Cunningham Residence: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1962

The primary spaces of the Cunningham House, overlooking a golf course, are recessed into a slope providing a sense of security and privacy. At the same time a great roof sweeps out to the view in an expression of shelter and aspiration. Free-standing, vine covered ornamental trellises and brick piers facing the golf course allow the interior to be enlivened by flecks and rays from the setting sun, addressing the client’s request for indirect sources of warm light. The roof extension and orientation of the house protects the vines from most of Oklahoma’s ice storms. Vertical rows of dark umber brick headers are placed in a field of common red brick selected by the client. These carry the color of the umber stained roof soffits into the walls and make regular counterpoint with irregular cream-colored flash marks on the brick. The curves of the soffit rhythmically modulate the interiors, which are richly three dimensional. In contrast, street and side facades are neutral in deference to the neighborhood.

The Cunningham Residence is further described in Herb Greene’s “Mind and Image”