Sundial House Project

Students in the Historic Preservation Planning and Historic Buildings of Oklahoma course, led by Professor Ron Frantz, spent the Fall 2015 semester working on a project for the Sundial House in Northeast Oklahoma City. The course is part of the core curriculum for the Environmental Design undergraduate degree program. This video edited by 5th Year Architecture student Jessi Stringer shows the results of the students’ collaboration on the project.

This stately Mediterranean villa known as the Sundial House was built between 1915 and 1919 by John Sinopoulo.  Mr. Sinopoulo, a native of Sparta, Greece, arrived in Oklahoma City in 1903.  He came to build the historic Delmar Gardens, an early day amusement center not far from downtown Oklahoma City.

The house has fourteen rooms on four floors, encompassing 7,700 square feet with an 1,816 square foot basement.  Rooms include a two-story living room with arched stained glass window highlighted with a peacock in the glass, a balcony study area, an art studio, an all-tiled conservatory with large fountain, a formal dining room with wrought iron gates, and decoratively tiled fireplaces.  There is an enclosed swimming pool, garages, porches and terraces, including one off the upstairs master bedroom.  Originally located on 20 acres, the house now sits on 10 acres.  The grounds include decorative stucco entry gates with wrought iron fence and crystal rock-lined flower beds, a large gold fish pond, a large lily pond, a bridge, waterfalls, and watermill.  Most of the materials for all of these are crystal rocks.  Numerous winding sidewalks are throughout the property, constructed of marble and granite blocks.

When we started the project, the congregation of the Greater Mt. Olive Baptist Church, adjacent neighbors to the north, owned the property.  Mr. Noble Jackson, a parishioner, was the designated representative.  Ms. Linda Tillman was another interested community citizen who met with us.  As we began our documentation of the site, we learned that the congregation decided to put the property on the market, to sell it.  It sold very quickly.

We quickly changed our project from one of documentation to one that was a “thank-you” for the congregation, Mr. Jackson, and Ms. Tillman.  It also is to serve as a “housewarming gift” for the new owners.

A total of 19 students worked on this project.  Twelve undergraduate students from various disciplines (Architecture, Environmental Design, Interior Design, Marketing, and Multidisciplinary Studies) worked with six graduate students from various programs (Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Regional and City Planning) to complete this assignment.  The students are from 8 states (California, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Texas) and one other country (China).

The class project tapped into the educational studies and the work experiences of each and every student in the class.  This was a pure collaboration for all of us.