The owner of a striking residence in Oklahoma City has a distinct way of introducing people to her home.

“I always say I live in a sculpture,” says Joy Baresel, also the home’s listing agent, with Engel & Völkers Oklahoma City, Edmond and Norman. “There’s no other way to describe it.”

Baresel’s unique four-bedroom, six-bath, midcentury modern home in Oklahoma City just hit the market.

Designed by architect Herb Greene and built into a hill overlooking the golf course, the property known as the Cunningham House was completed in 1962.

Greene is recognized for his Prairie House, also in Oklahoma, and studied under Frank Lloyd Wright protégé Bruce Goff.

Updated abode

Baresel listed the property for $1,379,000. Since snapping up the 4,300-square-foot home in 2017 for $798,700, she’s updated three baths and tackled a kitchen remodel and expansion.

“As we did renovations, we tried to stay true to the architect’s original design,” Baresel says.

Stucco and cedar were used for the curved walls and cedar for the ceilings.

“He was really focused on the organic line being a curved line and bringing nature inside,” Baresel says of Greene.

The home was photographed by Julius Shulman in the 1960s and featured on the cover of Architectural Digest in 1971.

Outdoor amenities

One unique design feature is the flat roof’s pea-gravel surface and copper tracks.

“The roof catches the water, and the tracks guide the water to the front of the house,” Baresel explains, nothing that the water eventually flows into a pool. “It’s kind of like the house is a water fountain.”

That pool, by the way, has a diving board.

The house is tucked into Oklahoma City’s Quail Creek neighborhood, which has a country club and golf course. According to Baresel, the Cunninghams—who commissioned the home—typically ate dinner at the country club, which is why the kitchen needed some attention after Baresel bought the place.

“Mrs. Cunningham had a profound art collection with Van Gogh and original pieces from the Impressionist artists,” Baresel says. “She also had a book collection and owned a bookstore. All of the hallway on the upper floor is bookshelves.”

Will an architecture and art lover move in next?

“It is such a unique and wonderful piece of architecture,” Baresel says. “It really takes someone who is wowed by its unique qualities.”

The Quail Creek neighborhood and its convenient freeway access make the property even more enticing.

“There’s a lot of diversity in the architecture, from Tudor-style houses to midcentury to classic ranches,” Baresel says of the neighborhood. “It also has mature trees.”

In recent years, Oklahoma City’s allure has attracted a new crop of homebuyers from out of state.

“There have been so many people who lived here and moved away and have moved back,” Baresel says. “And as real estate prices have gone up on the coast, people have discovered us for the first time. [They] are shocked by our food scene and the quality of life you can live.”

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