John Duncan Forsyth Residence, 1937

2927 South Birmingham Place


This house was designed by John Duncan Forsyth in a Streamline Art Deco style. It is a two-story, flat roofed house containing a massing of plain, unbroken surfaces in horizontal bands. A low concrete landscaping wall across the front of the property seems to extend, as an integral part of the house, from the garage and from the south wing. Painted white with teal blue detailing, the main block of the house rises like a ship’s deck from the landscape with one curved wall inset with a corner glass block window. The front projecting garage wall adjoins the recessed entry canopy. This strong horizontal feature is repeated on the second level by a cantilevered canopy over the deck.


John Duncan Forsyth was born in 1886 in Florence, Italy. He received his training at Edinburgh College, Scotland, and at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France. He practiced in Tulsa and the surrounding areas from 1925 until his death in 1963.

Forsyth designed several homes in Tulsa including his own residence at 29th and Birmingham. In addition, he designed Southern Hills Country Club (1936 with D. McCormick) at the corner of 61st and Lewis, All Souls Unitarian Church (1957) at the corner of 30th and Peoria and Daniel Webster High School (1938 with W. Wolaver and R. Kerr) at 1919 West 40th. He is perhaps best known as the designer of the Marland Mansion in Ponca City (1926) and the Will Rogers Memorial in Claremore (1938).

Tulsa Historical Society

The Tulsa Historical Society is located at 2445 South Peoria Avenue in the former Samuel Travis mansion. Admission is free and the exhibits are excellent. Go there and see for yourself.


Brothers David and Samuel Travis constructed complementary mansions on South Peoria in 1919. The Travis brothers, who had made their fortunes as independent oil producers, hired Noble Flemming to design their residences in what was then considered far south Tulsa. Flemming executed two designs in Revival style, set at the crest of a broad lawn rising to the east from Peoria. The two homes instantly became Tulsa landmarks.


In addition to housing the Garden Center and the Historical Society these beautiful mansions are available for weddings and receptions.


In the front garden of the mansion are life sized sculptures of the Five Moons. The Five Moons are five Native American ballerinas from the state of Oklahoma, who achieved international prominence during 20th century. They are Yvonne Chouteau, Rosella Hightower, Moscelyne Larkin, and sisters Maria Tallchief and Marjorie Tallchief. Five Moons is also the name of a bronze sculpture installation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, depicting the five ballerinas. A good Wikipedia article is HERE.


Currently on exhibit is a retrospective of Oklahoma's 24 governors and their first ladies.


Dresses worn by some of the first ladies are on display.


The state seal of Oklahoma is worked into the waist band of the gown worn by Mrs Keating.


A boot with the state seal and other mementos belonging to Robert S. Kerr who went on the the US senate after he was governor.


A display of artifacts of the Warren G. Skelly Oil Company. Tulsa boasted of being the Oil Capital of the World and Skelly was one of the leading oil men in the early 1900s.


On display are service uniforms and gasoline pumps.


A variety of fishing reels made by Tulsa company Zebco.


A photograph of Tulsa Seidenbach's Department Store. From 1927 to 1963 Seidenbach's was an elegant store at 415 South Main.


A few of the high fashion clothing from Seidenbach's.


With stylish hats to match.


On display are some photographs of native Americans who were in Oklahoma in the late 1800's and early 1900's.


Apache Chief Geronimo driving a 1905 Buick during his confinement at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Three Tribes Indian Memorial, 1935

Owen Park, Maybelle Avenue and Edison Street

In 1935 the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a monument marking the intersection of tribal lands of the Cherokee, Creek, and Osage nations. Initially located at the intersection of West Edison and North Elwood, construction of the inner dispersal loop required this to be relocated to nearby Owen Park.

The inscription on this monument, reads:

On June 2, 1825, the Osage Nation, under treaty with
the United States, granted certain lands to the Government
for the use and benefit of the Cherokee and Creek tribes
who were being removed from the Southern States. This
monument is to commemorate that treaty and to mark that
spot where lands of the three great nations joined.

The Brook Theater/Restaurant

3307 South Peoria Ave - The Brook Theater in the 1950's


The same view today


The grand opening of the Brook Theater in 1945 as reported in the Tulsa World.


The Brook Restaurant and Bar

The Brook Theater, located in the Brookside District was designed by William Henry Cameron Calderwood in the Streamline style of Art Deco architecture and opened in 1945. It was a 600 seat movie theater famous for its "Saturday afternoon matinees" and the longest run of the movie "South Pacific" in a single theater in Oklahoma—over one year! Since that time, it served as the home of the American Theater Company for about 15 years and then was transformed into The Brook Restaurant and Bar which operates today. One of the mementos of its history as a movie house is an enormous projector just inside the door.

Fleeger Residence, 1937

2424 East 29th Street


This residence was designed by Frederick V. Kershner. As the first monolithic concrete house in Tulsa, this Streamline style residence has walls of reinforced poured concrete, 12-14 inches thick, which were engineered by the Portland Cement Company. The exterior is striated with narrow horizontal bands and the wings are composed of intersecting rectangular blocks. The house is situated on an uneven lot, massed to the highest point above the entry, with banded, flat roof levels stepped down like a series of stairs to the garage. The front location of the garage was very unusual for its time.

Riverside Studio aka Spotlight Theatre, 1929

1381 Riverside Drive


Built in 1929 as the Riverside Theater, since 1953 as the Spotlight Theater and home of The Drunkard melodrama and Olio of amateur talent. Link HERE

Patti Adams Shriner was a musician and teacher who received her training in the United States and Europe. She was also a scholarship pupil of the world renowned Maurice Moszkowski. Like her fellow artist (and designer of the Boston Avenue Church), Adah Robinson, Patti decided to build a residence to reflect her profession. The result was a combination studio and recital hall for her music students. Like Robinson, Patti selected Bruce Goff to be her architect. The Riverside Studio, as it was called, was built at 1381 Riverside Drive on a magnificent site overlooking the Arkansas River. The Art Deco structure is similar to the Robinson studio in both plan and material. The high ceiling lobby is reminiscent of the living room studio in the Robinson home. The stage acts as a link between the studio and residence, and the kitchen and dining facilities served both residential and studio functions.

The front elevation is dominated by an enormous round window patterned with sand-blasted designs. On each side of this window there are smaller rectangular windows connected by black glass inserts to form a diagonal pattern. It has been suggested that these windows resemble the black keys on a piano keyboard.

Eventually, Patti Adams Shriner was forced to give up her studio in 1933 and various lending institutions maintained possession until 1941 when Richard Mansfield Dickinson, a former New York City actor, purchased the property. He used the building as a residence and speech-drama studio. In 1953, Dickinson and a small group of performers known as the Tulsa Spotlighters, gave their first performance of a melodrama called "The Drunkard". Since that performance, the troup has performed the melodrama and Olio each Saturday night in what is now known as "The Spotlight Theater". The Drunkard and Olio has been a Tulsa fixture for quite a long time. In 1969 I was part of a Barbersop Quartet that sang on the Olio. We were the Sooner Statesmen.

Washington Irving Monument, 1915

Intersection of West Easton St. and Vancouver Ave near Owen Park


In 1832 a group of U.S. Rangers with civilian observers came through this area. Among them was Washington Irving, perhaps the best known American author of the time. On October 14, the party was traveling to their camp destination at the convergence of the Cimarron and Arkansas Rivers. Pausing briefly at a lookout point, Irving enjoyed the panorama from the hilltop in the Owen Park neighborhood. The descriptions of the view can be found in his book, Tour of the Prairies. A monument to this event stands at the corner of Easton Boulevard and Vancouver Avenue. This monument was erected and donated to the public by Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel Norman Wright in 1915.

The Oldest House in Tulsa, 1885

Located in Owen Park, Maybelle and Edison

This simple rectangular plan, side-gabled house is of the National Folk style predominant during the late nineteenth century. A centered entry door is flanked by two single-frame windows and covered by a colonnaded, open porch with a shed roof.


Originally located on the 400 block of North Cheyenne Avenue, this was the parsonage home of Reverend Sylvester Morris, a Methodist missionary, who founded many churches in and around Tulsa, including St. Paul's Methodist on Cherry Street.


The house was moved to the present location in 1976 after intruders set fire to it. The fire brought the house to the attention of historian Beryl D. Ford, who found within its plaster walls letters to Morris dated in 1895 and a photograph of the house. Reverend Morris, a Methodist minister, was reportedly shot and killed by lawmen who had mistaken him for a whiskey peddler. His horses continued on home, bearing his body in the carriage.


Although 1885 may not seem that old to some, it pre-dates the first Land Rush of 1889 when the first of the Unassigned Lands were available for settlement. The land run started at high noon on April 22, 1889, with an estimated 50,000 people lined up for their piece of the available two million acres (8,000 km²). Initially known as Indian Territory, Oklahoma only became a state in 1907.

Tulsa Garden Center/Donald Travis Mansion, 1920

2435 South Peoria Ave.

The Italian style villa was designed by Tulsa architect, Noble B. Flemming in 1920. It has twenty-one rooms and ten bathrooms. It was built by David R. Travis (originally known as David Rabinowitz) an immigrant originally from Czarist Russia. The ballroom in the lower level was the location of the first Jewish services during the Travis residence since there was no synagogue or temple in Tulsa.

Samuel Travis built the house immediately south, which is now owned by the Tulsa Historical Society. In 1923 J. Harthur Hull purchased the home and built the Lord Burnham greenhouse and sunken garden. During the Depression the house and 10 acres was offered for sale for $25,000 with no buyer coming forward for several years.

The Snedden family finally purchased the mansion and property in 1934 and lived there until 1950, when oil man W.G. Skelly purchased the home. Mr. Skelly sold it in 1954 for $85,000 including ten acres to the City of Tulsa. Since then, the Tulsa Garden Center has operated the city-owned facility providing educational resources and meeting places for horticultural and environmental organizations.

Woodward Park with its beautiful Azalea Gardens, the multilevel Municipal Rose Garden, and the Tulsa Garden Center are all located on this 10 acre plot. This is a municipal treasure.

I love the round room with windows on the south side.

Parking in in the rear which has become the main entrance.

The greenhouse and sunken garden give the back garden a victorian look. Sometimes orchids are displayed inside.

Lamp tables built into the north wall of the library. Click to enlarge detail. This is all hand work.

A small library on the east next to the great hall. Notice the old gas stove in the fireplace. it has been "modernized".

The great hall on the south end. These are the curved windows seen yesterday from the outside.

The dining room on the north end.

The grand staircase rises to the second floor from the east side of the entry hall.

The entry hall looking south to the great hall. The front doors are on the right. It is possible to rent the entry and hall for receptions and weddings. The Garden Center in the spring and summer is a beautiful place for a wedding.

The entry hall looking north to the dining room. The front doors are on the left.

Creek Council Oak Tree, Prior to 1836

1750 South Cheyenne Ave.

The Creek Council Tree, a mature burr oak, marks the traditional "busk ground" chosen in 1836 by the Tulsa-Lochapoka clan of Creek Indians. They built a fire here and scattered the ashes brought from their last campfire in Alabama. In late 1834, they had begun their involuntary migration from Alabama under the control of the U.S. Government. It was a slow and painful trek; of the original group of 630, 161 died in route.

Their 1836 arrival was marked with a solemn and traditional ceremony. A "busk" site was chosen on a low hill overlooking the Arkansas River. Here, according to their traditions, they deposited ashes brought over the trail from their last fires in Alabama. The Tulsa-Lochapoka, a political division of the Creek Nation, established their "town." As late as 1896, the Lochapoka gathered here for ceremonies, feasts, and games.

The site was probably not used by the Indians after about 1900. Gradually it became a solid residential area for the growing city of Tulsa. The Creek Council Tree itself, however, survived. The oak, standing in its small, well-landscaped city park, serves as a meaningful memorial to the proud Indian tribe that brought law and order to a new homeland 173 years ago. I know of nothing in Tulsa history that is any older than this.

The Creek Council Tree was listed in the National Register on September 29, 1976. It was listed under National Register Criteria A, and its NRIS number is 76001576.


This historic old tree has its own little corner park.


Acorns from a Burr Oak tree. These are the largest acorns of any oak tree.