Behind closed doors, big changes underway at Oklahoma City musical landmark

BY TIM FALL The Oklahoman
Published: December 26, 2009

Designer-builder Bill Gumerson loves the metro-area landmarks — from the majestic homes of Heritage Hills, to the renovated and revitalized structures of downtown, to the campus of his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma.
But Gumerson, builder of some of the area's most exclusive private residences and award-winning remodels, has a secret favorite landmark. It's not a Gaillardia mansion or a Nichols Hills manse.

"You ever hear of the Blue Door?" Gumerson asks.

The live-music venue near Oklahoma City University, longtime favorite of locals and touring musicians alike, is in need of serious structural renovation.

"It's basically falling down," Gumerson said. His design-build firm, Bill Gumerson & Associates, has been retained to save it.

The only caveat?

"We have to leave it exactly as it is," Gumerson said. "The fact that there's no right angles in there is a good thing, acoustically." Gumerson's team designed beams and columns to hold the building in its current shape, a parallelogram tilting 6 inches toward McKinley Street. "We're digging under the structure to put in new footings. We're removing the façade stone by stone, then replacing them on a new frame," Gumerson explained.

It may seem like a lark, but really it's perfectly in character for a man who has made loyalty into a career commitment..............

In addition to six staff superintendents, Gumerson & Associates includes project managers Roger White and Jeff Blake. Bill Dinger is the in-house architect.

"Sometimes it's a downer when the owner moves in and we're out," Gumerson said, leafing through the pages of a book chronicling his firm's recent projects. "It's hard to leave sometimes."

Though surely, one would think, Gumerson will always be welcomed back to the stronger, reinforced but still vintage Blue Door.



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