Before & After: Historic Tulsa Building Renovation

Tulsa developer Aaron Meek just converted a historic midtown Tulsa building into a single-family residence. First dedicated 100 years ago, in October of 1919, the property at 1320 S. Cheyenne was originally a synagogue, serving the congregation of Temple Israel, and is possibly the oldest synagogue in Oklahoma. The building hosted services for over a decade until the congregation moved to a new building in 1931. Since then the building fell into disrepair and was abandoned, sometimes occupied by the homeless seeking shelter.

2009 Fire

(Photo: Matt Barnard | Tulsa World)

A fire in 2009 gutted the building destroying everything inside, leaving only the building's exterior. A few years later, Aaron bought the property and faced the challenge of restoring and renovating the old building. The interior looks completely different from a temple, but he worked to faithfully restore the exterior, and to bring the building up to code. 

Aaron, who grew up nearby, had his eye on the building for some time and saw its historic value and significance. "When you think about it, the vision for this building was conceived over 100 years ago. Probably hundreds of congregants and laborers and craftspeople put money, time and sweat into constructing and maintaining this building. I respect that and wanted to preserve this part of Tulsa’s history."

Renovation

Part of that challenge of renovating and restoring an older building like this involved adapting the new materials to fit with the original ones. The interior blends the building's rustic character, elements, and textures with contemporary shapes and materials. Aaron wanted to preserve as much of the surviving structure and to salvage and re-purpose as much of the original building material as possible.

He hired John Hunt of Tulsa Shutters and Blinds, a window coverings expert, who selected Exus Linden Tree shutters for this project. The shutters were custom stained to match the wood stain used throughout the building. "We sent a sample to Exus and they matched it perfectly." The entire building is darker colored brick and much of it is exposed on the interior, and it tends to darken the room, so John chose to use 4 1/2" louvers to allow in more light during the day. "And the hidden tilt feature gives them a little more updated look."

The project was completed at the end of this Summer. Today, Aaron's favorite room in the house is the great room on the main floor. He says "I just like the openness. It’s a huge room and very inviting."

He's currently working on several developments in the Tulsa area, seeking to provide safe and affordable housing for workers earning more modest incomes, including a 50 room micro-loft apartment building in an older part of downtown Tulsa. While higher end downtown renovations tend to get the most attention and investment, he feels there's a true need that remains unmet for people to live downtown who can't afford a luxury apartment. He hopes to help make that possible with several projects already built and others already underway.

Maybe you've had your eye on an old building in your neighborhood, and you're wondering whether it's a good idea to restore it. You'll have to carefully weigh the costs of an endeavor like this. Consider Aaron's advice:

"You can save anything. It comes down to what you are willing to invest and because this building was historically important to me, I was willing to put in more time and money to bring it back to life. It’s more interesting to me to save these buildings rather than tear them down."

If you've recently completed a renovation or interior transformation like this one, we'd love to hear about it and we'd love to see it. Drop us a line.

Check our our Photo Gallery more interior photos and shutter ideas like this one.

Project Credits

Client: Aaron Meek
Shutters: Tulsa Shutters & Blinds
Photography: Sean Capshaw