The Renaissance Neighborhood History Project

This post we leave our beloved Renaissance Neighborhood and travel to the Crosbie Heights neighborhood of Tulsa. Crosbie Heights is situated South of Highway 412, West of Interstate 244, North of the Arkansas River with South 25th West Avenue as the Western boundary. We are visiting 1623 West Charles Page Boulevard, the Tulsa Cave House to be exact. If you have ever driven by the Cave House you have certainly craned your neck as you passed. It stands alone, nestled into the side of the hill and at first glance it looks like something straight out of The Flintstones. ___________________________________________________________________________ The Cave House is owned by Linda Collier who gives tours on a regular basis. They include a top to bottom showing of the house and tons of information. Rumors about the house have circulated for years and include tales of bootlegging, secret passwords, a 'rag lady' and a 'key woman'. The architect of the structure is Dani...

My mother and I attended the bi-annual Brady Heights Neighborhood home tour in October.  Next to the Designer Showcase, it’s one of our favorite Tulsa events.  This fall, as we made our way from home to home, we heard repeated reference to someone named Dani.  They were referring to Ms. Dani Widell of Widell Renovations .  I later learned that Dani has restored/remodeled close to twenty homes in Tulsa neighborhoods.  I thought, I’ve got to meet his woman!   Shortly after, I reached out to her for an interview.  I was thrilled she agreed.  We met up on an overcast, cold Sunday afternoon at Hodge’s Bend.   Over warm drinks I listened and asked some questions. This interview has been edited for flow and clarity. Dani has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s in Business Administration- so I was very interested in learning how she got into renovation/remodeling business.       ...

Sarah and Drew Tudor Bungalow- 2400 Sq Feet 3 bedroom/2 bath Interviewed on August 13th, 2017 *** After my last blog post, I asked our neighborhood Facebook group if anyone wanted to have their house featured. I received this response from a couple: Hi! If you ever want to feature our home, we would be honored to sit down and talk with you. We live at 1436 s Florence Place and bought and renovated our home in the last 8 months. We want this house to be our forever home, we love it so much. Our house is around 2400 square feet, with an entirely finished upstairs, and I am sure it has to have a unique and interesting history as one of the bigger homes in our neighborhood. It would be incredible to find out who built this big ol' house in 1929. We bought it in October 2016 and have tried to bring back its former glory and really showcase the original floors, doors, knobs, and every special little architectural detail...We adore this house and would love to show ...