Among the original residents of the block, few were better known than Joseph A. Frates, Jr., the man who bought this house from Nichols in 1919.Joseph, Jr., the son of railroad magnate Joseph A. Frates, Sr., was vice president and general manager for his father’s railroad enterprises, the Oklahoma and Southwest Railroad, the Miami Mineral Belt Railroad, and the Oil Field Shortline Railroad.

Young Frates also was president of the Buckshot Mining Company and the Slick Townsite Company, a venture named for his uncle, Tom Slick, a famous oilman known across the nation as “king of the wildcatters.” In 1924 Frates organized the Frates Insurance Company and moved to Tulsa.

In 1973 the home was purchased by K. Alex Lydzinski, a native of Poland who moved to Oklahoma City in 1969 to play cello in the Oklahoma City Symphony Orchestra. He held master’s degrees in literature and music from the Copernicus College and Conservatorium of Music, Torun, Poland, and the London Violoncello School and College for English Literature in London, England.

‍