Boyd House, also known as the President's House and the OU White House, is the official residence of the president of the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

. The university's president, currently Joseph Harroz, Jr., lives in Boyd House as a primary residence free of charge. In 1976, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as "President's House, University of Oklahoma".

History

The house that came to be known as Boyd House was built in 1906 by OU's first president,

David Ross Boyd David Ross Boyd (July 31, 1853 – November 17, 1936) was an American educator and the first president of the University of Oklahoma. Boyd was born in Coshocton, Ohio, and obtained a doctorate degree from the small College of Wooster, where he w ...

, for approximately $7,000. In 1908, Boyd was forced out as university president. He leased the property to the university until 1914, when OU acquired it from Boyd in a property swap. Seven subsequent university presidents lived in the house. Stratton D. Brooks, the university's third president, remodeled the house over a period of seven years between 1915 and 1922 into its current

Neoclassical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

style, paying for its four

Ionic column The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

s out of his own pocket. The house had no formal name; it was known as "The President's House", "The White House", or by the name of the occupant, i.e. " The Bizzell House". It hosted numerous significant historical figures, including

Sir Alexander Fleming Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist, best known for discovering the world's first broadly effective antibiotic substance, which he named penicillin. His discovery in 1928 of what ...

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dist ...

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

, and

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...

. In 1969 J. Herbert Hollomon, the university's eighth president, moved into a newer residence off campus that was purchased by the university for his use, and his successors continued to live in the same house. The old building sat vacant until 1971, when it became office space. It was used as the university's visitor center from 1979 to 1994. It was officially named Boyd House in 1982. As a condition of his employment by the university, then-incoming OU president

David L. Boren David Lyle Boren (born April 21, 1941) is a retired American lawyer and politician from the state of Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senat ...

insisted on living in Boyd House. Boyd House reopened as the official presidential residence in November 1996 following a $2 million privately funded renovation and expansion.

References

External links

Boyd House
- Norman Convention and Visitors Bureau Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Oklahoma University of Oklahoma campus Houses in Cleveland County, Oklahoma National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland County, Oklahoma Houses completed in 1906 1906 establishments in Oklahoma Territory {{UOklahoma-stub