Modernism is ‘In’ Home tour to highlight OKC event
Sometimes there’s a note in the mailbox. Sometimes there’s a person on the doorstep. “We’ve had several architects, especially from California, who happen to be in town,” Tammy Switzer said.” And they’ll knock on the door and say, ‘I’ve always wanted to see inside this house. Can I come in and take a look?’ “
They’re rarely turned away. That’s one thing Tammy and Kent Switzer quickly learned after buying the Cunningham House three years ago: It comes with its own devoted fan base.
Finished in 1964, the home at 3309 Quail Creek Road in Quail Creek is among the stops on a home tour highlighting the second annual Oklahoma Modernism Weekend, June 9-11. The Okie Mod Squad has packed the weekend with activities including a Flashback Fashion Show, Mod Swap and Mod Shop and more at the perfectly space-age First Christian Church, 301 NW 36.
The home tour is from noon to 5 p.m. June 11, with a bus taking patrons from house to house. Tour tickets are $50 and available through the event’s website, okcmod.com/ events.
The architectural pedigree behind the Cunningham House may draw a lot of fans on its own. It was designed by Herb Greene, whose work is regularly featured and dissected in architectural textbooks. He studied at the University of Oklahoma under Bruce Goff, one of the few architects Frank Lloyd Wright deemed “artistic,” or so claimed a 1951 Life Magazine article.
It was built for Oklahoma City
orthodontist Earl Cunningham and his wife, Martha, who ran a bookshop. A bookcase running the entire length of the second-story hallway remains as a legacy of Martha Cunningham’s work.
She also loved to entertain. In a garage-turned-den, with its wood paneling and pocket of a courtyard beyond, Tammy Switzer pulls open a door in the corner. “There’s a bar on every level,” she pointed out.
As if this home needs another point in the coolness column.
The Okie Mod Squad members are united in their love for midcentury design and architecture, a love they share with the public through events like Modernism Weekend. The style reached its zenith in the years after World War II, said co-founder Lynne Rostochil, as the country began to throw off the pall of the war and Depression.
“So there was the enthusiasm and the exuberance, embracing new materials that had been developed during the war, incorporating them into other things like architecture and furniture and things like that. It was a very energetic time,” she said.
They don’t just celebrate the architecture, though. They try to save it. The demolition of structures such as Stage Center downtown and the Goffdesigned Bavinger House near Norman may help underline the importance of their efforts.
“We don’t want to look like every other city,” Rostochil said. “We don’t want to be so homogenized that you can’t differentiate Oklahoma City from Tulsa, from Dallas. It’s important.”
The home tour stops are:
•Papahronis House, 201 NW 35, architect John Bozalis, built 1954. Current owner Matt Goad. Situated in Edgemere Park, this well-preserved home features large windows overlooking the backyard, the original kitchen and bathrooms, and a giant flagstone fireplace in the living room.
•Morey House, 5413 Stonewall
Drive, architect unknown, built 1957. Current owners Matt and Cara Greenhaw. This flagstone home in the Wildewood addition takes full advantage of its hillside site with a light-filled, split-level plan. •Morgan House, 829 NW 7, designed by Brian Fitzsimmons and Mike Morgan, built 2016. Current owners Mike and Lea Morgan. Mike Morgan stepped into dual roles of design collaborator and general contractor to create this home. It sits on an elevated corner of the SOSA (South of St. Anthony) neighborhood. Corten steel, wood and brick mix to create a warm, almost cabinlike modern home.
•Gray House, 3704 Quapah Circle,
architect Thomas Goto, built 1964. Goto incorporated many elements of modern Hawaiian residential design in this home, including a low-slung, U-shaped plan surrounding an intimate, central courtyard. The Grays loved to entertain and had a tall buffet built in the dining room with carved tropical flowers that further accentuated the home’s Hawaiian style.
•High House, 2716 Pembroke
Terrace, designed by Norman Berlowitz, built 1958. Current owner Monty Milburn. Nestled in Nichols Hills surrounded by much more traditional homes,
this two-owner ranch provides all kinds of indoor-outdoor living opportunities with a private front courtyard and a lush backyard pool area. Inside, the home is nearly all original and features open-plan common areas offset by a huge twosided fireplace overlooking the backyard.
•Cunningham House, 3309 Quail
Creek Road, designed by Herb Greene. Current owners Kent and Tammy Switzer. This home exemplifies midcentury modern residential architecture. In the common areas, curved walls lead to a swooping, wood-planked ceiling that hovers over giant windows running along the back, offering a panoramic view of the golf course beyond.
•Krogstad House, 3209 Robin Ridge Road, designed by Robert F. Reed, addition by Ken Fitzsimmons of TASK Design, built 1964, addition in 2016). This Quail Creek home features repeating rock pillars inside and out, vaulted beamed ceilings, and angled windows. A master suite addition complements the original architecture.