Oklahoma City’s Mesta Park & Heritage Hills Neighborhoods
As a child growing up in Oklahoma City I was fond of many of the frame homes gracing the street grid North of downtown. Once I got my driver’s license I would spend hours driving around looking at all the homes that we so much more interesting than the 1960’s ranch my parents built about a year before I was born.
The home pictured at right is one of many in Oklahoma City’s “Heritage Hills” neighborhood. This hipped roof four square home is pretty common for Oklahoma City. The porch extending over the driveway to create a porte-cochere is also fairly common for the era.
It should be noted that Oklahoma City has only a handful of alleys and those are mostly confined to the downtown area. So garages were used for carriages and later for cars. The horses and dirty cars were kept out back as standard practice until after WWII when they crept toward the front all over the country. The porte-cochere was a great way to drop off passengers as well as protect the horse/car from the hot sun.
It is the one story classic bungalow that I really miss. These homes make up the bulk of Oklahoma City’s pre-war housing stock. The wide porches and overhangs help protect the walls from the hot sun.
The version actually happens to have a small second floor. This was often referred to as an “airplane bungalow.” The upstairs space, mostly just a single room, would serve as a sleeping porch to catch breezes from windows on all four sides. The houses were almost exclusively of frame construction with the porch piers of stucco, brick, stone or sometimes wood.
Just blocks away from the very ordinary bungalow above is this magnificent place, the Overholser Mansion built in 1903, four years before Oklahoma became a state. Not a bad little shack huh?
Nearby was the Skirvin family home. Bill Skirvin, was a wealthy business man and owned the finest hotel in town named, of course, the Skirvin Hotel. His daughter Perle Skirvin was born in Michigan in 1889, the year of the land run in Oklahoma. The family moved to Oklahoma in the late 19th Century and Perle lived in the area until she got married to George Mesta, they moved to the East coast.
She was only 36 when George died and in 1940 she moved to Washington D.C. and got involved in politics. In the 40s “Mesta was known as ‘the hostess with the mostest’ for her lavish parties featuring the brightest stars of Washington, D.C. society — such stars included artists, entertainers and many top-level national political figures.” In 1949 she graced the cover of Time Magazine after being named Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Harry Truman.
Her most famous quote:
“Any bitch with a million dollars and a nice dress can be a great hostess in Washington.”
Her life was the basis for Irving Berlin’s musical Call Me Madam staring Ethel Merman and the neighborhood where she was raised is known as Mesta Park. Not bad for a girl from Oklahoma.
See additional photos of homes from these two adjacent neighborhoods on Flickr.
– Steve
Steve, thanks for the tour of these OKC neighborhoods. Beautiful homes! Especially interesting to see that Pearl Mesta has a neighborhood named after her. I wasn’t aware of her Oklahoma connection until now.
You probably know this, but Pearl Mesta lived in the McCormick Apartments in Washington, DC, just off Dupont Circle – where she held lavish parties. It was built to be the most luxurious apartment building in DC. It is very grand and looks rather Parisian. The apartments were like palaces. Now the building is headquarters to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Sorry! I don’t mean to get off the OKC topic. I haven’t been to OKC and really enjoyed seeing your pictures. The houses remind me of Kansas City. Especially the airplane bungalow, which I think is a romantic house. Those wide porches with plants, wicker, porch swing, Adirondack chairs, etc., are a form of paradise. No better place to be on a summer evening.
My wife’s aunt and uncle live in a beautifully-restored house in Mesta Park on 17th Street. It was featured in an OKC magazine several years back. They bought it almost 30 years ago when the area was pretty rough and restored it gradually.
But so far I’ve only seen pictures! One day I’m hoping we’ll make it there.
[REPLY Like many cities, these big old houses fell out fashion rather then face the restoration costs as well as the costs to add A/C, modern electric and new plumbing. Still, those that did have been quite glad they did. This area, between 14th and 23rd is an easy walk to downtown Oklahoma City. – SLP]
Steve, I’ve never been to Oklahoma City, but I’m definitely interested in it now that I’ve seen these pictures. These are attractive and distinctive homes, AND they’re within walking distance of downtown? Nice!
I particularly like the airplane bungalow, and I agree with the person that said it reminded them of Kansas City architecture. (A lot of homes in KCMO have a sleeping porch as well, usually on one side of the home on the main floor.)
I’d be interested to know how much these homes command when they’re on the market, and more about how downtown Oklahoma City is doing these days. I’ve heard good things overall, but I admit to not knowing much about it since I haven’t been there.