Catherine Montgomery – a giant in preservation
By: J. David Chapman/March 3, 2022
Oklahoma City recently lost a leader in our industry. Catherine Montgomery’s legacy will continue to be seen in the many historic properties she helped save. I had the pleasure to serve with Catherine on the Positively Paseo (Community Housing Development organization) board of directors. It was one of the many BODs she served on throughout the years.
I first met Catherine while trying to save one of my own historical preservation projects in Edmond. I will never forget her technique of analyzing the building with her expertise in building preservation, but also her knowledge and proficiency in the use of tax credits to make it work. She was a perfectionist and just didn’t ever give up on a building or project. I appreciate that.
She started in the field of preservation back in 1999 as a preservation architect with the State Historic Office. She then worked with the city of Oklahoma City and guided preservation efforts and cataloging historic properties. Finally, in 2009 she started her own firm called Preservation Design Studios.
If you see an important landmark or historical property in the Oklahoma City metro, Catherine likely had a hand in saving and preserving the building. She was instrumental in helping John Weeman in the restoration of the Skirvin Hotel. She worked with Steve Mason on the Yale Theater in the Historic Capitol Hill District. She helped restore the Calvary Baptist Church building in the Deep Deuce district. She worked on saving the Milk Bottle building on Classen, and Lincoln Plaza near the Capitol. She was instrumental in assisting Chris Fleming and Mickey Clagg in the many historic buildings they have saved in Midtown. More recently she worked with Marva Ellard on both the Sunbeam home and Villa Teresa project, also in Midtown.
One of my favorite characteristics of Catherine was her tenacity. She was not always successful in saving every building – nobody is, but it was not for her lack of effort. Some examples of her efforts that were not successful were the 1931 Oklahoma City Police Station, Stage Center and the 1902 India Temple buildings. They were all demolished, but she raised the awareness of the importance of saving historic places and buildings for future generations in every occurrence.
RIP Catherine Montgomery!
J. David Chapman is professor of finance and real estate at the University of Central Oklahoma (jchapman7@uco.edu).