Modern Tulsa

I am pleased with these drafts for the new downtown baseball field, myself. What do you guys think? It appears to be pretty stylish and in keeping with the BOK arena. Can’t wait to head downtown for some baseball!

By P.J. LASSEK World Staff Writer – from Tulsa World

The exterior design of Tulsa’s downtown ballpark will incorporate brick, zinc and art deco details that reflect the history of the Greenwood District, where it will be built.

The design, created by HOK Sport Venue Event’s office in Kansas City, Mo., was approved by the Tulsa Stadium Trust during a special meeting Wednesday.

The ballpark, to be named ONEOK Field, will be home to the city’s Double-A baseball team, the Tulsa Drillers. During the team’s off-season, the stadium will have a variety of other events.

The $60 million project includes construction of a $39.2 million multipurpose stadium and acquisition of surrounding land for mixed-use redevelopment. The stadium construction is scheduled to be complete in time for the Drillers’ 2010 baseball season.

The Drillers’ owner, Chuck Lamson, is excited about the exterior design, which he said was the product of a “good, thoughtful process.”

Even though the appearance strays from the tradition of all-brick ballparks, “it’s unique with a warm and inviting feel,” he said.

The use of brick in the design “gives homage to the architect of the Greenwood and Brady districts, and having the zinc panels creates the uniqueness of a new structure,” he said.

An initial design concept released last year was discarded. It resembled Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture style with flat roofs, horizontal lines and stone, steel and glass construction material.

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I was just reading a great PDF discussing our states most endanged places. Of our state Tulsa has quite a few on the list including Midtown (yes, the entire Midtown), The Tulsa Club, The Ponca City Savings and Loan and Tulsa Downtown YMCA.

Midtown Tulsa

Threat: Inappropriate infill, commercial encroachment
“McMansions.”  “Trophy Homes.”  “Plywood Palaces.”  Whatever the name, these “super-sized” new homes are replacing the historic homes of Midtown Tulsa. This national trend, combined with commercial encroachment on Midtown’s fringes, threatens the character of this neighborhood.

Tulsa Club

Bruce Goff designed this eleven story building. It was joint effort between the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and the Tulsa Club. The first five floors of the building were occupied by the Chamber and other business organizations while the top six floors and the roof garden were inhabited by the Tulsa Club. The club had a gymnasium and barber shop. The club’s interior had Art Deco ornamentation including fireplace tiles. The threat is demolition by neglect. The building sits empty and has for years, with little or no maintenance.

Tulsa Downtown YMCA

The “Y”, 1953, was designed by Leon B. Senter and his son Leon B. Senter, Jr. The senior Senter was an architect for Will Rogers Hill School. The building is being vacated as the “Y” moves homeless and poor men into other accommodations away from the vicinity of the BOK center. Any vacant building is threatened, but this is classic early 1950s architecture has been a landmark in downtown Tulsa.

Ponca City Savings and Loan

The Ponca Savings and Loan building was designed by architect Robert E. Buchner, c. 1956. This is a gem of a
small mid-century modern building which is threatened by demolition. In fact the entire southern portion the block is threated with demolition including a 1960s drive-through bank which sits to the east of this building. Someone painted over the lovely green marble walls with white paint, but otherwise the building is in good condition.

Oklahoma Preservation has done a nice job putting this document together. Thank you.

Download the 2009 Oklahoma’s Most Endangered Places Book – PDF

As mentioned in the Kershner post, one other Tulsa residence, the Jones House, was featured in Arts & Architecture. Robert Lawton Jones designed the house, which was featured in the July 1960 issue of A & A, as his personal residence in 1959. Jones was the ‘Jones’ in the Tulsa architectural firm Murray Jones Murray that designed many of Tulsa’s iconic mid-century buildings such as the Tulsa International Airport, the Civic Center (as well as the unbuilt Civic Center), Central Park Apartments (7th & Frisco), First Place Tower, and were the associate architects on the Edward Durrell Stone-designed Assembly Center (convention center).

In addition to being featured in A & A, the German publications of Bauen + Wohnen (Jan. 1961) and Schoner Wohnen (Sept. 1963) also featured the 2800 square foot house. According to the Tulsa Preservation Commission, the Jones House was the first International Style residence built in Oklahoma (anyone know of the second?), which makes sense because Jones studied under Mies van der Rohe while attending graduate school at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The TPC also states that other than Goff’s Bavinger House, the Jones House is the most recognized Oklahoma residence built in the last 50 years. Personally, I much prefer the Jones House. The house’s listing in the National Register of Historic Places confirms the house’s importance in a few ways. First, the house’s listing is not part of a historic district, but is individually listed. Secondly, the house was listed in 2001 when it was only 42 years old. This is significant because generally, properties less than 50 years are not considered eligible for listing in the register. There are a few exceptions, one of them being, “a property achieving significance within the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance” (from the SHPO’s NR criteria). So there you have it, the Jones House is of exceptional importance. Here are some of the scanned pages from the various magazines.

The Jones House, Tulsa

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