Click here to download the 2009 Most Endangered Historic Places Book

The Judge H.L. Fogg Residence:  A Preservation Success Story
By
Cynthia Savage, Architectural Historian
Condensed version reprinted with permission from the January 2009 Preservation Oklahoma Newsletter

In January 2007, the Judge Harry L. Fogg Residence was included on the list of Oklahoma’s Most Endangered Historic Places.  At that time, the formerly resplendent Classical Revival style house, located on South Hoff in El Reno, faced an uncertain future.  While previous owners had started remodeling the house for use apparently as a bed-and-breakfast, this work remained largely undone.  Additionally, the exterior of the building was rapidly deteriorating with several of the grand Ionic porch capitals lying on the wood porch floor that was itself becoming decrepit.  Contributing further to the perilous situation was that the stately three-story house was for sale with no firm prospects in the offering.
The Henry Lassen House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 4, 2008.  As of late November 2008, work on the house has dramatically reversed what was an increasingly dismal sight just last year.  In addition to a solely needed paint job, all of the porch capitals have been returned to their proper location atop the tall, fluted columns and the porch floor made whole.  A lamp in the window now assures passer-bys of a vibrant return to life, rather than the forlorn nothingness of an empty, gutted interior. 
As with all preservation projects, the local entities, in this case the Murphys, were the deciding factor in the preservation of the property.  However, without the efforts to document and raise awareness of the property through programs such as the Most Endangered Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places, we as the public would not have been aware of the astounding reversal of fortune for this house, clearly another feather in the state’s preservation cap.

Fogg House
photograph courtsey of  Jim Murhpy