Category Archives: My World

That’s My World – Tulsa’s Midcontinent Tower

The Midcontinent Tower in downtown Tulsa at 37 stories is one of the tallest buildings in town. What most people don’t know is that it is actually two buildings. One built in 1918, the other built in 1984 and they don’t touch other.

As people working for foundation repair lafayette say, the quality of the foundation is the soul of the building. This would have been the secret here. The original building was built by Tulsa Oilman Joshua Cosden in 1918 in a tudor gothic style. It is 16 stories tall. The building passed along various owners to Reading and Bates Corporation, an offshore drilling company. By this time the building was known by its present name, the Midcontinent Building. R&B renovated the building in 1982. In 1984 they built the Midcontinent Tower. It’s ground location is to the west of the original building but cantilevers over the Midcontinent Building by about 40 feet. The two buildings do not touch each other. In the lobby the building security people will show you the gap if you ask. There is a rubber expansion gasket to keep the elements out.

The two buildings are free standing, each with their own foundations. The older building is concrete, the newer building has a steel framework. If you want to level your home with Smart Foundation Systems, you could click here and get the best service.

As with most of the significant buildings in Tulsa the security guys will encourage you to wander around the public areas and take pictures to your heart’s content. The guard in this building had a four page handout he gave me. He said lots of people from all over the country come in to look around.

The lobby is very ornate with different types of marble on the walls and the floor and the striking sculpture above.

The exterior is very nice. The tower required 85,000 pieces of terra cotta. You can hardly tell the old building from the new building. The 1984 expansion was done very nicely.

The lobby has two stained glass panels showing a panoramic view of the Tulsa Skyline.

Below is one of two paintings hanging in the lobby by one of my favorite western artists,Wilson Hurley. Mr Hurley died in 2008 at 84 years old. I got to say hello to him a couple years before that when he was touching up a painting of his that hangs in the lobby of the building where I work.

In the basement is an example of the steel work that went into the tower. I find this kind of stuff fun.

The building is immaculate and they welcome visitors. If you find yourself in downtown Tulsa with a few spare minutes wander in and look at it.

For other photographs and information from just about everywhere check out My World.

My World – Modern Run

When Tulsa residents think about architecture they think about the art deco buildings downtown. These buildings have been documented well and many of them are well taken care of by their owners.

Just south of downtown are several modern buildings that are interesting either visually or historically. I went past several during a noon run last week.

First up is the Abundunt Life Building on South Boulder. It was built in 1957 by the Oral Roberts Ministries who occupied it until they moved to south Tulsa. There are all sorts of wild stories about the building during the Oral Roberts ownership. Since I don’t repeat rumors, you will have to read them yourself here. The building has been empty since the 1980’s. The city is after the present owner to bring into compliance with code.

Above is the “new” Mapco Building, below is the “old” Mapco building. Mapco was a natural gas liquid pipeline company that was purchased by Williams in 1997. I tried to do some research on the internet but was not able to find out when the buildings were built or who architect were.

The new building is very bold in design, but cool and corporate. The old building is warmer and humane but has two interesting features to me. One is the large flag that always flies over the building . The building overlooks Veteran’s Park which is the prime fireworks viewing spots on July 4. The flag always looks great with the fireworks.

The second feature is the cool little individual shades over the windows. It makes for interesting shadows during certain times of the day.

The new building has shades over the windows also. It can get hot in Oklahoma in the summer.

Below is an apartment building on my running route. I guess that you could call this modern in design. It looks better in the picture than it does in real life. It looks like it is made of reinforced concrete. It might stand up well in a tornado. Note the overhands at each level which could function to shade the windows.

Below is a more attractive modern apartment building. It is a Tulsa landmark and overlooks the river.
Below is the former Getty Oil building. This building has really grown on my over the years. The exterior lookss like it is a lattice. I never really noticed it before.

Below is the Blue Cross Blue Shield building. Again, it has overhangs that can shade the windows during the heat of the day.

That’s about it. What struck me about researching the more modern buildings compared to older buildings is the paucity of information about architects, builders, etc. Just like everything else we won’t appreciate many modern buildings until after they are are gone.

ModernTulsa is a web site and blog that is very useful in learning about modern buildings.

Check out My World for more photographs of our world, from all ove.

My World – Denver Museum of Nature and Science

SuperPizzaBoy and I were in Colorado attending the graduation of my niece Jillian. On the way back we had a few spare hours in Denver before going to the airport. We decided to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I had high expectations and they were exceeded.

We were there about 2 hours and maybe saw a fourth of it. Plus they have a planetarium and an Imax Theater. We did mainly the interactive science exhibits, the wildlife dioramas, and the Native American gallery. SPB and I strongly recommend this museum as a place to go. Budget all day if you have it.

Infrared image of SuperPizzaBoy.

Interactive Map of the World

Walruses or Sea Lions? Go find out.

Nice view of downtown Denver.

For other views of the world check out That’s My World.

Downtown on Dwellable

My World – Philtower Building

Philtower was completed in 1928 by oilman Waite Phillips, brother of the more famous Frank Phillips of Phillips Petroleum Corporation. Its not really art deco but a neo-gothic design with art deco touches. It fits in very well with the other buildings downtown.

Its a great building and all that but the real interesting thing about it, to me, is that Phillips deeded the building to the Boy Scouts of America in 1941 to finance operations of the Boy Scout camp Philmont a huge ranch in northern New Mexico, that he also donated to the scouts. If you have been involved in scouting you should have at least heard about Philmont.

In 1977 a group of local investors purchased the building from the Boy Scouts. They have kept the building in excellent condition. They converted 10 floors to residential apartments. If you are in the market you can check it out here. The site has a lot more photographs (better photos to be sure) and more historical information.

Philtower has its own gallery on the first floor with original floorplans and architectural drawings. It is very cool.
The building has a very ornate lobby. It is not gold leaf like the Philcade across the street but still just as spectacular.
I just love stairways like this.

For more views of our shared world check out That’s My World.

My World – A noon walk in downtown Tulsa

Monday at noon was the best day so far this Spring here in Tulsa, OK. So I put my hat on, hooked up my ipod, turned it to Miles Davis, grabbed my camera and went for a walk.

On the north side of downtown I came across this crane. I love big manly machinery. I hope that they keep it here a while. I think they are going to demolish a condemned bridge over the railroad tracks. I’ll have to come by periodically and make sure they are doing it right. Also, look at the blue sky. Like I said it was a gorgeous day to be out and about.

I am just a kid when it comes to trains. I love them all.

This is the BOK Tower, built in the mid 1970’s. If it looks familiar it may be because it was designed by Minuru Yamasaki and Associates who also designed the World Trade Center buildings. The BOK tower is 52 stories and 667 feet tall which is almost exactly one half the height of the WTC buildings (1362 feet and 1368 feet). Supposedly the BOK tower is the tallest building in the plains states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. (Wow! the plains states are world renown for their real tall buildings!!)

Sign inside the BOK tower. I’ve never been in a building where walking is not permitted. Beware, we Okies can be strict! I confess, I willfully walked through the Upper Level Lobby. Just try and find me!

Gotta go, I’m on the run from the walking police. Thanks for visiting.

For other views of the world click on over to That’s My World.

My World – Antlers Oklahoma

Antlers, Oklahoma is a small community of about 3000 or so in Southeast Oklahoma. It is known as the “Deer Capital of the World” because of the large population of White Tail Deer in the surrounding area. It has a fine restored Railroad Depot home of the local Historical Society and the Chamber of Commerce. There are not too many other buildings of note in town.

What Antlers is really known for is having the biggest disaster that nobody ever heard of.

On April 12, 1945 an F5 tornado hit Antlers and killed 63 people. The same tornado continued on to the northeast eventually getting to Muskogee, Oklahoma. All told killing 86 people and injuring 690. It pretty much wiped out most of the buildings in town, except for the railroad depot.

You wonder why this didn’t get much publicity? Because President Franklin Roosevelt died the same day.

You want to know something more amazing? Especially about the weather here in Oklahoma? The Antlers tornado is rated only 16th on the worst weather disasters to hit Oklahoma in a list published by the National Weather Service. Its only number 3 on the tornado list. The worst tornado in Oklahoma was in Woodward, in the northwest part of the state, on April 9, 1947. It killed 181 people.

The Woodward tornado is rated only number 4 in the list of top Oklahoma weather disasters. The dust bowl during the depression is number 1.

Now you know why I get real nervous during tornado alerts. By the time Sweetie gets SuperPizzaBoy, the dogs, the cats, and her wedding glassware in our “safe place” she locks me out and wishes me luck! No room at the inn. That’s just one reason I call her Sweetie. She has her priorities in order.

For other pictures of the world around us check out That’s My World.

My World – Redbuds

This time of year, the state tree of Oklahoma, the redbud tree, blooms. They bloom before most other trees leaf out so it doubles the beauty.

For photographs of our world from all over click over to That’s My World.

My World – Casino Club

I love serendipity. It happened to me last week during a visit to dowtown San Antonio, Texas from my home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was walking around downtown and I saw a building with a muticolored top on it so I had to go investigate.

My photograph does not do the tiered roof justice. It really is very colorful and distinctive.

The building was called the “Casino Club Building” and was built in about 1927 to house the combined “Casino Association”, a German American Social Club and “San Antonio Club”, a literary club. The building has some Art Deco touches in the entrance in addition to the multicolored roof.

The Club did not survive the depression very well and the organization finally ceased operation in abut 1950.

The serendipity part happened when I got up close and read the historical plaque. It said the building was purchased by oilman Thomas Gilcrease in 1942. Thomas Gilcrease is the art collector who sold his extensive art collection to the City of Tulsa in 1955 that started the Gilcrease Museum which is famous for its collection of Western Art.

A little research showed that Mr. Gilcrease’s first museum was started in 1943 in San Antonio but he closed it shortly thereafter because of low attendance. I couldn’t determine if he used Casino Club building for the museum.

The building, which is right on the San Antonio Riverwalk was remodeled in 1978 for condos or apartments appears to be in excellent condition and well maintained.

To found out more about our world check out My World for photographs and stories from all over the world.

Brutalism in Tulsa, OK

I have to apologize for this post. I know that the implied requirement is to show “nice” things. I think I’ve done that with some of my earlier posts with photos of old trains and art deco buildings. Tulsa has a bunch of beautiful buildings, many art deco, many of other styles but on the west end of downtown sits a collection of butt ugly buildings.

I come to find out that these butt ugly buildings are of a style called “Brutalism” from the French “Breton Brut” which means raw concrete. It is a style of architecture which is supposed to be true to the materials of which the building is constructed. Most of the time that is concrete. The style was started by a French guy named Corbusier. Many college campuses have lots of Brutalist Buildings. I knew that they were ugly. I just didn’t know that ugly had its own name.

The architecture is certainly true to its material with no decoration but it is ugly. The buildings in Tulsa that I am referring is a complex of the City County Library, old City Hall, Police Headquarters, and the Civic Arena. They are all grouped together and share one of those wide expanses of concrete which is supposed to be a plaza but is brutally cold or hot, depending on the season, but always windswept.

Civic Arena – Nice on the inside, Ugly on the outside. Being remodeled to a convention center with lots of meeting rooms.

Tulsa Police Headquarters

Slightly used vacant City Hall – Asking price about $1 million. Will probably have to be demolished.

Library – cramped outmoded. I love what’s inside but we need a new one. It will be a long time though.

For learning about other parts of the world we share check out That’s My World.

Scaled Back Dreams – Pythian Building

The Pythian Building in Tulsa, sometimes called the Gillette Tyrell Building started construction in 1929. Originally it was going to be a 3 story office building with a 10 story office tower. That topped with a penthouse. The stock market crash happened though and the owners did not build the hotel tower. This story sound familiar?

The exterior is mildly interesting if one knows what to look for. There is a lot of tilework set into the terra cotta. Really it is a an understated building on the outside.

The interior is another story. It is L shaped and has spectacular tilework on the floor and walls in shades of blues, reds, and creams. The ceiling of the lobby has a fake skylight that uses etched glass.

The tiles are durable also. I am told that the floor tiles have never been replaced. The building is fully occupied and the present owners are taking very good care of it.