Symphony Designer's Show House(s)
Sat February 2, 2008
Downtown tuning up for Designers Show House: Designer show house funds orchestra league
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Orchestral accompaniment for the rising chorus singing the now-familiar but still catchy song about living "Downtown” — in Oklahoma City, to the music of the traffic in the city, no less. A full complement — society strings, whimsical woodwinds, bold brass, perspicuous percussion — will come courtesy of the Oklahoma City Orchestra League's 35th annual Symphony Designers Show House April 27-May 18.
This year's "show house”?Not a restored and revived house in a historic neighborhood. Not the renovated mansion of some city business titan. Not one of those stately Nichols Hills houses that the curious swarm when the doors are finally open to Everyman — every man and woman clutching a ticket anyway. No, the show house isn't a house at all this time. It's a string of two- and three-story condos — Brownstones at Maywood Park, from NE 2 to NE 4 from Walnut to Broadway. And the fact that they will serve as this year's quadraphonic show "house” is a tell — a sign that the downtown song isn't just a catchy tune, but a modern anthem.
Oklahoma City's Triangle Development — Ron Bradshaw, Anthony McDermid and Pat Garrett — is behind Brownstones at Maywood Park.
And the Orchestra League, the nonprofit supporter of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, is back there, too, cheering on the downtown revival. The decision to select the brownstones as the site of the 2008 Designers Show House, a fundraiser for the orchestra's music education programs, came with a brainstorm, said Sue Francis, president of the Orchestra League. It was an easy decision, she said, "with everything happening downtown.” The developers were excited about the chance to participate because they "knew what the show house was about.”
The Symphony Designers Show House event, "Downtown at the Brownstones,” actually will present four condo homes in different styles: Santa Fe, Urban Contemporary, European and SoHo Metropolitan.
It'll open the possibility of downtown living to more people who might not have considered it, said Brenda Craiger of Triangle Development. If you haven't driven by the area lately, do it. You'll be surprised at what's coming out of the ground. But, Craiger said, "The big step is you have to walk in one to get it. You have to do it once to understand the concept. This is a neighborhood, a platted neighborhood where there hasn't been one (in decades).”
A neighborhood — not just some places to live that happen to be close together. And Brownstones at Maywood Park is a neighborhood within the greater neighborhood that downtown is becoming. The Symphony Designers Show House is a natural fit. The Orchestra League is tied to downtown as home of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, so the event will be something of an incubator for symbiosis: Downtown denizens love downtown culture, and downtown culture is strengthened by downtown denizens.
Having the event at the brownstones will surprise some people.
The Orchestra League "always likes to be ahead of everything,” Francis said — and the decision knitted some brows among the 400 members. She said it was like some people's reaction to downtown's resurrection as a place to play, work and live: "We've seen out members say, ‘We can't do that. We've never done that before!' ” she said.
But why not? It's perfect timing. Downtown is hot.
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Originally Posted by FritterGirl
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