612 N.E. 17th Street
This large stucco Spanish house (which was originally white stucco) has Spanish tiles on a low pitched roof in reds with scattering amount of buffs, oranges, browns, kelly green and royal blue. The main gable runs parallel to the street with two overlapping gable wings facing the street. There is a triple window in one and a single Spanish entrance in the other. One of the second story windows has a stucco geometric grille over it. The porte-cochere is a one-story arched wing with sundeck over it. There is a wall foundation faced in Spanish tiles under the porte-cochere, and touches of Spanish wrought iron throughout.
The home features installations from the Calco Tile Manufacturing Corp based in California. From Tile Heritage Foundation (see their 2020 newsletter featuring the tiles on page 5):
Sometime after 1926 when the company’s founder and superintendent, Rufus Keeler, left to organize Malibu Potteries in Malibu, the company changed its formal name from California Clay Products Co. to Calco Tile Manufacturing Corp. This home's tiles are referred to as “Calco” tiles regardless of when they were produced between 1923 and roughly 1932 in South Gate, California, directly south of downtown Los Angeles.
Rufus Keeler may have designed the mantel tiles as he had a similar facade in his own home. If not, he likely supervised its creation. Keeler is among a handful of the most respected and productive tile makers of the period. We know a great deal about him, as two of his children were personal friends of ours when the Foundation began its work in 1987.
Ray Smiser built this house.
Lincoln Martin 1928-31
Mrs. Annie Youngblood 1931-45
Paul Snetcher 1945-48
Dr. Jack Wilk 1948-59
Dr. Gilbert Campbell 1959-65
Dr. Allen J. Stanley 1965 -
Mrs. Annie Youngblood was a major stockholder in the Youngblood Oil Company.
Dr. Jack Wilk was a long-time practicing optometrist in the city and was very active in the Oklahoma City Symphony Society.
Dr. Gilbert Campbell was a member of the Department of Surgery at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and then became Chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock.
Dr. Allen Stanley became an emeritus member of the Department of Physiology at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He worked on a project to produce sterile rats as an effective means of rodent control.