Goodholm Mansion reduced to rubble
Historic home, constructed in 1901, had been moved twice to avoid destruction
The Goodholm Mansion, moved twice since it was constructed in 1901 in what is now Deep Deuce, was torn down over the weekend after sitting unoccupied for a dozen years in a field in eastern Oklahoma County.
The mansion was one of the oldest surviving homes originally built in Oklahoma City and predated construction of the Harn home at the Harn Homestead and the Overholser Mansion in Heritage Hills.
The owner, Christina Puckett, said her family tried for years to sell the home after her father, Richard Harris, bought it and moved it to Nicoma Park and died soon after.
“We sincerely regret the need to remove the Goodholm Mansion from next door to our home,” said Puckett, who continues to operate Harris House Moving. “Over the years, we have had trespassers and gawkers invade our privacy at all hours and believed the mansion to be a security threat and liability to our family.”
The home was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and was historic for both its architecture, age and original owner.
The home marked the rise of Andrew Goodholm into the ranks of city fathers who shaped the prairie town into a city.
Construction on the home began in 1899 and was completed in 1901.
The home was unique for central Oklahoma, featuring a Queen Anne Victorian styling topped with a round turret with a conical roof.
The surrounding neighborhood went into decline in the 1960s, though the mansion escaped demolition that took down other nearby homes as part of construction of Interstate 235.
Jim Fentriss was the first to save the mansion when he bought it in 1977 when it adjoined his business, Fentriss Sound. Fentriss was unaware of the destruction when he was contacted Monday.
“This is horrible news,” Fentriss said. “I’m in a state of depression. That was a treasure.”
Fentriss had two objectives when he bought the mansion. He needed the property for additional warehouse space. But he also wanted to make sure the mansion didn’t fall into disrepair as did most of the other homes in the area.
“Going into the home, it was so unique,” Fentriss said. “The chamber of commerce printed a pamphlet on nice homes where they showed it. When I went into it, the early day cast iron bathtubs were in there, the cherry-wood kitchen, the beautiful flooring was still in there. I could not bear to tear it down.”
Fentriss announced he would donate the home to anyone who would move and restore it.
Sandy Saunders, then state fair president, proposed moving the house to the fairgrounds for preservation and to illustrate an example of life in the Capitol City at the turn of the century. It was divided into several sections and lifted by crane onto trucks and carried to the fairgrounds, where it was reassembled.
An array of nonprofits and volunteers restored the home when it was moved to the fairgrounds, with efforts led by Daughters of the Revolution. People bought bricks along a landscaped path leading to the home on the east side of the fairgrounds.
The home was open for tours during the annual state fair but was never on display year-around as originally envisioned. The fair board, under new leadership, went on a spree converting the fairgrounds into an equine-oriented campus.
The monorail was shut down and dismantled. The Space Needle closed and it too was torn down. The Oklahoma City Museum of Art moved downtown. A vintage steam locomotive went to the Oklahoma Railway Museum. The B-52 plaza was dismantled.
In 2008, the Goodholm mansion was the next to go.
Richard Harris, a house mover, acquired the home. The house was taken apart again and driven to his spread near NE 23 and Westminster. Harris told reporters he was going to renovate the home, find vintage furnishings, and make it his home.
That never happened.
Harris died in 2012 with the job not completed. His widow, Elizabeth, said Monday that Harris paid $96,000 to OG&E to raise lines for the transport.
“That $96,000 is just to OG&E,” Harris said. “We had to hire security personnel 24/7, drivers of the trucks, insurance. ... We had to move the home in 2008 in seven pieces and seven different transports.”
Elizabeth Harris estimated the family spent more than $200,000 on the roof, foundation and other expenses related to the move and putting the house back together. The family also continued to carry insurance on the home to avoid an accident claim by any trespasser.
“We tried to sell it and although we had folks that had an interest, each person failed to come through,” Harris said.
In December, Harris’ daughter Christina Puckett told The Oklahoman the home was not for sale and their plans were still to complete renovations. She said Monday she was unsure it could have been moved a third time due to its condition.
Preservation architect Catherine Montgomery was among those who volunteered time to provide tours when the mansion was still at the fairgrounds.
“For me it was quite a fun experience to see people come through and bump up against history like that in a way people didn’t otherwise have a chance to do,” Montgomery said. “It was a loss to move it from the fairgrounds. It would have been safe there.”
Montgomery said not many examples of Victorian-era homes remain in Oklahoma City.
“We all know that time marches on,” Montgomery said. “Collective agendas change. But given the investment from the beginning to move it and restore it, it’s just a sad end.”