Brookhaven

On the brink of Oklahoma City’s bustling urban core, just blocks from Interstate 44, Brookhaven’s shade-dappled residential streets feel like a refuge. “It really lives up to its name,” says Jim Miller, a top Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Elite. “It’s surprisingly quiet, given the neighborhood is surrounded by so much,” he observes, noting that the towering trees whose canopies often form arches over the winding roads act as a natural buffer between the homes and the buzzing metropolis around the corner. “It’s in one of the best locations in the city,” he adds. “The Penn Square Mall, Classen Curve and the highway are all so close. Even if you needed to go farther than down the street for something, you could get wherever you needed to go in 10 minutes or less.”

You’ll find a medley of architectural styles here, ranging from stone-clad cottages to Craftsman and Tudor-inspired bungalows. Many were built between the 1940s and 1950s. “The remodeling trend that’s sweeping through the urban core right now is moving this direction,” says Miller, noting that the wave began in the heart of the city with the early statehood and turn of the 19th-century homes, but is now rippling outward toward the city’s midcentury neighborhoods. “Oklahoma City was built in a circular fashion, with the most historic houses in the center and the newest on the outer rings,” he explains, adding: “The remodeling treatment is moving in the same way, so we’re seeing a lot of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s houses around here beginning to turn over.” Prices here hover between $200,000 and $360,000, with the median falling at around the $277,000 mark. “You’ll pay just slightly less than the median for the city here,” says Miller, acknowledging: “Of course, price largely depends on whether the house has been remodeled or not.” For a two-bedroom, one-bathroom brick cottage with a fresh coat of exterior paint, new farmhouse-inspired shutters, original patterned oak flooring throughout and new modern fixtures in the kitchen, you can expect to pay close to $280,000.

Brookhaven residents don’t need to venture far beyond their doorsteps for their everyday essentials. Two popular shopping and dining destinations, Penn Square Mall and the Classen Curve, are within a mile of most homes. “Penn Square is a classic mall, you’ve got everything you’d expect to find there, but Classen Curve is where you have your really high-end stores and upscale salons and barbers,” explains Miller. Brookhaven residents are spoiled for choice when shopping for their weekly groceries, too. Your local Walmart Supercenter is next to the mall just over half a mile west down 53rd Street, while Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are just beyond Classen Curve less than a mile north. And if you are looking to venture farther afield, with I-44 less than a mile away, Miller notes that Brookhaven is “a nice place to live to get anywhere fast.” He adds: “It’s easy to jump on the highway and head to all the cool neighborhoods in downtown and midtown, all the cool things happening there are only 15-minutes away tops.”

Many Brookhaven students attend Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Moon Middle and Douglass High School between preschool and 12th grade, all within the Oklahoma City Public Schools district. Douglass High, one of the oldest schools in the state, opened its doors in 1891 as the first African American school in OKC. Today, it’s known by locals fondly as the “Pride of the East Side.” Miller notes that Oklahoma City is also “an excellent place for highly rated charter schools,” noting that three of the most sought-after are Cleveland Elementary, Belle Isle Middle and Classen School of Advanced Studies. The application-based charter schools are all part of the Oklahoma City Public Schools system and draw students from around the metro. Both Cleveland and Belle Isle received B grades from Niche in 2023, while Classen SAS received an A-plus.

From its eclectic, competitively priced homes to its enviable location and stellar schools, it’s no wonder this OKC enclave is such a haven for its residents.

Written By

Megan Quintin

Photography Contributed By

Brian Lee

Video By

Stewart Taveras