Overholser Mansion facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Henry Overholser Mansion
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 Location in Oklahoma
Location in the United States
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| Location | 405 NW 15th St., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
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| Area | 1.1 acres |
| Built | 1903 |
| Architect | W. S. Matthews |
| Architectural style | Châteauesque |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000536 |
| Added to NRHP | 1970 |
The Overholser Mansion is a beautiful historic house museum in Oklahoma City. It was built in 1903 in the Heritage Hills neighborhood. This grand home offers a peek into the past, showing how a very important family lived over a hundred years ago.
Contents
The Mansion's Story
The Overholser Mansion was built by Henry Overholser and his wife, Anna Ione Murphy Overholser. Many people call Henry Overholser the "father of Oklahoma City." He helped start and grow the city. This mansion was the first really big, fancy house in Oklahoma City.
Henry bought the land for his home in 1901. When the mansion was finished in 1903, it was far from the city center. It was surrounded by open farmland. Henry Overholser passed away in 1915.
The Overholsers' daughter, Henry Ione, was born in 1905. She married David Perry in 1926. They lived in the mansion with her mother until Mrs. Overholser's death in 1940. Henry Ione became the owner in 1937.
After Henry Ione passed away in 1959, her husband David Perry sold the mansion. It was bought by the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and Historical Preservation Inc. In 1970, the mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a very important historic site.
Later, the mansion was given to the State of Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Historical Society took care of it for many years. Since 2003, Preservation Oklahoma has managed the site. The Overholser Mansion was carefully restored in 2015. Today, you can visit it and take tours to see what life was like long ago!
Some local stories say that Anna Ione Murphy Overholser's ghost still lives in the mansion. It's a fun part of the mansion's history!
Mansion Design and Style
The Overholser Mansion is huge, covering 11,700 square feet! It was designed by W. S. Matthews, an architect trained in London. The house cost $38,000 to build, which was a lot of money back then.
The mansion is built in a style called Châteauesque. This means it looks a bit like a French castle or a grand country home. The outside walls are made of light brown brick and red sandstone.
Special Features of the Mansion
- Entrance for Carriages: On the south side, there's a special covered entrance called a porte-cochère. This allowed horse-drawn carriages to drop off people right at the door, protecting them from the weather.
- Tall Tower: At the southeast corner, there's a three-story tower. It has eight sides and a pointed roof with a fancy decoration on top.
- Beautiful Interiors: Inside, the walls and ceilings were painted by hand. The lights came all the way from Italy.
- Original Details: Many of the original French stained-glass windows are still there. The floors have original English carpets. The beautiful wooden details were made in Belgium.
The Carriage House
Next to the mansion, there's a 4,000 square-foot carriage house. It was built at the same time as the mansion. It also uses the same light brown brick. It has a square shape with a pyramid roof. There are special window structures called dormers on all four sides. A small, decorative tower called a cupola sits on top of the roof.
Originally, the first floor of the carriage house was used for horse stables. The second floor was a hayloft for storing hay. Later, the first floor became a garage for cars. The second floor was turned into living spaces for servants. Today, the carriage house is used for offices and special events.
Exploring the Mansion's Layout
Let's take a quick tour through the different floors of the Overholser Mansion!
Mansion Floors
Basement
You can get to the basement from under the back staircase. This staircase is near the kitchen.
First Floor
The first floor has two main entrances. One faces east towards N Hudson Avenue, and the other faces south towards NW 15th Street. An L-shaped hallway connects these two entrances.
- Main Staircase: The main staircase is at the east entrance. It leads up to the second floor.
- Drawing Room: Across the hall from the main staircase is the drawing room. This was a formal living area.
- Music Room: Connected to the drawing room is the music room.
- Library: Across the hall from the music room is the library, a quiet place for books.
- Back Staircase: Where the L-shaped hallway bends, you'll find the back staircase. This leads to the second and third floors.
- Dining Room: The dining room is east of the library, across the hallway.
- Kitchen Area: North of the dining room is the butler's pantry, which leads into the kitchen. There's a back entrance from the kitchen that leads outside. The kitchen also connects to the main hallways.
Second Floor
You can reach the second floor using either the main staircase or the back staircase.
- Main Staircase Landing: The main staircase leads to two landings and a large hall. The bigger landing has a small sitting area inside the tower.
- Stained Glass Windows: At the top of the main staircase, there are two large stained glass windows. They show Greek women playing musical instruments.
- Bedrooms: The Monroney Bedroom is to the north. It connects to a bathroom, which then leads to the Overholser Bedroom. Across the hall from the main bedroom is the Perry Bedroom. This room was updated in the 1950s.
- Sitting Room: The Perry Bedroom connects to another bathroom, which leads to the second-floor sitting room. This sitting room can also be reached from a small hallway near the back stairs.
- Sewing Room and Nursery: North of the sitting room is a small sewing room. This room leads into the nursery, which also connects to the small back hallway.
Third Floor
The third floor can only be reached by the back staircase.
- Ballroom: The stairs lead into a large ballroom. There are also cozy nooks under three dormer windows.
- Tower Room: To the east, there's another room with access to a dormer nook and a hallway to a room in the tower. This tower room has old furniture and items on display.
- Maid's Room: In the northeast part of the ballroom, there's a large maid's room with its own bathroom and three more dormer nooks.
- Storage: All along the outside walls of the third floor, you'll find many closets and storage rooms.
Gallery
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Music room
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Library
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Dining room
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Main staircase landing
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Main staircase landing and stained glass
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Monroney Bedroom
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Back staircase
See also
