Districts in the National Register of Historic Places
Stonebraker Heights Historic District
Significant Properties
1. COSDEN HOUSE “MISSION MANOR” (1606 South Carson Avenue) 1912
This Bungalow/Craftsman style home was the most expensive home built in Tulsa at the time. Referred to as Mission Manor, this four bedroom, three bath home has wide, bright, tiled sun porches. The twenty-five-foot oak entry hall, with its beamed ceiling, beveled glass and a charming deacon’s bench (crafted of solid unblemished oak), provided guests with a royal greeting.
Joshua S. Cosden was one of the dreamers and doers of Tulsa. Joshua Cosden and his wife, Ottille, arrived in Tulsa with a small amount of money and monumental ambitions. Cosden, the “Prince of Petroleum,” soon matched fortune and power with people like Harry Sinclair, W. G. Skelly, Robert M. McFarlin and other oil notables. He later sold Mission Manor and built a splendid showplace of Tulsa with lighted tennis courts and an indoor swimming pool on the site where University Club Tower now stands. Cosden purchased a downtown building at East 4th Street and Boston Avenue that would become known as the Cosden Building and later, Mid-Continent Building. He maintained a penthouse poised atop this building. Cosden lost fortunes and suffered a scandalous divorce, but
remained “Game Josh” until health and heart failed. He died in New York City.
2. McFARLIN HOUSE (1610 South Carson Avenue) 1918
This Italian Renaissance style mansion was built of reinforced concrete with a full-width stone portico over the entrance supported by six Doric columns. It was one of the first reinforced concrete residences in the southwest. The east elevation features stone lintels and keystones above the ground floor windows and doors. The red tiled hip roof on this two-story brown brick home has copper gutters and downspouts.
This building is significant for its association with one of Tulsa’s leading businessmen and civic leaders, as well as its architectural excellence and fine craftsmanship. Robert McFarlin, with his nephew James A. Chapman, formed the McMan Oil Company. McMan had one of the most successful operations in the Glenn Pool oil field. In 1910, McFarlin, with Harry Sinclair and other oil men, organized the Exchange National Bank of Tulsa, now the Bank of Oklahoma.
The Robert M. McFarlin House was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 25, 1979
under Criteria C. Its NRIS number is 79002030.
3. THE WRIGHTSMAN (1645 South Cheyenne Avenue) 1914
Clarence Hindman, a wealthy Tulsa attorney, built this house that was one of the early mansions on the ridge south of town overlooking the Arkansas River. Of the four corner mansions at the corner of 17th Street and Cheyenne Avenue, only this house survives. In 1920, the mansion was purchased by Edna and C. J. Wrightsman. Wrightsman arrived in Tulsa in 1906 and participated in the growth of the oil industry. He was active in territorial and state politics, as well as being an active supporter of important civic improvements. This building has passed through many hands and uses through the years, and has undergone major restoration.