# Civic Matters > Ask Anything About OKC >  Nichols Hills mansions

## icecold

I was driving through Nichols Hills the other day and drove by a couple of estates.  I have seen them before but now curious enough to ask.  There are two mansions on Kenilworth and Nichols.  Anyone know who owns these?  The houses are huge and both have so much acerage.  Impressive.

(Hopefully this google map link works)

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

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## OKCTalker

http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assess...aultSearch.asp

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## Pete

The huge house on the SE corner of Nichols & Kenilworth is the former Oklahoma Museum of Art, also known as the Buttram Mansion.  It was sold (I believe to a doctor) when it moved to it's new location near the civic center and was renamed the Oklahoma City Art Museum.  It is a private residence but I know the owners host lots of fundraising events there.

The big house immediately east of there is owned by Bill Cameron, the Chairman/CEO of American Fidelity.

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## icecold

Thanks Pete.  Both those places are massive and very hidden.

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## okyeah

What about the huge white house on the corner of penn and grand blvd(iirc)? It has a fence around it

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## OKCTalker

Kuykendall.

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## OKCTalker

Oops - my bad. Kuykendall is at the SE/C of Penn & WILSHIRE. The "house" at SW/C of Penn & GRAND is the Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club. Nobody lives there except for gophers and a frustrated greenskeeper.

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## skyrick

I don't live in a mansion, by any stretch of the imagination, but if a stranger were to ask a third party, 'who lives in that (my) house?' I'd be a wee bit creeped out.

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## MikeOKC

> I don't live in a mansion, by any stretch of the imagination, but if a stranger were to ask a third party, 'who lives in that (my) house?' I'd be a wee bit creeped out.


Poor people. Hard life. Having to deal with commeners and their silly curiosities about their palatial housing quarters.

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## Thunder

> I don't live in a mansion, by any stretch of the imagination, but if a stranger were to ask a third party, 'who lives in that (my) house?' I'd be a wee bit creeped out.


Nah, you wouldn't be creeped out.  Most mansions are owned by celebrities.  Nothing wrong with knowing common info.

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## Pete

Conspicuous consumption makes you conspicuous.

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## reverend

The bourgeoisie live in those mansions. Now get back to work.

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## skyrick

> Poor people. Hard life. Having to deal with commeners and their silly curiosities about their palatial housing quarters.


Yeah, you didn't read my post. Palatial? Sure, for $150,000 you too can live in a palace like mine.

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## MikeOKC

> Yeah, you didn't read my post. Palatial? Sure, for $150,000 you too can live in a palace like mine.


That wasn't directed toward you, skyrick. I meant the people living in those houses that you felt would be creeped out. If you go back and read it you'll see the sarcasm toward them. Not you - at all. Sorry for the confusion.

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## betts

> The huge house on the SE corner of Nichols & Kenilworth is the former Oklahoma Museum of Art, also known as the Buttram Mansion.  It was sold (I believe to a doctor) when it moved to it's new location near the civic center and was renamed the Oklahoma City Art Museum.  It is a private residence but I know the owners host lots of fundraising events there.
> 
> The big house immediately east of there is owned by Bill Cameron, the Chairman/CEO of American Fidelity.


And Harold Hamm lives on the west side of Avondale there.

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## skyrick

> That wasn't directed toward you, skyrick. I meant the people living in those houses that you felt would be creeped out. If you go back and read it you'll see the sarcasm toward them. Not you - at all. Sorry for the confusion.


OK, sorry for the mis-interpretation. 

But I was referring to the creepiness factor I would feel if someone were inquiring about my humble abode in that way.

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## kevinpate

nothing creepy about being curious as you drive by.  now, if they come home and you're in the living room, or peering in through the little window from the back patio ... yeah, then you'd be major creepy.

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## bombermwc

It's just public info....it's all on the assesor's website. If you're nosey enough, you can find out all kinds of things.

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## RadicalModerate

Words of advice:

When driving through Nichols Hills--"sightseeing"/"casing the joint"--be sure not to drive over 25 mph.  They have a zero-tolerance policy on speeders.

When proceeding south on Penn, in a "truck", and you encounter those signs by the side of the road that say: *"No Passing No Trucks"* it is probably best just to keep on proceeding south, hoping you don't encounter a police car, rather than trying to back up all the way to Britton Road so you can comply with community roadway use standards.  This is especially true if you are driving a semi-trailer rig.

On the other hand, if you interpret the *"No Passing No Trucks"* signs in a slightly different way, you might want to think twice about passing the pickup in front of you even if it is only going 15 mph.

Did they ever repeal that ordinance about no pickup trucks visibly parked in driveways overnight?
If not, that could be another item of concern.
For both burglars and "sightseers".

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## boscorama

I enjoy an occasional drive through Nichols Hills, in transit from point A to B. The speed limit enables one to smell the roses, while not having to dodge vehicles parked on the side of the road, or worse. Nice to see monster SUVs not dwarfing the housing structures.

Nice job, NH.

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## sooner88

It also depends if you are a NH resident or not.  They tend to turn a blind eye if you have car with registered NH plates.

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## OKCTalker

> It also depends if you are a NH resident or not.  They tend to turn a blind eye if you have car with registered NH plates.


Exactly what are "registered NH plates?"

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## RadicalModerate

The ones with the little sticker featuring the Monopoly Man with his nose upturned in a snooty manner like that of the New Yorker Magazine icon. (Or else with plates from New Hampshire).

Stopping to smell the roses in Nichols Hills will result in both a traffic and trespassing citation.
Especially if you are driving a truck.

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## ctchandler

For almost the last ten years of my employment I drove to and from work on Wilshire from Air Depot to May, then Grand around Hefner golf course to Hertz.  The two miles through NH was always a pleasant part of the drive.  No road rage, people generally obeying speed limits and I found out I was in a much nicer mood at work than when I was driving on I-35/44 to MacArthur and Northwest Expressway.  Plus, it took less than five minutes longer.  And actually, there was very little traffic for the complete drive from home.  
C. T.

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## RadicalModerate

(i'll be honest with you: i love driving down Grand Blvd.and seeing those fine old homes. and Nichols Hills is still spectacular at Christmas)

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## NoOkie

> The ones with the little sticker featuring the Monopoly Man with his nose upturned in a snooty manner like that of the New Yorker Magazine icon. (Or else with plates from New Hampshire).
> 
> Stopping to smell the roses in Nichols Hills will result in both a traffic and trespassing citation.
> Especially if you are driving a truck.


I drive through NH all the time without issue.  Just obey the speed limits.  I did have a friend of mine riding his bike home at night(Without lights) get stopped for RWP(riding while poor) and I have been tailed by NHPD when riding my bike down Grand to the bank.  I imagine that if there's anywhere around here that I can get the coveted speeding-ticket-while-on-a-bicycle, it's going to be NH.  Low speed limits, bored PD and rich people to appease is a good combination.

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## RadicalModerate

I think you nailed it. Just obey the speed limits:
Treat the entire neighborhood as if was a school zone.

I wonder what Pody Poe would have to say about all this . . .
(if, of course, he was still running his little NH gambling den =)

NH Trivia:
The only admitted member of the KKK that I ever met (this was back in the early '80s)
was a Nichols Hills cop. He was off-duty at the time.
Technically off both duties I suppose--no uniform, no sheet

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## OKCTalker

> I did have a friend of mine riding his bike home at night(Without lights) get stopped for RWP(riding while poor) and I have been tailed by NHPD when riding my bike down Grand to the bank.  I imagine that if there's anywhere around here that I can get the coveted speeding-ticket-while-on-a-bicycle, it's going to be NH.


Riding a bike at night without lights is illegal - you can look it up. It's also incredibly stupid. Cyclists are hard enough to see in broad daylight. 

If you want a speeding ticket on a bike, go to Mt. Scott.

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## RadicalModerate

_I have been tailed by NHPD when riding my bike down Grand to the bank._ 

Just out of curiosity . . .
How much cash were you carrying in your backpack to rate a police escort? =)

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## NoOkie

> Riding a bike at night without lights is illegal - you can look it up. It's also incredibly stupid. Cyclists are hard enough to see in broad daylight. 
> 
> If you want a speeding ticket on a bike, go to Mt. Scott.


I asked him, he said he wasn't cited about the lights and they were never mentioned.

Mind you, I agree with the stupidity sentiment and have a set on my ride(with an obnoxious strobe, to boot!).  Oddly, OK state statutes only require a headlight.

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## UncleCyrus

> Conspicuous consumption makes you conspicuous.


Well said, sir.

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## RadicalModerate

Wasn't Grand Boulevard once "The Great Outer Loop" for Oklahoma City?
Shouldn't the speed limit on a Great Outer Loop be at least 55 mph?
Does it strike anyone else as strange that people would build mansions next to a freeway?

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## Achilleslastand

> I think you nailed it. Just obey the speed limits:
> Treat the entire neighborhood as if was a school zone.
> 
> I wonder what Pody Poe would have to say about all this . . .
> (if, of course, he was still running his little NH gambling den =)
> 
> NH Trivia:
> The only admitted member of the KKK that I ever met (this was back in the early '80s)
> was a Nichols Hills cop. He was off-duty at the time.
> Technically off both duties I suppose--no uniform, no sheet


Where was Pody Poes house/gambling den located in NH?

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## RadicalModerate

I was once told that it was in a house on Glenwood, south of Wilshire, on which we did some work, a long time after The Legend's exit from the state.

Later, I read Mr. Poe's auto-biography and it indicated that I had been given false information:
His NH "Informal Entertainment Den" was somewhere north of Wilshire.

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## ljbab728

> Wasn't Grand Boulevard once "The Great Outer Loop" for Oklahoma City?
> Shouldn't the speed limit on a Great Outer Loop be at least 55 mph?
> Does it strike anyone else as strange that people would build mansions next to a freeway?



No, because it was never designed to be that kind of roadway and was never intended speed.

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## RadicalModerate

. . . and cars back then couldn't go 55 mph.

In fact, they still can't today.
Not in Nichols Hills.

By the way . . . I have it on good authority that those who tell where Pody Poe's Gamblin' Den was don't know and those who know don't tell.

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## OKCTalker

> Later, I read Mr. Poe's auto-biography and it indicated that I had been given false information:
> His NH "Informal Entertainment Den" was somewhere north of Wilshire.


1804 Guilford. It can be yours for $449,500.

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## RadicalModerate

You think there may be some buried treasure in the walls?
Sort of like Al Capone's Vaults that Giraldo Rivera made famous?
(Or can you bury treasure in walls?  Maybe basement walls . . . =)

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## ctchandler

RadicalModerate,
Don't you mean "infamous"?  That tv showing of the opening of the vault was a total bust.
C. T.



> You think there may be some buried treasure in the walls?
> Sort of like Al Capone's Vaults that Giraldo Rivera made famous?
> (Or can you bury treasure in walls?  Maybe basement walls . . . =)

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## RadicalModerate

You are correct: "Infamous" is a better word . . .
Probably also applicable to the broadcast of Geraldo's Opening of the Titanic's Mini-Safe.

As a matter of fact, if cash had been "buried" in the basement walls of The Gambling Den, it would probably be in about the same condition as the stuff that was in that ship's safe on account of basements are notoriously leaky.

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## kevinpate

There are ways to keep special insulation materials dry, or so I've heard.

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## cclind

I was just driving through there today showing off all the big houses to my daughter. Passed by the old museum and unaware it was no longer a museum proceeded to pull in the drive (gate was open). Glad we didn't try to go in. Another home that caught my eye, mainly because it is surrounded by a solid wooded fence so you can't see squat, was 7401 Nichols Rd. So I come home and do a quick search. Holy cow, 12,500 sq ft, 4bd, 4bath on 2.7 acres. 

Took down some others that were for sale (there were a lot) just to see out of curiosity. I mean I knew they were pricey but geesh! It's akin, in a smaller manner, to paying for the 90210 zip code. Most of them were as old and dated as Beverly Hills homes too. Boasting original tile and wallpaper that had been pristinely maintained and cared for. Code words for "it can be yours for the low, low price of high 6 to low 7 figures, but you will need to throw a few hundred grand in it to update it".

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## RadicalModerate

and that is exactly why i remain a very happy and satisfied dweller on the fringes and outskirts of and drive-by/thru appreciation for the paid for flashing traffic warning signs posted by (mos'ly) the elders and or the assigns of that magnificent representation of what "successful oklahoma" used t' be.

either the whole deal is a school zone or . . .
a lesson to "Pops" not to "f" with nichols hills?
who is to say . . ?

at least "they" still put out "christmas" lights as well.
and they ain't yet a "gated community"
'ceptin' fer them thar' signs and wunders fer the uninformed.  =)

Edited to remove the o on "to" and replace it with an ' to remain consistant.
(e.e.cummings, alan ginsberg, manet, monet, james joyce,
robin williams, lenny bruce, et.al. ad infinitum
apologize for any misunderstanding.
yeah. right. =)

Friendly Tip with all due respect and welcome to The Noob/Thread Re-Animator:
Whatever you do, never mention Lead or Asbestos "Removal"
It costs a lot of money and is "Hazardous" to "US ALL" . . . OK?  :Wink:

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## Larry OKC

> Wasn't Grand Boulevard once "The Great Outer Loop" for Oklahoma City?
> Shouldn't the speed limit on a Great Outer Loop be at least 55 mph?
> Does it strike anyone else as strange that people would build mansions next to a freeway?


While it was the greater outer loop, I don't ever recall it being compared to a high speed interstate freeway or expressway. As the Grand Boulevard suggest (to me at least) was a place to see the City on a leisurely Sunday drive back in the day...

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## bornhere

While Grand was conceived (but never realized) as an outer loop, that was about 70 years ago. I think Larry OKC has it right about the intent being a leisurely drive. More like Classen Blvd. than, say, Mockingbird Lane in Dallas.

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## RadicalModerate

http://www.imaginativeamerica.com/20...rd-by-wh-dunn/

Yeah . . . 20 mph would probably seem like 60 in one of these . . .

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## KayneMo

I drove through Nichols Hills a few days ago, and I often do because I'm an architecture nerd, and I'm always in awe with the mansions. One of my favorites is the mansion with the long driveway at the NW corner of Nichols Dr and Guilford Ln. I believe the mansion directly to the east of the Buttram Mansion at Nichols and Kenilworth is the biggest in NH at 14,800 sf. Also, I didn't know the Buttram Mansion was once an art museum, very interesting! I sort of wish it still was. Was it built to house an art museum? Or built initially as a private residence?

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## windowphobe

> Also, I didn't know the Buttram Mansion was once an art museum, very interesting! I sort of wish it still was. Was it built to house an art museum? Or built initially as a private residence?


It was built in 1937 as a residence for Frank and Merle Buttram; its term as a museum ran from 1975 to 1996, when a massive fund drive (simultaneous with, but not connected to, MAPS) made it possible for OKCMOA to move downtown.

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## Mel

Driving  in the Hills at dusk a few weeks ago and it was interesting. So many runners, walkers and cyclists and they all had numerous blinking and steady glow led lights affixed all over.  It was like driving through a field of psychedelic fireflies.

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## Urbanized

> It was built in 1937 as a residence for Frank and Merle Buttram; its term as a museum ran from 1975 to 1996, when a massive fund drive (simultaneous with, but not connected to, MAPS) made it possible for OKCMOA to move downtown.


RIP, Carolyn Hill.

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## RadicalModerate

I recon' Nichols Hills ain't all it used to be cracked up to be . . . in fact, it may be on the cusp of being even better.
(lose the shabby lookin' masonry icons next to the roadway adjacent to the NO TRUCKs signs and the blinking speed limit reminders) all of those make Nichols Hills look like a . . . dare I say it? . . . "Special Skool Zone".  (which, of course, it actually is).

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## ljbab728

> It was built in 1937 as a residence for Frank and Merle Buttram; its term as a museum ran from 1975 to 1996, when a massive fund drive (simultaneous with, but not connected to, MAPS) made it possible for OKCMOA to move downtown.


This gives a little more detail on the evolution of the OKCMOA and the moves they made.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art

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## OKCretro

> Driving  in the Hills at dusk a few weeks ago and it was interesting. So many runners, walkers and cyclists and they all had numerous blinking and steady glow led lights affixed all over.  It was like driving through a field of psychedelic fireflies.


Was it a Thursday night? Because red coyote has a free 5k run through NH. Haven't been in a year but when I was going regularly there was about 120 people or so doing it.  Great great event

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## Jeepnokc

Can someone post a pic of the Buttram Mansion?  Thanks in advance

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## mkjeeves

> Conspicuous consumption


Meanwhile over in my slums by Lake Overholser, this one had my curiosity since they remodeled in the last couple of years. Zillow says it was 3300 sq ft. 

A recent building permit for the address says add 7000 + sq ft, 4 baths and an elevator.

I thought it might be a Thunder player wanted to live on the lake, since one part looks big enough to put a full size ball court inside. Turns out I was wrong.

Barlow seems to be the name. School system consultant? 

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4907...7i13312!8i6656

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## windowphobe

> RIP, Carolyn Hill.


Absolutely.  She pulled off something remarkable here, and deserves to be remembered.

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## ljbab728

> Can someone post a pic of the Buttram Mansion?  Thanks in advance

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## zookeeper

No offense, ljbab728, just thought I'd post a bigger pic. Also, a birds eye view of the grounds.





7 Bedroom, 10 Bathroom, 
11,469 Sq. Ft.
Zillow Estimate is $3,379,203
In 1996, maintenance costs were approx $50,000 per year

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## ljbab728

> No offense, ljbab728, just thought I'd post a bigger pic. Also, a birds eye view of the grounds.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 7 Bedroom, 10 Bathroom, 
> 11,469 Sq. Ft.
> Zillow Estimate is $3,379,203
> In 1996, maintenance costs were approx $50,000 per year


I'm extremely offended.  LOL

The first one actually is not a picture.  It's a painting.

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## zookeeper

> I'm extremely offended.  LOL
> 
> The first one actually is not a picture.  It's a painting.


Sorry, ljbab728. Maybe I should have said "painting" *or....not?*

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## Bigrayok

> Meanwhile over in my slums by Lake Overholser, this one had my curiosity since they remodeled in the last couple of years. Zillow says it was 3300 sq ft. 
> 
> A recent building permit for the address says add 7000 + sq ft, 4 baths and an elevator.
> 
> I thought it might be a Thunder player wanted to live on the lake, since one part looks big enough to put a full size ball court inside. Turns out I was wrong.
> 
> Barlow seems to be the name. School system consultant? 
> 
> https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4907...7i13312!8i6656


What is the first name? There was a medical doctor that lived down the street in the Spanish style mansion named Ron Barlow. He died and his wife moved out of the house. They had two sons that are medical doctors-Todd and Jeremy. I wonder if one of them owns this house?

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