More than a century after its construction, 29 Park Place has served as the home of many Ohio University presidents. That includes current President Roderick McDavis and his wife Deborah, who have hung their hats across the street from Alden Library for almost a decade — despite persistent rumors that the couple resides elsewhere.
“It’s an enigma, it seems to me,” said Deborah McDavis, who says she’s heard rumors that she and her husband live in Lancaster, not Athens. “It’s intriguing that there are those who think we don’t live here.”
However, OU presidents are contractually obligated to live in the university’s President’s Residence, said Becky Watts, McDavis’ chief of staff.
A historic home
In 1898, Henry O’Bleness built the home for Clinton L. Poston, an Athens coal-mine owner and business executive. His daughter Marie and her husband Dr. Thomas Biddle — after whom Biddle Hall on East Green is named — then inherited the home in 1920.
Biddle served on the OU Board of Trustees from 1900 to 1951 and arranged for Ohio University to purchase the home.
OU did so in 1951 for $60,000, and it has housed seven OU presidents since. In 1995, the house was valued at
$1.4 million.
“Homes like the presidents’ house, various buildings around the city and the brick streets are all important,” said Ron Luce, executive director of the Athens County Historical Society & Museum. “(They all) offer flavor that is different from other areas … and in a sense, that is what makes us special.”
Updates and Stylistic changes
Each presidency has brought its own interior style and design, Deborah McDavis said.
One of the more notable changes was made by former president Vernon Alden’s wife Marion, who painted the majority of the Victorian oak staircase that winds through all three stories of the house.
Alden served as president from 1962 to 1969.
René Glidden, wife of Robert Glidden who was president from 1994 to 2004, later had the staircase stripped of the white paint and restored. To save money, she did much of the labor herself while the house was under a $620,000 renovation in 1995.
After Roderick McDavis became OU’s president in summer 2004, he and his wife relocated to the guesthouse behind 29 Park Place. Later that fall, they moved into the Mediterranean style manor where they have lived for eight years. The McDavises are the first presidential couple to use the residence’s first floor exclusively for entertaining and social purposes rather than as a living space.
“That whole first floor really is just set aside for events,” Watts said, adding that the McDavises reside on the home’s second and third floors, “and I think that might be another one of the reasons folks think they’re not there.”
The McDavises spend most of their time in the third-floor attic, Deborah said, adding that the small flat contains a kitchenette, a set of their favorite chairs and a television.
“We come and go so much,” she said. “He certainly is on the go more than I am. That’s about as much space as we need.”
A portion of the first floor was deemed the “Bobcat Room,” in which OU memorabilia are displayed, including a full-length oar from the crew team along with a football from the football team’s first bowl victory.
That first-floor space is most busy during the springtime, Watts said, as the McDavises host dinners for trustees as well as Fulbright, Urban and Appalachian scholars.
“It’s 24/7. This is a 24/7 job, position, being involved in campus life,” Deborah said. “But it’s fun. We both love it.”
Some of the greatest moments living in the Presidents’ Residence are those with previous presidents and their families, Deborah said.
“It is majestical to be able to sit down and talk to presidents who have been here, who have served,” Deborah said. “I never thought we’d be here over five years. … Time has really gone.”
mt360307@ohiou.edu
