These one-of-a-kind OKC townhomes got an incredible new look for Symphony Show House
During the 1890s, known as the Gilded Age, Oklahoma City was just a frontier town, but a set of European, Beaux-Arts-inspired townhomes paying homage to the era are set to open for a public tour.
Inspired by the work of late American architect Ogden Codman Jr. in the early 1900s, Richard R. Brown Associates President and Architect Rick Brown designed the townhomes in 2023 at 6100 NW Grand Blvd.
"They were trying to recreate what his vision was," said Joan Bryant, nonprofit spokesperson for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and OKC Orchestra League, which will host the 52nd Symphony Show House May 10-25 on the property.
The townhomes are unique to Oklahoma City.
Set near the Nichols Hills area, the development followed the blueprints of Codman's former home, which he designed for his wife, Leila Howard Griswold Webb, at 15 E. 51st St. in New York City a few years prior to their marriage in 1904, according to the Historic New England, a historic preservation organization.
Interior designers decorating the home said the home's natural lighting, carved trimmings, curved archways and focus on symmetry were a nod to Codman's elaborate style.
J. Mark Taylor, owner and licensed interior designer of Traditional Interior Design & Furnishings and Show House chair, decorated the drawing room, the entrance corridor, a bathroom and a secondary bedroom on the top floor. Taylor said the home distinguishes itself from other homes with its attention to detail, 12-foot ceilings and flow from room to room and exterior to interior.
'It invokes a feeling of grandeur,' he said. 'Everything I'm trying to do is to play on that and lift that higher.'
Listings for one of the townhomes at 6119 NW Grand Blvd., priced at $3.7 million, describe a revitalization of the Gilded Age, exhibiting a 'cosmopolitan way of life' in a prime location, complete with extravagant finishes, like three signed Baccarat chandeliers and a La Cornue range.
A 6,690-square-foot townhouse, the main Show House for the annual fundraising event benefiting the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, features a layout true to the era that inspired the property. The second floor features a side for men and a side for women, and the top floor includes a "Jack and Jill" styled floor layout with additional bedrooms for children or guests, its own kitchenette and a bonus space area.
Look at 2024 Symphony Show House: The 2024 Symphony Show House was a 1936 white-columned, Georgian mansion
Among designers included in this year's Show House are Amini's Galleria, Cory Lloyd & Co., Henry Home Interiors, Holly Flinton Design, Jenny Jarrard Interiors, William & Lauren, Kirby Home Designs, Loree Johns Interiors, Mathis Design Studio, Off the Wall Interiors by Ronette and Tin Lizzie's.
All items selected inside the home will come with a price tag, said Bryant, who added the event not only gives local designers a chance to display their work but also to sell items used for interior designs. Prices of these items can range from very little to a lot, she added.
Cassie Pastor with Oklahoma City Philharmonic said the Show House highlights the architectural features of the property every year, such as the hand-welded staircase in the Grand Boulevard townhomes.
"We really are just highlighting this particular home's story," she said. "We want to focus on the history of the home, why it's special, what are the designers going to bring in to give it new life? What is that going to be like? That's how we approach it."
Codman believed every house decoration should be seen as "a vital part of architectural expression, as part of the architectural order of the house itself," he argued in the book he co-wrote with Edith Wharton, "The Decoration of Houses," published in 1897, according to Historic New England.
The architect designed the interiors of the Kykuit, also known as the John D. Rockefeller Estate, in 1909, according to the Rockefeller Brother Fund. His style included adding English furnishings, Chinese and European ceramics, and portraits of family and of American presidents, the philanthropic organization states.
True to Codman's work, Taylor filled the first-floor room with fine China, porcelain, reimagined antique furniture and gilded pieces. He placed furniture carefully, keeping with the home's symmetry.
Among the most important elements he kept in mind during the process was distributing the green, gold and pastel color palette evenly throughout the room.
On the third floor, where Taylor designed Guest Room B, one of three rooms on the highest level of the townhomes, he honed his design from below, adding more feminine, bright colors, such as a pink accent wall.
"Here, I just wanted happy color," he said.
Les Beaux-Arts, French for the beautiful arts, stands out from other European-style homes, according to experts. It's high-style, classical, clean cut, sophistication and formality set it apart from other architecture, which usually portrays countryside or Tuscan-styled designs, according to Keven Carl, owner of Mister Robert and her designer, Cassidy Brunsteter, both of whom have degrees in interior design and are licensed practicing interior designers.
It was during their college education where they learned of Codman's work.
"We learn a lot of those things that you would have missed, otherwise," Carl said. "We learned a lot of his elements, then."
Tasked with decorating the hallway leading to the master suite, the primary bedroom, bathroom and sitting room, the Mister Robert designers wanted to capture the home's French feel. They hung artwork capturing foreign countries, like a portrait of a French flower market and a painting of a European street.
Inside the sitting room, commonly used as an intimate space for women in the early 1900s, Carl and Brunsteter depicted a modern Parisian interior with touches of century-old pieces. On a living room table, a "Paris Chic" design book laid atop of a small pile. Sheer curtains with canvas leaves draped over the home's large windows left natural lighting in the room, true to Codman's work.
In the corner of the room, an antique secretary desk revealed a small writing table. Brunsteter chose the antique furniture piece to celebrate the period when the original home was built. "To me, that just came to mind, immediately, because when you think of movies or shows set in that era, I feel like you imagine women perched on a little seat, you know, in extravagant dresses and everything," she said. "It certainly was a time women wrote letters."
Mister Robert, a family-owned interior design company based in Norman, has been working with the nonprofit for around 30 years.
"I grew up in the business," Carl said, adding that she seldomly designed homes with the kind of architecture in the NW Grand Boulevard townhome.
Brunsteter added that the owners of the home praised them for keeping true to the original blueprint, despite the lack of privacy given to the primary bedroom, which has no doors. Future owners, she said, might want to switch the functions of the sitting room and the primary bedroom.
"It's sort of left to interpretation," she said.
At the other end of the property, at 6099 NW Grand Boulevard, developers modernized the layout of the rooms inside one of the properties also included in this year's Symphony Show House event.
Inside, Kari López, of LOREC Ranch, filled the rooms with the Edmond-based company's Western-styled interiors. She highlighted the gilding and views of the home. Touches of gold and white hues pop out in her selected decor and furniture to signal Codman's influence.
"We call this 'The Sanctuary of Opulence and Comfort,' because we feel the third floor ― it's such a luxurious residence and it just reflects an area for relaxation and reading," she said.
Like Codman, López — a physician by trade — lived in Europe, falling in love with its architecture, cuisine and museums. Originally from Wisconsin, she learned about Oklahoma's history while teaching as a professor at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva.
"I learned a lot about Oklahoma, you know, the tip of a hat, the look in the eye, the shake of a hand — that cowboy spirit," she said.
As she does with so many of her clients' homes, she added pieces to the townhomes to bring that history to life inside the Beaux-Arts-inspired homes.
For around the last seven years, López has participated in the Symphony Show House events, not only to showcase the work of LOREC Ranch, the company that designed Reba McEntire's restaurant in Atoka, but also to help student organizations, like the OKC Orchestra League.
"My true love and passion is the ability to fund educational programs for the students of music and giving the opportunity to understand the symphony and go to programs in the summer," she said.
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 10-25
Where: 6119 NW Grand Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73118
Tickets: https://www.okcphil.org/symphony-show-house/
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 52nd Symphony Show House will be held at these unique OKC townhomes
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