Soon-To-Be On the Market: The Sallis House
by Lynne Rostochil
Last week, the Mod Squad was invited to tour a beautifully preserved MCM near Nichols Hills that is about to hit the market and is looking for only its third family to move in and become the home’s new caretakers:
When Glen Sallis wanted to build a new home for his family in 1961, he didn’t have to look far for an architect for the project. He turned to the man who had designed the building for his business, Associated Glass, back in 1956 — Fred Pojezny. If you’ve ever seen the elegant Associated Glass building (located at 124 NE 50th), you’ll immediately understand why Sallis was so eager to give Pojezny a call about his latest project. Here’s a not-so-great photo of the killer Associated Glass building:
As for their dream home, Glen and his wife, Jo, wanted a modest abode where they could raise their family and entertain their friends. Pojezny’s solution was a compact but well laid out, light-filled home that easily accommodated all of the family’s needs for over 40 years. At just over 1,700 sf, the three bedroom, two bath house is surprisingly spacious, with every last detail, from the abundance of built ins to the dramatic tiled entry, meticulously thought out by Pojezny:
Love that industrial-strength front door, too!
To the right of the entry is a large den with an angled fireplace and built-in seating:
Are you eyeing that nutty painting over the fireplace? Well, the current owner’s grandfather worked for a trucking company and received it as a retirement present. It’s crazy in a very cool way, especially when you know that it lights up. Yep, that’s right, it lights the heck up:
You can’t help but giggle in an admiring way when you see that, right?! Okay, enough of the fantastically cheesy painting and back to the house….
There are plenty of built-in shelves in the den, too. This view shows them and the easy flow between the common areas of the house:
Back at the entry, if you walk straight ahead, you’re in the living and dining areas, both of which look out through a wall of windows to the giant backyard:
Yes, that’s a wall of built ins on the back wall, and the entry to the kitchen is on the right. Here’s the dining room looking back toward the living room:
The living, dining, and den wrap around the galley kitchen, which becomes part of the common areas by means of transom windows that also provide plenty of natural light in what would otherwise be a cavernous room. Here’s a view of the window to the kitchen from the living room — note that the vertical lines in the window match up perfectly with the lines in the paneling below. Now you know what I mean when I say that Pojezny paid attention to every last detail in this splendid house:
Here’s another view of the kitchen. While the counters and backsplash have been updated, all of the cabinetry is original and is in great condition:
The L-shaped design of the Sallis house allows for an open floor plan for the common areas but quiet and privacy in the bedroom wing of the house. The first room in this wing is the all original hall bath, complete with this oh-so cheerful tile in the shower and on one wall:
You’ve gotta love those sink fixtures, too:
Speaking of the hall bath, it also does double duty as a safe room, with thick concrete walls surrounding the room to protect against our fierce Oklahoma storms. Yep, Pojezny even thought of that.
Off of a long hallway with closets lining one side are three nice-sized bedrooms with the master at the back of the house:
The current owners updated the master bath, and it’s just as fun and stylish as the rest of the house. I want this wall covering!
As if all of the mid-century originality weren’t enough, the current owners inherited a complete set of original blueprints when they bought the house soon after Jo Sallis died in 2002:
How fun it is to look over old drawings such as these and to realize they were completed by hand and with measurements taken by a slide rule — no fancy computers or calculators for Pojezny and his crowd, no way.
The current owners have enjoyed the Sallis house for many years, but they are moving on and are looking for the perfect owner to become the next steward of the property. If you think you may be that person, go to our Okie Mod Squad page on Facebook, leave a note, and I’ll put you in touch with the owners.
As for Fred Pojezny, learn more about him and his work in the next Mod Blog.