Westhope, Tulsa

Frank Lloyd Wright designed Westhope in 1929 for his cousin Richard Lloyd Jones.

The house is constructed from concrete blocks but unlike some of Wright's concrete block houses in Los Angeles, Westhope has large expanses of glass and has a very bright and airy feeling inside.

In particular I love the stepped glass nook that Wright has created in the windows shown from outside in the photo at the top of this post and then from inside in the final picture.

Other Links:
Tulsa Preservation Commission
Tulsa Gentleman
Galen R Frysinger

A House in Tulsa

A modernist house in Tulsa with a simple metal balcony curving around the rounded corner of the house.

The house also has a porthole window and there is also a flight of stairs leading to what is probably a flat roof.

A Door in Tulsa

I love the simple lines of this door in Tulsa.

It has a musical feel to it with the oval elements that are balanced by the series of three ramrod straight supports on the hinged side.

I wonder what lies behind this stylish door?

Shakespeare Monument, Tulsa

Woodward Park in Tulsa, OK has a rare Art Deco style monument to English playwright William Shakespeare.

The Tulsa Historical Society credit the design to sculptor Eugene Shonnard and local arts matriarch Adah Robinson.

Otherwise there is very little information concerning this stylish memorial.

former Brook Theatre, Tulsa

The Brook Theatre in Tulsa was designed by William Henry Cameron Calderwood in 1945.

It is now the Brook Restaurant and Bar and it is nice to see that the vertical fin displaying the Brook name has been retained.

The marquee on the front has also been retained and is now used to display selected items from the menu.

Deco Plaques, Tulsa

Here is a collection of plaques from a building in Tulsa. Either the building is not that interesting or I am an idiot, possibly both. In any case I don't have a photo of the building as a whole so I don't know what it is or even where, in Tulsa, it is. I suspect it is a market building and these are the products for sale.

A Ram

A Lobster

A Bull

Vegetables

A Turkey

A House in Tulsa

This is a nice house in Tulsa.

Nice deco features like the small porch barely covering the door and the rounded room at the front of the house contrasting with the rectangle of the rest of the structure. Great use of glass bricks maintaining privacy but still allowing the like into the house.

I like the narrow window near the front door. Half the size of the windows on the upper level and the one between the sections of glass bricks.

No doubt, though, my favourite part of this house is the zigzag railing on the on the raised patio along the frontof the house. Simple, clean lines. A real beauty.

Mayo Motor Inn, Tulsa

This landmark parking garage in downtown Tulsa is a streamline beauty.

Desgned by Leon B. Senter and Associates, the Mayo Motor Inn was built in 1950 which is late for a deco building. So as you would expect, it is a very simple building relying on a sleek horizontal profile with speedlines providing decoration

I love the sign which although it is large does not overpower the building. I think this is because the vertical sign is used to balance the horizontal bulk of the rest of the building.

It is almost worth taking the car just to park here.

City Veterinary Hospital, Tulsa

Sometimes you find yourself in a foreign city, on a bus, camera in hand and a deco building comes into view and you attempt a quick photo.

Often the results are complete rubbish but sometimes everything aligns. The trees and the lamp posts and the cars and the pedestrians and any number of other things leave enough of a gap to get a clear shot. Sometimes it is even in focus.

This is the City Veterinary Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A modest building but anice use of squares, stepped back curved ends and extensive use of glass bricks.

Just don't ask me where it is, I was up the back of the bus with the other naughty kids.

Misi Company, Tulsa

The Misi Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma occupy a modest art deco building away from the downtown area.

I like the way all the decoration comes from the way the bricks have been laid.

The doorway is stepped back under a fantastic asymetrical pediment. Although it is mostly a large rectangular expanse of brick, there is decoration to provide some interest in the three recessed bands around one side and the curved tops to the columns on both sides.

The simple window is set into the corner of the building further breaking the hard lines of the bricks.

There is also interest in the circular step in at the door and the curved end to the concrete path in front of the lawn area.

It is a shame that there sign is a little too large and just a bit too close to the building but then I suppose they could of stuck it above the door whoch would have been much worse.

Will Rogers High School, Tulsa, OK

Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma is a fine example of Public Works Administration (PWA) Art Deco architecture.

PWA was established under U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to boost public building programs during the 1930s depression.

Architects Joseph R. Koberling jr, Leon B. Senter and A.M. Atkinson collaborated to design the Will Rogers High School which was opened in 1939.

The school consists of a two storey brick building with two large square towers marking the entrances. There is a large amount of detailed decoration on the building facade.

Under the classroom windows there are blue-grey panels with intricate decoration. Above the windows and the tops of the towers are decorated in a light pick colour. The decoration continues down the towers to the doorways which have two large black lamps standing on either side.

The slightly more decorative tower has a white panel directly above the doors and then two octagonal medallions featuring Will Rogers, one in a cowboy scene and the other with a movie camera, plane and rodeo rider. “Will Rogers High School” is inscribed in gold below these medallions.

The plainer of the towers has a simple row of windows directly above the doors with two similar octagonal medallions this time featuring representations of a male and female student.

Will Rogers High School was one of the many highlights of the 6th World Congress on Art Deco hosted by the Tulsa Historical Society in 2001.