ABOUT VILLA TERESA

A Neighborhood Anew

A school, a sanctuary, a safe haven—once home to the Carmelite Convent, purchased in 2017, by Marva Ellard and Billy Woodring, Villa Teresa has reimagined the residential and repurposed the metropolitan. Tucked behind the towering oaks and overlooking the city center, Villa's spacious flats and tri-level townhomes present a balanced life in the bustling core of the community. The historic grounds provide easy access to Oklahoma City's dynamic downtown districts while maintaining a level of solitude scarcely found in the city center.

Tucked behind the towering oaks and overlooking the city center, Villa's spacious flats and tri-level townhomes redefine life in Midtown. Designed by Fitzsimmons Architects, Villa Teresa Residences' contemporary architecture presents a modern reflection of the historic neighborhood—an effort to preserve and protect the site's story. The pitched silhouettes, the meticulous masonry, the metal accent work, each element of design calls back to the ground's premier Catholic institutional namesake and the surrounding collection of beloved architecture.

At the intersection of Classen and Dewey, Villa Teresa is tucked away behind a bustling midtown. After eighty years of life, Villa Teresa had sat vacant since 2012. Once home to the Carmelite Convent and the accompanying Catholic grade school, the grounds are positioned at the center of the City's fastest-growing communities. Villa Developers Marva Ellard and Billy Woodring have long been actively involved in the formation and growth of Oklahoma City's Midtown district. Over the years, a bond formed through overlapping philanthropic efforts, shared board memberships, and a mutual passion for preservation. In 2017, Ellard and Woodring purchased the property, committed to bestowing new life into the historic grounds.

Villa's revival establishes a foundation for a new Oklahoma City neighborhood—a transitional community, connecting historic housing to the north with the burgeoning city core to the south. True to the concept, Fitzsimmons Architects have married the classic with the contemporary, prioritizing the preservation, renovation, and repurposing of the celebrated property. The residential addition to the grounds conserves Villa's iconic character through complementary efforts, concentrated on the relationship with existing structures. The pitched silhouettes, the meticulous masonry, the metal accent work, each element of design calls back to the ground's premier Catholic institutional namesake and the surrounding collection of beloved architecture.

THE DEVELOPERS

A Passion for Preservation.

Marva Ellard and Billy Woodring have a proven commitment to this city's continued preservation. The Villa Teresa partners are looking forward to preserve the past.

Meet the Team