Opening the doors to architectural gems and prestigious addresses for 53 years, the Symphony Show House is widely considered Oklahoma’s premier annual show house event. Whether starting with the blank canvas of a new home or the character of a historic manor, Show House designers deliver a magical transformation.

More than just a home tour, Symphony Show House is a vital source of charitable fundraising for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s Music Education programs. These programs serve more than 28,000 Oklahoma students each year.

The 2026 Symphony Show House

Wilshire Gardens

2203 E Wilshire Blvd

Nestled beneath a canopy of mature trees at the end of a stone-lined drive, the historic Tudor-style home has been meticulously preserved. The original structure was built in the 1920’s and used as an office, and living spaces were added in 1931. Today, the 11,169 sq. ft. home features a restored barrel-vaulted ceiling in hand-carved wood, a wood-paneled library, a beautiful limestone fireplace, and many sun-filled spaces.

The home sits on a twelve-acre country estate located only fifteen minutes from Oklahoma City. The grounds include fountains, statuary, lighted basketball and tennis courts, a 90,000-gallon swimming pool, a stocked pond, and stables.

Photography by Jim Felder Courtesy of the David Oliver Real Estate Group

Special private event bookings available at development@okcphil.org

Historic Narrative of the Residence

Decorator Showcase House · 2026

Local tradition holds that the origins of this remarkable residence are inseparable from the great oil boom that transformed Oklahoma in the early twentieth century. In the mid-1920s, at the height of the Seminole oil discoveries—when production from central Oklahoma was said to account for as much as 2.6 percent of the world’s oil supply – a young oil entrepreneur from Pennsylvania arrived in Oklahoma City, drawn west by opportunity.

Pennsylvania, of course, holds a singular place in petroleum history as the site of the first commercially successful oil well in the United States. For many early oilmen, the migration from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma represented not only a geographic journey, but the passing of the industry’s center of gravity from the Appalachian fields to the Mid-Continent.

With success came ambition. According to long-standing accounts, the entrepreneur commissioned the construction of a grand private residence in the mid-1920s on a lush, hilly tract in far northeast Oklahoma City—then a largely undeveloped area with only a scattering of modest homes and none approaching the scale or presence of what would later become known as Wilshire Gardens. The house stood as a bold statement of confidence, craftsmanship, and permanence at the edge of a growing city.

History, however, intervened. As oil markets fluctuated and the Great Depression took hold, fortunes changed. By the late 1920s or early 1930s, the original owner is believed to have returned to Pennsylvania, leaving behind a house whose grandeur exceeded the economic realities of the era. Like many great homes of its time, the residence endured a period of decline, its scale and ambition outpacing the circumstances of those years.

In the post–World War II era, the house’s story took a decisive turn. A prominent Oklahoma City restaurateur—newly educated, entrepreneurial, and deeply appreciative of the home’s architectural character—encountered the long-neglected mansion and recognized both its historic importance and its unrealized potential. Over the course of nearly two decades, while simultaneously building a successful restaurant career in Oklahoma City, he undertook an extensive and meticulous refurbishment of the property.

This restoration respected the residence’s original architectural heritage while thoughtfully enlarging and modernizing it for contemporary living. Modern mechanical systems, expanded living spaces, and the conveniences of postwar luxury were integrated with care, allowing the house to reemerge not as a replica of the past, but as a living, evolving home—faithful to its origins yet adapted for a new era.

Today, under the stewardship of DOLE Enterprises LLC, the residence continues this legacy of thoughtful preservation. Its selection as the 2026 Decorator Showcase House for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Society reflects nearly a century of architectural ambition, resilience, and renewal—an enduring testament to Oklahoma City’s cultural and economic history.