Linwood Place in the heart
Home tour reveals long-term commitments to historic neighborhood
One thing is for sure: Linwood Place can inspire lifelong loyalty.
“We get a lot of people here starting out as singles or young couples,” said resident Deborah Saunders. “But then they just fall in love with the neighborhood — the trees and the sidewalks and the parks — and they just stay here. As the family grows, they can move up.”
Chimes in neighbor Julie Storm: “And when the kids move away, they can move down again.”
Visitors can get a taste of the neighborhood’s charm during the Linwood Place Tour of Historic Homes from 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 8.
Tickets are $12 in advance at linwoodplaceokc. com; 23rd Street Antique Mall, 3023 NW 23; Plenty Mercantile, 807 N Broadway Ave. in Oklahoma City or 1466 S Bryant Ave. in Edmond; and 42nd Street Candy Co., 4200 N Western ave., Suite A. Tickets are $15 on the day of the tour at any home.
Linwood Place’s history provided an unusual layout that allows it to be home to a wide variety of residents.
When it was platted in 1909, it was designed as a quiet haven for Oklahoma City’s notable families, secluded at the end of the trolley line running northwest from downtown. The lots were large and the houses sprawling, two-story affairs.
After the Great Depression, however, the area was replatted and the remaining large lots divided to allow for smaller homes.
The result is a mix of homes large and small with styles, including Tudor Revival, Craftsman, Spanish Mission and more. The neighborhood offers both starter homes and larger home for growing families.
Julie and Van Storm moved into Linwood Place with their two daughters in 2014. They’d long wanted to live in a vintage home, and they already had family friends living in the neighborhood. When the Storms toured a nearby place, it quickly became obvious they’d found their perfect home.
“It had everything we ever wanted,” Julie Storm said. “The fact it had a downstairs master bedroom, had been renovated, had an attached garage and was on a good street.”
That home at 3132 NW 18 was built in 1911 and features some of the architectural hallmarks of the Prairie School style: horizontal lines, hipped roof with broad eaves and restrained decoration.
As with a lot of older homes, remodeling over the years had stripped away some of the vintage character, but a carefully researched renovation in 2008 brought a lot of it back.
The kitchen, for example, looks original with its whitewashed cabinets and black-and-white tiles — but it all was installed in the 2008 renovation.
“We really didn’t have to do much to the house,” Julie Storm said.
‘A hidden gem’
Over time, Oklahoma City has built up and wrapped itself around the neighborhood, which is now bordered on the north by NW 23, south by NW 16, east by Drexel Boulevard and west by Grand Boulevard/Interstate 44.
“It really is kind of a hidden gem,” Saunders said. “A lot of people don’t know about Linwood.”
The Storms have embraced the home’s heritage, as well as their own. Vintage photos adorn the entryway walls, some of Oklahoma City and others of their own family. Old recipes, most handwritten and the paper yellowing, hang framed over a sideboard in the dining room.
Julie Storm draws attention to a framed photo near the dining room, one depicting the brick arch that originally marked Linwood’s entrance with a scattering of houses beyond it. She points out their home, the second one built in the neighborhood.
“Originally it had a porch that went across the whole front that was removed when they did a huge renovation in the 1950s,” she said. “So, that’s actually the one thing we want to do — add a porch on the front.”
Tour Chairman John Milner said he spends a lot of time on his own porch, one of his favorite aspects of the Tudor Revival he bought in 2013. He enjoys the pleasant weather and the occasional chat with a neighbor strolling by. This is where it becomes obvious how close-knit a community Linwood really is.
“You can sit on your porch, and even if you’ve never met them, they’ll still wave,” he said.
Stops on the tour are:
• 3132 NW 18,
Julie Storm.
• 3126 NW 18, Dylan and Maddie Edwards.
• 3141 NW 18, Cody Barnett (hospitality house).
• 3300 NW 19, Bill and Deronda Dillon (garden).
• 3100 NW 20, Mark and Jan Collum.
• 3224 NW 21,
Robins.
Van and Dustin