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Gallery
History
This house was built in 1907 and sold to Edward F. Davis, a 26-year-old native of Ohio and an eye, ear, nose, and throat physician.
This home is a contemporary bungalow with Craftsman and some Revival characteristics in style.
Features include extended eaves, shallow gables, a wide front porch supported by large columns and an exterior faced with wood shingles. The main ornamentation in the house is its 15 types and configurations of windows. The unique style, although common in Southern California at the time, did not gain widespread popularity in Oklahoma until World War I.
The home was purchased by C. Edgar and Elizabeth Van Cleef in 1925. C. Edgar was born June 3, 1896, in Seneca, Kansas. He was raised in Oklahoma City and attended Central High School before joining the service during World War I. He attended the University of Michigan, then returned to Oklahoma City and found a job with a wholesale grocery company, a position he held for 12 years. In 1925 he married Elizabeth Pope and opened a life insurance office. C. Edgar was a member of the housing authority in the 1960s and was a former chair of the OKC Chamber of Commerce. In 1977, C. Edgar was awarded a lifetime membership on the Salvation Army board of directors.
Elizabeth was born March 13, 1900, in Oklahoma City. She attended the University of Oklahoma and was a volunteer worker at the Oklahoma Medical Center. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church and also was one of the first members of the Junior League of Oklahoma City. C. Edgar and Elizabeth had two sons, Richard, and Robert, and a daughter, Jane.
In 1954, after renting it to Mr. and Mrs. Dan Hardy for four years, the Van Cleefs sold the house to Hope and Sam H. Asbury, Jr.
Sam was born on the family farm in rural Boone Country, Missouri in 1912, the eldest of five children. He attended the University of Missouri and worked in Kansas City and Tulsa before moving to Oklahoma City in 1939. He worked for the Burroughs Corporation for 34 years, retiring in 1977. He was an avid golfer and was involved in the inception of Historical Preservation, Inc. for Heritage Hills and served as president for two years.
Hope was born in rural Latimer County in 1915, the youngest of four daughters. She married Sam in 1940. She was active in the St. Anthony Hospital League for over 30 years serving as director and president. She was also very involved with the Heritage Hills Associate Board and served in local elections as a precinct inspector.
The Asburys raised three sons, Sam, III, Stephen Phillip, and John Porter. Together, they modernized the kitchen before moving in and eventually installed storm windows, carpeted the floors, remodeled several rooms, enclosed the lower east porch, and enclosed a back porch. They lived in the home for nearly 50 years. Hope died in August 2009 at age 94. Sam died July 24, 2009, at age 96.
Philip & Courtney Tardy purchased the home in 2002. They completely restored and refinished the wood floors. Both gourmet cooks, they expanded and completely updated the kitchen which included ornamental tiles from the Moravian Pottery Works in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
They had a light fixture hanging in the entryway that was recovered from the attic and they also recovered bookcase doors in the living room. They kept a pier mirror owned by the second owners of the property that hung in the home since the 1930s. Their living room wing chairs were found in an antique store in need of new fabric and refinishing. After more conversation with the antique store owner, the chairs were found to have come from this very house, and they brought them back home. The Tardys featured the home on the 2003 Heritage Hills Home Tour.
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