Alonzo Key bought the lots at 1414 N. Hudson. Key, vice president of the Western Paving Company and a former Rough Rider with Theodore Roosevelt, paid $5500 for the lots, then hired Henry C. Pelton of New York as the architect and began work on a new home patterned after Mediterranean styles he had seen in Cuba. The house was constructed entirely on site by workmen from Italy.

Construction began in 1913 and progressed steadily until the spring of 1914 when, as the new next owners cryptically wrote “the Keys were obliged to sell.” Unfinished, but with a fully stocked fruit cellar, the still unoccupied home was sold to General Roy and Estelle Conklin Hoffman.

The Hoffmans, whose home in Chandler had recently burned, finished construction and moved in with their four children including Roy’s daughter Lucille from a previous marriage to Zoe Kennerly. Roy married Estelle on October 5, 1898, and they had three children, Dorothy, Margaret and Roy, Jr.

The exterior of the home is Spanish Colonial Revival, with enriched arches, a tower, gardens, red tiled roof, and stucco finish. Inside the arched doorway is a Spanish atrium that soars more than 30 feet above marble flooring with a central fountain in French Caen stone walls with oak trellises on the second floor.

A double wide staircase starts at right and left angles and comes together on a landing between the first and second floors. There is a beautiful 12 x 20 foot Tiffany Stained glass window for the ceiling in the giant atrium in the center of the house.

One door off the atrium leads to the dining room paneled in rich oak with a tapestry of leaves above the wainscoting. Another door leads to the living room painted ivory and lined with silk damask panels. In 1915 the Hoffmans added the mahogany-paneled library with sealed bookshelves and arched windows. Above this room on the second floor is the casement-lined “sleeping porch.” An elevator also was added.

A native of Kansas, Roy was born in 1869. He later settled in Guthrie, where he started the Guthrie Daily Leader and entered politics. He served as secretary to the territorial governor, then as a US District Attorney. In 1898 he resigned to enter the Spanish American War, where he rose to the rank of captain.

Roy later entered the Oklahoma National Guard as a Lieutenant Colonel and became regimental commander in 1900. A Brigadier General during World War I, he was commanding officer at Fort Sill and Camp Bowie, commander of the 93rd Division, and recipient of the French Legion of Honor. He took the division to France and served on the front lines until the division was merged into the 1st Infantry Division.

Estelle was one of the sustaining communicants of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral at NW 7th and Robinson. She was a devoted sponsor of the symphony, the art museums, and other cultural activities in the young city. She was appointed a regent for the Oklahoma College of Women in Chickasha and authorized a book about her family and home.

When the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma was stolen from Guthrie, there are rumors that it was guarded in the Hoffman house before being delivered to the governor at the Haskell Hotel. Men with rifles were stationed at the 2nd story windows facing all directions.

Famous American Author Edna Ferber wrote her 1930 novel Cimarron while staying in the Hoffman house. The story is based on development in Oklahoma after the Land Rush. It was the best selling novel of 1930.

Roy died on June 18, 1953. After Estelle’s death in 1968, the house was willed to the Episcopal Church and ultimately was sold to Standard Life Insurance Company. Several of the Hoffman children went on to marry other children in the neighborhood and build homes in Heritage Hills. Margaret Hoffman married Charles Vose who lived at 14th and Walker. They built a home on 16th and Hudson and had two daughters Virginia Vose Kite and Martha Vose Williams. Margaret’s father helped Charles Vose get started in the First National Bank.

Edgar Pete Hoffman was the youngest child of General Roy Hoffman and Estelle. He later became mayor of Nichols Hills and had four children, Susan, Peter, Marni and Kent.

In 1972, the home was purchased by Drs. James W. and Carol Hampton who moved into the house with their four children. James was a professor of medicine at the University of Oklahoma and a member of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Carol was a graduate student in history. They soon began a complete remodeling to repair damage inflicted by vandals.

During the completion of the restoration Carol completed her Ph.D. in history at the University of Oklahoma and worked as the Indian Field officer for the presiding Bishop of the National Episcopal Church. James and Carol co-chaired a committee to save St. Paul’s Cathedral which helped to restore that structure to its former glory. Carol was appointed to the Board of Regents for the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha. She has authored several books and papers on American Indians.

James, an M.D., left the University in 1977 to head the cancer program at Baptist Medical Center where he continued his clinical research. Through the years the Hamptons hosted an annual Christmas in the atrium with a 20-foot Douglas Fir Christmas tree decorated for the festive occasion. The party was described in Linda Kennedy Rosser’s book, Christmas in Oklahoma.

The working elevator is still in use by James and Carol. The Hampton children note that a ghost used to ride up and down in the middle of the night when we they were younger.

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