DOWNTOWN REDEMPTION
Accounting firm set to bring life to historic church in Midtown
The last empty, endangered historic church downtown is set to be redeveloped into offices and a residence following its recent sale to a local accounting firm.
Travis W. Watkins Tax Resolution and Accounting, currently located in northwest Oklahoma City, purchased the First Church of Christ, Scientist at 1200 N Robinson Ave. The nearly 100-year-old church, built in phases between 1914 and 1918 and dedicated in 1920, has stood empty for 40 years passing through a string of owners, most with no real plans to bring it back to life.
Firm founder Travis Watkins was already looking at a fast start to renovating the building when storms blew the roof off his previous location at NW 58 and May Avenue a couple of weeks ago. With a $600,000 closing on the church set for last week, broker Derek James with Price Edwards quickly arranged for temporary
space for Watkins until the first phase of renovations are completed.
“I grew up going to First Baptist Church across the street,” Watkins said. “We would walk out the exit facing east and this was always such a magnificent building. I saw it coming into receivership and we were outgrowing our building pretty rapidly.”
'The wait is over'
Plans being drawn up by architect Brian Fitzsimmons include renovating the first floor into offices with an entrance facing east toward Broadway. Due to the storm damage that dislocated the firm, Watkins is wanting to start the first phase of first floor renovations and exterior repairs as soon as possible with completion by next spring.
“The wait is over,” Watkins said. “The plan is to get this thing moving and us over there. We are cramped here (at the temporary offices).”
The property, which went into receivership last year, includes a 24-space parking lot, deemed enough for the firm of 15 employees.
The only other downtown church deemed to be danger in recent years, Calvary Baptist Church in Deep Deuce, was restored a few years ago by Dan Davis who made the building home to his law firm. Watkins said he observed that award-winning restoration and it, along with the city locating streetcar tracks next to the Church of Christ, Scientist, convinced him the landmark was ideal for his growing accounting firm.
“This was an alignment of the stars,” Watkins said. “We want to be a part of the downtown and Midtown scene, especially with the streetcar going south.”
The continued existence of the church is owed to a nonprofit, the Oklahoma City Foundation for Architecture, which bought the building in 1999 with the intent of raising money to restore it and make it the home to an array of civic, design and graphic arts organizations.
Architect Anthony McDermid, who led that effort until it was sold to a speculator in 2007, said the campaign did not succeed in raising money but did ensure it would survive the next decade until it could draw another dedicated buyer.
“It’s a bittersweet story. We originally intended to restore it ourselves,” McDermid said. “We never could raise enough money to do it. Our second line of defense was to put a roof on it. We termite treated it. We did everything within our power to stabilize it and prevent any further deterioration. Most importantly, we put a covenant on it for 30 years so it couldn’t be torn down.”
In the interim years, multiple developers looked at the property, but withdrew from buying it when told it could not be torn down.
Old Church Row
The design of the church is unique. A 1,000-squarefoot foyer and 4,000 square feet of open space that once held church classrooms are on the ground floor. The location of the foyer and the raised sanctuary makes the classroom area feel like a basement. The remnants of a balcony and a tall cupolaed ceiling with a stained-glass skylight are above the 5,000-squarefoot sanctuary that will likely be turned into a residence during a later phase of renovations.
McDermid said he visited with surviving parishioners of the church when it was owned by the foundation and it was then that he learned of its history, including that it was led by some of the city’s most prominent families of the time.
“It’s a magnificent building and it’s in fantastic structural shape,” McDermid said. “Look at the building today and it doesn’t have a crack in it. It was built really well.”
Cayla Lewis, president of Preservation Oklahoma, noted the church is surrounded by restored historic buildings that include several churches that anchored the city’s original “church row.”
“It’s exciting to hear that life is being given back to this property on Old Church Row,” Lewis said. “That area features so many historic properties and as Midtown continues to grow, preserving these buildings should be a priority.”