Tag Archives: Buildings

Tulsa’s “Top of the Town 2018” – Exploring Tulsa’s Notable Buildings

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Thursday night Heather and I attended a fund raiser “Top of the Town” in downtown Tulsa benefiting  the Community Service Council of Tulsa, a social services organization

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So you pay some money, you get a wrist band, and you get access to some cool buildings downtown that are not public. So we got to see some really neat rooftop patios, and a deluxe apartment and other spaces. They had some kind of either drink or food or both at each place.

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This is the old Petroleum Club. It went defunct years ago and now some internet based company ripped out the flooring, ceilings, wall coverings, put in some funky lights and miles of tables. Cool, trendy, yes and I think a comment on where our society and culture is going. Things are changing, whether we want them to or not is what I say.

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We got to go into somebody’s private apartment in another building. I fell in love with the place. I loved this cozy space in the corner with the big windows. We have three dogs though who are thoroughly spoiled and like going outside a bunch to do their business and give the neighbors a good barking. And books, the people that live there are readers, reading decent books.

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And from the living space you open a big double door into an office suite. How nice is that!! I don’t know though, that may not be enough space.

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One of the neat things about Top of the Town is that from one party you could see the other parties going on. We attended all of them, except for the VIP venue. I heard it wasn’t that good. sniff, sniff.

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And here is another one attended.

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And yet another.

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And got to photograph and see some great buildings from the oil capital days.

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And here is the Mayo Hotel with its beautiful terra cotta details and the big neon sign. I love that sign but it is hard to get a decent pic of it.

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And one of my favorites, actually a little bit out of downtown. Bruce Goff’s magnificent Boston Avenue Church in all its art deco glory.

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We enjoyed music at several venues.

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We ended up at the 110 West Seventh Street building, everybody calls it the Oxy Building or the Cities Service building. I worked in the building up until 19 years ago. The top floor was out of date back then, and they haven’t changed a thing!

We had a great time!!

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New Building in Town

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As my knee is getting stronger I am back to walking around downtown like I used to only not quite as far. Tuesday I strolled to the east side and checked out the progress on a new building. I swear they have been building this thing for a long time.20180109-114250-3

I kind of like its modern design with steel beams, lots of glass, balconies, and geometric theme. It is some sort of technology company I think and it looks almost ready to move in. Sorry for the dull pics. It was very overcast.

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I posted this photo on Instagram. It is the “Urban” filter on the Prisma app. I love prisma. Maybe I love it too much.

What have you been up to lately?

Abundant Life Building – former Oral Roberts Ministry Headquarters

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On my evening run I passed this big ugly hulk just south of downtown. It is the Abundant Life building that was built in the mid 1950’s by Oral Roberts as headquarters for his ministry. The building has been abandoned for many years now. It was last used as an office by Southwestern Bell in the 1980s. More information can be found at the Historic Tulsa and Abandoned Oklahoma sites. Abandoned Oklahoma has some shots of the interior including the marble entryway.

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The building is strange because it has no windows. It has changed hands several times and plans are announced for redeveloping it. I just cannot see how that would work for such a big ugly building with no windows. I hate to see old buildings torn down but it seems that options are few for this structure.

Clinton, Oklahoma’s Acme Brick Park

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My wife has family in western Oklahoma in the oilfield and farming town of Clinton. Clinton is right on I40 and Route 66 runs right through it and so it is town with a lot going on. My favorite part of Clinton are my wife’s family who are very friendly, open, and hospitable. My favorite place to hang out is a city park called Acme Brick Park. They have a recreation center, a small train, walking paths, lakes, and baseball fields and gets a lot of use and that is all great and anything but my favorite part of the park is the old brick building,now, the recreation center.

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The building’s south side gets great sun and I just love the photographs. I know that I overdo them on Instagram but I can’t help it. Maybe it is the combination of the green roof and the red brick, I don’t know.

What about you, do you have something you photograph maybe way too much?

Abandoned Buildings – The Catron Building

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On a lunchtime geocaching expedition to a not great area of Tulsa just to the west of downtown Tulsa on West Admiral I found this gem of a building. It looks abandoned but there is a shiny mail slot in the door to the right and a city garbage container to the left. This looks like it used to be stores below and apartments or offices above. I”m trying to figure out what it used to be.  I love mysteries like this.

Weekend Reflections – Granite and Glass

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This is the building where I work. The building is polished granite and glass and its modern exterior stands out in Tulsa’s mostly art deco style buildings. I took this shot from the parking garage across the street. I liked how the building reflected the sky to the east, and another high rise.

The building started out as Cities Service Oil Company’s new headquarters at 52 floors but before construction could get very far there was first an oil bust and then Boone PIckens who drove Cities into the arms of Occidental Petroleum who decided to make it 37 floors and then they decided to sell it to my employer who capped it at 17 floors. So it is “hell for stout” as we say in Oklahoma. A 17 story building with foundations and steel structure designed for 52. Plus we have lots of elevators!  We can still feel the earthquakes we are having in Oklahoma.

Linking with Weekend Reflections

Shadow Shot Sunday – Villa Philbrook

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The Philbrook Museum of Art is one of my favorite picture taking places. From the galleries to the gardens to the building itself it is a great place to take your camera. It is an “Italian Renaissance Villa” built in the late 1920’s by  Tulsa oilman Waite Phillips for his home. He later donated it to the City of Tulsa for use as a museum. It has grown since then and is a treasure.  We have a membership, courtesy of my sweet MIL, so I go there ever month or so just to walk around with my camera. I have been there dozens of times over the years and always find something new.

Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday

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Thorncrown Chapel – Eureka Springs, Arkansas

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Thorncrown Chapel is a beautiful wood and glass chapel set in a forest near Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It is absolutely beautiful.

I used to Topaz Impressions to make the photograph look more like a painting. I’ll tell you thought that there is nothing like being there for this gem of a building.

Previous Post on Thorncrown Chapel

Linking with NF Digital Arts Meme

Foto Friday Fun – 918 Edition

#brick #reflections #downtown #tulsa #918

This is an office building in downtown Tulsa. I like to wander around town during my lunch hour taking photographs of what I see. I use a variety of cameras. I took this one with my Apple Ipod Touch using the Hipstamatic App. I love using different filters and effects and Hipstamatic has quite a few to play with. I’m not much of a purist when it comes to “SOOC” and I don’t think that the term has any meaning any more with all the various things that can be done “in camera” with images. I also love posting images on Instagram. Check the sidebar for my latest Instagram photos.

I’m participating with Gaelyn’s “Foto Friday Fun” meme. Go check it out, come up with a number and she’ll match the number with a photo from her archives. And her archives contain tens of thousands of great photographs.