Oklahoma City Carriage House Demolished
By Margaret Foster | From Online Only | Jan. 31, 2007
The 1905 carriage house "had a lot of problems," says owner
Danna Humphreys.
Credit: Oklahoma City Historic Preservation Commission
In Oklahoma City last month, a former mayor demolished a 1905 carriage house in the city's first historic district, upsetting some residents. The Tudor-style building and adjacent 1907 mansion, which former mayor Kirk Humphreys and his wife, Danna, bought in 2005, was located in the Heritage Hills Preservation District, designated in 1967.
"Too many people in our part of the country do not view historic preservation as important," Jane Holcombe, one of the city's 11 historic preservation commissioners, said in an e-mail. "Oklahoma City has a small number of historic carriage houses in existence today."
The Humphreys applied for a demolition permit in 2005, but the city's historic preservation commission denied their request. After the Humphreys appealed, however, the city's board of adjustment ruled in their favor in Feb. 1, 2006, According to the city's meeting minutes, the board came to its decision for two reasons: "Due to post 1955 renovations/additions, the carriage house has lost its historical significance and it is therefore noncontributing to the historic district" and that "the structure poses an imminent threat to public health or safety."
"I know people in the neighborhood were sad about it, but it was totally unsound at the foundation," says Danna Humphreys. "After having a couple architects and engineers look at it, they all agreed it had to go. We hated to do it, but it wasn't built to last more than 100 years."
The carriage house was dismantled in four days in December, according to neighbors. The Humphreys, who are repointing the exterior masonry of their century-old home, are constructing a new garage on the site that resembles the old building.
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