Phillips donated the building to the Boy Scouts of America in 1941. He also donated well over 100,000 acres of one of his ranches to the Scouts (in addition to the oil industry, he also invested in ranching and owned large tracts of land). The Scouts sold Philtower in 1977 to a partnership of local investors, which still owns it today.&nbsp;

The Philtower Building was constructed in 1928 by philanthropist and oilman Waite Phillips.

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Built in 1928 by successful oil businessman Waite Philips (1883-1964) to house offices, the Philtower is one of Tulsa's most notable landmarks. It stands at 323 feet high and has 24 floors; floors 12-20 were renovated into apartments in 2004. As constructed by an oilman, Philtower represents the emergence and growth of the city's booming oil industry. The building is also significant in that it introduced Art Deco architecture to the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 for its association with Phillips, the oil industry, and its architecture. Phillips also built a mansion here in Tulsa called Philbrook, which is now the Philbrook Museum of Art.

Philtower Building

This short walk through downtown Tulsa starts at the Woodie Guthrie Center and takes users south down Boston Avenue with stops at the Tulsa Tribune Building, Union Depot, the Tulsa Art Deco Museum, and other landmarks. More entries will be added soon. 

Woody Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma. He was exposed to music at an early age as his father and mother were both interested in music. His father, who was a politician, cowboy, and land speculator, taught him Western and Indian songs as well as Scottish folk tunes. His mother knew many songs—Guthrie called her an "ear musician"—and she played the piano and sung to him. Through his parents, Guthrie developed a keen sense for music and stories, and he was always willing to learn about the world around him. He also learned to play the guitar and harmonica.  Unfortunately, Guthrie experienced tragic personal losses growing up, which influenced his songwriting. His sister, Clara, died in a fire that burned down the family house and his mother was placed in an insane asylum for Huntington's Disease when Guthrie was a young teenager. Additionally, his father ran into serious financial trouble after some of his real estate deals failed, which forced his father to find work in Texas. To earn money, Guthrie started to busk (perform on the streets); this enabled him to develop his musical skills and social views. He married his first wife, Mary Jennings, at the age of 19 in Texas (he moved there to live with his father) and they had three children together. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl forced Guthrie to leave his family in 1935 and head west to look for work. He traveled via hitchhiking and riding freight trains, and he would perform as often as he could, usually in homeless and migrant camps. Sometimes performing was the only way he could eat. It was through these experience that Guthrie gained a sense of solidarity for workers' rights and other liberal causes. He also developed a love for the road. Guthrie's first big break came in 1937 in Los Angeles when he got a job as a radio performer singing Oklahoma ("Okie") folk songs with partner Maxine "Lefty Lou" Crissman. Over time, Guthrie incorporated his populist political and social views into his songs. This earned him increasing fame, especially in the migrant worker community. He made his way to New York City in 1940 where he met and collaborated with other well-known musicians including Pete Seeger. Guthrie played a key role in pushing folk music as a social force during the early 1940s. As a result, his stature rose significantly around the country. In 1943, he wrote the iconic populist American song "This Land is Your Land." Guthrie also married his second wife, Marjorie; they had four children together. Towards the end of the 1940s, Guthrie started to exhibit signs of the disease that killed his mother. He decided to go on the road and traveled to California again, where he met and married his third wife, Anneke (they had a daughter, his eighth child). The disease became worse by the end of the 1950s and Guthrie had to be hospitalized for the rest of his life. He passed away on October 3, 1967.

The Woody Guthrie Center preserves and promotes the life and legacy of one of America's most influential singer-songwriters, Woody Guthrie (1912-1967). To center features an interactive museum with many of Guthrie's items on display including musical instruments, original artwork, and notebooks and lyrics. There are photographs and memorabilia on display as well, and visitors can also hear samples of his music and watch a short biographical film. The center also honors the legacy of Guthrie's son, Arlo, who became an internationally known songwriter and activist in his own right. Many of his items are on display including the guitar he played at Woodstock, original handwritten lyrics, and some of his photographs. Another highlight of the center is the archives, which contains the largest collection of Woody Guthrie primary materials in the world. The archives also contains materials of singer-songwriter Phil Ochs (1940-1976) who was known for music and social activism. The center also offers a variety of events and educational opportunities.

Woody Guthrie Center

The Tulsa Tribune was established by an experienced editor named Richard Lloyd Jones, Sr. A native of Illinois, Jones was the editor of&nbsp;Collier's and&nbsp;Cosmopolitan magazines and the&nbsp;Wisconsin State Journal. In 1919, Jones bought the&nbsp;Tulsa Democrat, which he would later rename the&nbsp;Tulsa Tribune on January 1, 1920. In 1941, the Tulsa Tribune and another newspaper,&nbsp;Tulsa World,&nbsp;merged to form the Newspaper Printing Corporation. This agreement allowed the two newspapers&nbsp;to share the use of&nbsp;the same printing plant to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The Jones family owned the Tribune&nbsp;until financial losses led the family to&nbsp;cease operations in 1992.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As its name indicates, the "gravity system" was a process that used gravity to support the operations needed to create and print newspapers. For example,&nbsp;editors' offices were located on the top floors which allowed editors and managers to send messages down to various departmental offices without the use of pneumatic tubes. The process also used gravity in the printing process as the pages of the paper worked their way down through the press until the completed newspaper reached the trucks waiting on the bottom floor. The process also used gravity to recapture unused ink.

Now a residential building known as the Tribune Lofts, the former Tulsa Tribune Building was the home of the city's afternoon newspaper of the same name from 1924-1942. The paper was founded in 1919 and this building was the state's first purpose-built newspaper plant. For the first time in Oklahoma, newspapers printed at this plant utilized the "gravity system" which had become widely adopted by some of the largest newspapers around the country such as the New York Herald. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Tulsa Tribune Building

As you first walk across the
pedestrian overpass at Boston and Archer in downtown Tulsa, this 8-foot
diameter concrete and brick circle doesn’t look like much. The circle is
located directly over the nearby train tracks, which rumble as freight carriers
roll through town. Chances are, you’ve climbed the steps to get a closer look
at the imposing steel cloud sculpture that looms above. To truly appreciate
this circular cement wonder, you must first make a sound—speak, yell, shout,
sing! Notice how distorted your voice sounds, even though everyone else inside the circle thinks you sound fine.
Notice how you will hear the echo, but nobody standing outside the circle will hear that echo—perhaps because they will be
too busy marveling at how distorted your voice sounds to them. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 

This unnerving acoustic anomaly has
been entertaining Tulsans and visitors since it was first installed in 1991. Nobody
is 100% certain how the “Center of the Universe” effect works. The best theory
is that the planters around the circle help create a parabolic reflector that
distorts sound coming from within it. At one time, the echo/distortion effect
was more pronounced. When it was first built, visitors standing outside the
circle would not be able to hear the person speaking at the center of the
circle, or the echo of their words. The person in the center would hear a
distorted version of their own voice and the echoes of a normal-sounding voice.
As the architectural landscape around the site changed, the acoustic anomaly
dampened and changed. Nonetheless, it is still pretty interesting. 

The Center of the Universe is sharply
punctuated by the impressive “Artificial Cloud” which looms over the circle. Crafted
by Warm Springs Apache artist <a href="http://www.bobhaozous.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Bob Haozous</a>,
“Artificial Cloud” is a highly symbolic work about how humanity continually
allows technology to ruin our relationship with nature. Haozous crafted the
sculpture out of mild steel, and the installation is “meant to corrode,
depending on the level of pollutants in the environment.” As it deteriorates
from pollution, the sculpture enacts the Haozous’ prophecy of humanity’s self-doom.
Haozous specifically chose the location of the bridge because the train tracks
are the “demarcation line between the white Tulsa and the Black Tulsa…I said, ‘This
is gonna mark where the races clashed. A reminder not only of the destruction
of the environment…but also the spiritual destruction of mankind, with people,
right there.’ They didn’t want to put it there.”

The lower base features steel rings
that resemble shackles. These shackles have two main meanings. They represent
the shackles that were placed on America’s indigenous peoples, as they were
forcibly removed from their homelands and onto reservations.&nbsp; They also represent how humanity increasingly
shackles itself to technology. The four-sided center section features cut-outs
of human beings, human hands, and airplanes in different patterns on each side.
On one side, most of the humans lack hands, and some lack legs. The second side
shows an organized grid of downward-pointed planes which begins to disintegrate
into a chaotic tumbling toward earth in the lower rows. Another side shows the
planes flying between the humans below and the cloud at the top of the
sculpture. According to Haozous, the cloud perched atop the thin pillar
“symbolizes a threatened hope.” Depending on the actions humanity undertakes in
the next generation, the cloud could avoid further decay from pollution and
remain aloft. This will only happen if we stop the destruction of our natural
environment. 

The Center of the Universe is a
well-known landmark in Tulsa and has had a few pop culture appearances.&nbsp; It appears in in a scene from Benjamin Lyttal’s
novel, “Map of Tulsa.” The site has been documented in Teri French’s travel
guide, “Tulsa’s Haunted Memories,” and P.J. Lassek’s “Oklahoma Curiosities, 2nd
Edition.” Perhaps the most unusual cultural offshoot of the site is the annual <a href="http://centeroftheuniversefestival.com/information/about-the-festival/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Center
of the Universe Festival</a>. The 2-day music and street art festival began in
2013 and takes place each July in the Brady Arts District not far from the site.

One of the most mysterious sites sought by visitors to Tulsa is the Center of the Universe/Artificial Cloud installation on the Boston Avenue pedestrian bridge downtown. 

Center of the Universe/ Artificial Cloud

Designed by R. C. Stephens of St. Louis, and built by Tulsa’s Manhattan Construction, this variegated stone structure is a beautiful example of Art Deco’s WPA-style architecture. The era’s fascination with machines and automation is revealed in the geometric shapes, stark symmetry, and sleek curvature of this depot, which was completed in 1931. At its height, the Tulsa Union Depot serviced up to 36 trains per day. The first central rail station for Tulsa, this Depot unified the Katy, Frisco, and Santa Fe lines under one station. The grand opening drew a crowd of over 60,000 people who watched speeches, Indian stomp dancing, and live music; the days-long event was broadcast live over the radio. Folks also got a gander at their first passenger train car, Frisco’s “Old 94,” during the proceedings.With the rise of the interstate highway system and commercial air transit, rail travel declined and took the Depot with it. In 1967, operations at the facility ceased, leaving the Depot officially defunct. The building sat empty for over a decade. In&nbsp;1980&nbsp;it was purchased by The Williams Companies, who hired the&nbsp;Urban Design Group and Manhattan Construction--the founders of which&nbsp;had built the Depot in the 30’s--to renovate the building. By the time the building was reclaimed, the roof had caved in. A lengthy 3-year renovation costing $6.5 million restored the original interior, wall moldings, and ceiling medallions as well as the original color and paint. In 1983, Urban Design Group finished the restoration and made their offices in the Depot alongside other Williams lessees. The restoration of the Union Depot was a defining moment in Tulsa’s historic preservation policy. The project demonstrated that restoring and adapting Tulsa’s gorgeous Art Deco buildings for new purposes was a commercially viable undertaking and a new way to capitalize on&nbsp;the city’s unique built environment.In 2004, Tulsa County purchased the Depot, intending that the building became the new home for the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. The organization officially relocated to the site in 2007, a move that brought the Hall of Fame’s administrative headquarters and performance headquarters under a single roof for the first time. The offices were scaled back and the large, open, central portion became a performance space and gallery, with soundproofing and stage lighting installed soon thereafter. In February of 2010, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame opened to the public. Every Tuesday from 5:30pm-10:00pm, bandleader and Hall of Fame CEO Chuck Cissel emcees jazz and blues concerts that are free and open to the public. The&nbsp;Hall of Fame gives free concerts during lunchtime on Thursdays and Fridays. Each year, the Hall of Fame’s annual induction banquet and concert is held on-premises, and the Depot is increasingly popular as a wedding and event celebration venue. The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame honors musicians and communities that created, shared, and supported music. This includes African American schools and communities that created and supported musicians and bands. When the Depression came, Kansas City jazz musicians hit the road to earn money when local clubs could not support all of the city's many jazz many musicians each night of the week. Tulsa, Muskogee, and Oklahoma City were major tour stops, and people came from all over to hear the swing and bebop styles of jazz. Several young musicians left their marching and concert bands to join the traveling troupes.&nbsp; Local legend says that a young vaudeville piano player called Bill Basie, whose troupe was quartered in a Greenwood hotel, first heard the wonders of jazz music in Tulsa. One night, he awoke to hear Walter Page’s Blue Devils playing a set, and became utterly besotted with jazz. Eventually, Bill became a bandleader and changed his name--to Count Basie.&nbsp; Or so the story goes…

Constructed in 1931, this historic Art Deco-style train depot is now home to the  Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame was founded by an act of the State Congress in 1988. Tulsa has always been a nexus for musical influences in the state, and as such made an ideal hometown for the Hall of Fame. Noted inductees include Kay Starr, Chet Baker, Oscar Pettiford, Jimmy Rushing, Howard McGhee, Frank Mantooth, Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, Patti Page, and Jay McShann. It is the goal of the organization to promote the “Kansas City” style of jazz, which was shaped in large part through the participation of Oklahoma’s jazz musicians, venues such as Cain’s Ballroom, and Oklahoma’s all-Black communities in El Reno, Greenwood, Langston, Clearview, and Boley.

Tulsa Union Depot- Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame

Joshua Cosden rose in the ranks of the oil industry to become a very rich man. He admired the architecture in New York City, especially that of the Woolworth Building. He hired its architect, Cass Gilbert, and the Cosden Building featured many similar Gothic design elements. The building was finished on the same day World War I ended (Armistice Day, November 11, 1918).&nbsp; A few years later in 1925, the board of directors of Cosden Petroleum voted to remove Cosden. The building became the headquarters of Mid-Continent Petroleum. Then in 1977, off-shore oil company Reading &amp; Bates purchased the building. This company oversaw the construction of the 20 extra floors, despite a drop in oil prices in the early 1980s that threatened to stall the project mid-way.&nbsp;

The Mid-Continent Tower is one of Tulsa's iconic skyscrapers. Rising to a height of 527 feet, it features 36 stories and is topped by a unique copper roof. Although it appears as if it were built all at once, it is actually two buildings. The first 16 floors were constructed in 1918 and that building was called the Cosden Building, which was the city's first skyscraper. It was built by oil industrialist Joshua Cosden on the very site of Tulsa's first schoolhouse. The additional 20 floors were constructed 1984 as a separate structure, cantilevered over the original. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 for its Neo-Gothic and Sullivanesque architecture and the fact that it represents Tulsa's emergence as an important economic center thanks to the oil industry.

Mid-Continent Tower (Cosden Building) 

The Philcade Building was constructed in 1931 by local businessman Wait Phillips, who also built the historic Philtower Building across the street. The Philcade once featured a shopping center on the first two floors; this was the city's first indoor shopping mall. Today, it appears that the entire building is use for office space. So as to not compete architecturally with the Philtower Biuilding, Phillips had the Philcade Building designed in a more understated Art Deco style. As such, the Philcade Building represents a phase of the Art Deco style in Tulsa, which has its roots in the French Moderne school of design. The Philcade Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 for its architectural significance.An interesting feature of the building is the tunnel that connects it to the Philtower Building. The eighty-foot tunnel was built in 1929; its purpose was to provide a secure way for Phillips to travel to and from each building (he lived in a penthouse at the top of the Philcade and had an office at the top floor of the Philtower). At the time, wealthy people were often kidnapped and held for ransom. The tunnel enabled Phillips to avoid any chance of being kidnapped.

Situated in the lobby of the historic Philcade Building is a small but unique museum called the Tulsa Art Deco Museum. It is operated by the DECOPOLIS store across the street, which sells Art Deco-inspired gifts. The museum's exhibits are in the lobby's window displays and each showcases a specific collection of items. These include clothing worn by local sewist Sigrid Hinkle, cardboard picture frames, the Blane Snodgrass Private Collection (this features a number of different items), 1980s Art Deco, Egyptian Art Deco, fishbowl stands, smoke stands, yearbooks, and orginal objects from the Tulsa Club Building. 

Tulsa Art Deco Museum

Holy Family Cathedral was built in 1914 and remains one of Tulsa's well-known landmarks. It was designed in the Gothic Revival style and was the tallest structure in the city when completed. Its three spires represent the three members of the Holy Family; the tallest one reaches a height of 251 feet. Other notable features include stained-glass windows and one of the largest Gothic altars in the country. The cathedral was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Downtown Tulsa Walking Tour

Philtower Building

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information