Ernest Davis bought this lot in 1917. Davis was president of the Davis and Younger Oil Company and secretary-treasurer of the Grain Exchange Building Company. Prospering during the boom years of increased production both in the oil patch and in the grain fields he hired Ray Smiser and built the ornate home on 15th, the first on the 800 block.

The design was patterned after the Skelly home in Tulsa, an enriched Mediterranean motif that included a tiled roof, oversize brackets under the eaves, arched portico, and white keystones above the windows and on the porte cochere.

The entrance hall features a large foyer with marble floors and Grecian columns and heavy moldings done of bran plaster, which is now a lost art. The banquet dining room will comfortably accommodate 14 dinner guests.

A hand carved Sheridan mantle graces the living room. There are three separate recreation rooms in the basement, and the third floor originally was a ballroom. The Davis family moved out in 1928.

Frances and Konrad Keesee purchased the home in the 1970s. Fran’s children Liza, William, Rebecca, and Tim Burgess also lived in the home. Kon also had a son, Christian Kirkpatrick Keesee, from his marriage to Joan Kirkpatrick. Kon was born October 25, 1934. He attended Classen High School and the University of Oklahoma. He founded Keesee and Company for residential property sales and also was an art consultant. He died May 27, 2017. Fran was born October 21, 1933, in Tulsa. She attended the University of Oklahoma and lived in New York and Hawaii before moving to Oklahoma City in 1971. She was involved in the fashion industry and was a volunteer with the Oklahoma Theatre Center. She died April 2, 1986. The Keesees featured the home on the 1978 Home Tour.

In 1981 the home was purchased by Debbie and Paul Dudman. Paul, a native of England, was an attorney. They moved to Oklahoma City in 1974. They had two daughters, Amelia and Katherine. The Dudmans replaced the heating and cooling systems, rewired and replumbed the entire house, added a new roof, and remodeled most of the house.

Additional previous owners are Paul Johnson, developer of the Quail Creek addition, and the late Dean of Saint Pauls Episcopal Cathedral, the very Reverend John C. Van Dyke.

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