House Statistics Update October 2004 Update August 2005 Update October 2006

First thought to have been built in 1907, according the O. H. S. Reconnaissance Level Survey of 1999-2000, we have been told by the family nurse that Lois said her parents built the house in 1917. The papers for the National Registry pinpointed the building of the structure to the summer of 1918.

Possibly built by A. A. Cooper, carpenter, as seen on the 2x10’s in the house. Mr. Cooper’s 96 year old daughter, Muriel G. Whitesell, told Mrs. Loafman on April 25, 2002, that her father was a contractor and builder, and that he built many houses in Duncan. She said that the W. T. Foreman name sounded familiar, but she couldn’t say for sure that her father built that house.

We have received a package in the mail from Mr. Mike Skinner of Bagwell, Texas, the great-great nephew of Mr. Tom Foreman. It contained two small photographs of the house when it was first built. On the backside he says there is some writing, if we can get the paper off without destroying the writing.

Mr. Foreman liked a friend’s home in Oklahoma City, and had his house built by that same floor plan. It is a Frank Lloyd Wright-like design. Very much modeled after Mr. Wright’s Prairie House style. There are many similarities.

Some folks say it is more Arts and Crafts, or perhaps Mission Style, however. Stained glass, etching on inside of front door, window seats, steel supports on first floor, red oak wood, box style, & openness of design, all indicate similarities with Wright’s Prairie Style. Walls are 13" thick and two bricks deep. Ceilings downstairs are 12 feet tall. Upstairs, they are 10 feet tall. Foundation is of brick, but does have a footing. Footing appears to be about 6-8" deep. Lath and Plaster walls, in dismal condition, will perhaps need to be removed and replaced by sheet rock. Old style electrical wiring still in place will be retained in some areas for display for educational purposes, as will the lath and plaster, and the old electrical power box. The house is built with 2x10’s boards. Those 2x10’s will also be pointed out in tours. Woodwork and floors appear to be in good shape. I am told they are of solid red oak.

No stained glass windows remain in house, although at least one was documented as being in the house in the year 2000, in the Reconnaissance Level Survey of Duncan, as documented by Dr. Alyson Greiner, for the Oklahoma Historical Society.

No light fixtures were left in the house at the time Mrs. Loafman bought it from the school system. No doorknobs remained. Most hinges and knobs had been removed from the house

Each floor of the house has about 1,400 + square feet. Floor plans can be viewed by clicking here.

Three bedrooms are located on the North, 1 full bath is at the top of the stairs, master bedroom and sleeping room are on the South. Downstairs has a living room, dining room, conservatory, breakfast room, kitchen, and utility (ice) room. The basement is dry. It has a room usable as a cellar, with holes allowing a person to enter under the North area of the house through a 2-3’deep crawl space. The SE corner of the basement has been bricked in. It is believed to have been an old cistern. There are forty-seven windows around the entire house. It is three bricks deep. Two bricks thick for construction, one additional layer of decorative brick. The National Trust speaker, Mr. Daniel Carey, told me when he made a personal visit to the house that it is "built on the Quarter", the way that ship builders used to build their houses, as they did their ships. That was so they could withstand winds, etc. from any direction. Mr. Carey said he supposed this house would be left standing when many another would have fallen down.