiro Mounds remained undisturbed until the 1930s when a mining company bought the rights to dig into the Craig Mound – the second largest on the site. The miners dug haphazardly into the burial mound, destroyed about one-third of it, and “exposed a hollow burial chamber inside … that contained thousands of the most extraordinary pre-Columbian artifacts ever found in the United States.”

These included works made of stone, copper, shell, and fragile, perishable materials: textiles and feathers that had been uniquely preserved in the conditions of the closed chamber. The artifacts were sold to collectors throughout the world. A number of them have been recovered and returned to regional museums.

In 1935, the Oklahoma Legislature passed a licensing requirement for the  protection of the site – and effectively shut down the mining company. From 1936 to 1941, University of Oklahoma archaeologists supervised scientific excavations and investigations of the Spiro Mounds site. The workers unearthed more than 600 complete or partial burials and thousands of artifacts. Excavations ended in 1941 because of the demands of the Second World War.

In 1969, the Spiro Mound Group was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. And in 1978 this unique and compelling part of Oklahoma’s past was established as the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center by the Oklahoma Historical Society. Today, it remains the first and only Oklahoma prehistoric American Indian archaeological site open to the public.

 

Early Log Cabins and Vernacular Buildings

Following the Louisiana Purchase – which included the Oklahoma Territory – much of the local architecture of both Native American and Anglo settlers was of log construction and replicated vernacular house models prevalent in Appalachia. The homes reflected the materials – log/timber, sod/grass, limestone rock, stone – and resources available on the frontier. They included

• Simple one-room gable-end log cabins with covered porches extending across the front

• Saddlebags – structures with two rooms, each with its own hearth and chimney and windows

• Dogtrots – homes made up of two similar-size log cabins, all under a single roof and separated by an open hall or covered breezeway.

 

Homesteaders who could not find enough timber to build their homes were very creative in their use of available materials. For example, Marshall McCully, who participated in one of the largest Land Runs in 1893 turned to sod and built a two-room house in Cleo Springs in 1894. His materials were blocks of the thick buffalo grass on the Oklahoma prairie.  McCully and his family lived in the sod house from 1894 to 1909 – after which they built a two-story frame house.

In 1963, the sod house was acquired by the Oklahoma Historical Society and in 1970 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

 

Remember, Oklahoma is not just a football town. It’s a storied architecture-rich State with amazing Art Deco homes, sprawling mansions, quaint Victorians, and towering industrial style homes that reflect its past, present, and future.

Footnote: The lead image in this article is an intriguing 2-story, 4-bedroom, 3.5-bath Contemporary style home with Prairie influences. The 4,200-sq.-ft. home includes a family room with fireplace, a home office, a kitchen with breakfast nook, and a main-floor laundry room. For more details, go to Plan #126-1311.

 

Additional Source:

Oklahoma Historical Society