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Midtown makes list of state's endangered places
By ANGEL RIGGS World Capitol Bureau
2/1/2008
OKLAHOMA CITY — Tulsa’s midtown district was named Thursday to Preservation Oklahoma’s list of Most Endangered Historic Places.
The area was included on the group’s 15th annual list because of the increasing number of “supersized” homes replacing midtown’s historic homes and the commercial encroachment threatening its character, according to Preservation Oklahoma.
“Every city has a uniqueness about it, and that uniqueness comes over a period of time,” said Susan McKee, president of Tulsa’s Coalition of Historic Neighborhoods.
“These historic neighborhoods are what make Tulsa what it is.”
The area included on the endangered list stretches from 11th to 51st streets and from Lewis Avenue to the Arkansas River.
Homes in the area generally were built between the 1920s and 1950s. “In midtown, there are a lot of craftsman-style bungalows and smaller homes,” McKee said. “They’re older homes, and they’re very well built, but they don’t have the modern conveniences.
“You just don’t find this kind of construction anymore,” she said.
Preserving older homes is an aesthetic as well as an economic issue, said John Feaver, president of Oklahoma Citybased Preservation Oklahoma.
“Preserving homes is the biggest recycling project we have,” Feaver said, adding that historic neighborhoods help to distinguish cities.
Barbara VanHanken, president of Preserve Midtown, was among those who petitioned to have the area named to the Endangered Historic Places list.
Being named to the list doesn’t provide protection or funding for a site, but it helps to raise awareness and support for their preservation.
Preservation Oklahoma, a nonprofit group, aims to protect and promote the state’s historic resources, communities and landscapes through education, leadership and advocacy.
“It’s kind of an ominous list,” VanHanken said. “It’s not one you want to be on.”
However, it might bring more attention to ordinance and zoning changes that, she said, are needed to protect historic neighborhoods.
VanHanken and others are working to enact a conservation district in Tulsa “to give homeowners a say in what happens on their block, as far as development and redevelopment.”
“We’ve been working to stop the unlimited teardowns and have appropriate infill when that is necessary,” she said. “There are a lot of good homes being torn down unnecessarily.”
For more information about the effort, go online to www. tulsaworld.com/preserve midtown.
Angel Riggs (405) 528-2465
angel.riggs@tulsaworld.com