On Tuesday we spent our day with the thoughts of what it might have been like in 1956 in the Price Tower, considered to be the only skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was a design Wright had for some time but couldn't find anyone to finance the project. Price was persuaded by his friend Bruce Goff, another architect to talk to Wright about designing a building for thier headquarters. The Price family left Bartlesville to meet with Wright at his home in Wisconsin. Price had the idea they would build a 3 to 4 story building. After spending 3 days with Wright, the Prices agreed on the design. Wright convinced Price for the building to be a mixed use development 19 stories in height. Remember this is 1951 and no one had ever developed a mixed use building like we currently have today. Wright had a vision that there would be various trades in the building such as Attorney's, Doctors, Dress shops, Barber shop and etc. One of the buildings occupants on the 1st floor was the power company. A condition of thier lease was they would keep the exterior of the tower lighted. The power company stayed for 30 years and they had to continue to pay for the lighting for the entire 30 years, wow that is some selling. All of the apartments were two story units and had built in furniture as seen with most of Wrights designs. The lower level of the apartment was the kitchen, dining and living and half bath, ok so it was the size as seen on a plane. The 2nd floor could have been two bedrooms making the space very tight. In 1956 the idea of a high rise apartment didn't appeal to many, not for $300 a month since a single story 3 bedroom with 2 bath rented for only $75 a month. So the appeal for the apartments was disappointing and ultimately the units that didn't rent were converted into offices.
Price sold the tower to the Phillips Petroleum who over time left the building as they no longer needed the office space. In 2000 Phillips donated the building to the Price Tower Art Center.
Well that was a mind boggling experience for sure, so on to Woolaroc, which was the country estate of Frank Phillips and it features an outstanding collection of western art. The estate was named for Woods, Lakes and Rocks. The lodge was used for entertaining various people such as Will Rogers, Tom Mix, Harry Truman an other dignateries. Buffalo, elk, deer, prairie dogs and other animals roam the 3700 acre wild life preserve.
