Pawhuska and Bartlesville, Oklahoma

The first three pictures were taken in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.

The next series are from Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Though master architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed more than 400 buildings in his long career, the only skyscraper he ever planned came near the end of his life: Price Tower. Spending the night in this beautiful building was a fantastic experience. These are some of my favorite pictures that I have taken. The building was originally designed to be built in New York City in the 1930's and didn't come to fruition until 1956. FLW described the building as the tree that escaped the crowded forest since it has a much larger impact on the prairies of Oklahoma than in the crowded streets of New York.

Price Tower was home to another great architect, Bruce Goff, whose office was located in the tower for a time. We have wanted to explore the homes and buildings he designed in Bartlesville. The Sooner Tower is located in a park on the edge of town. It is a great space age-y Play Tower: “Goff’s design for the Sooner Park Play Tower was based upon mathematic principles: line, sphere, circle, cylinder, spiral and mobius strip. The tower is a spiraling staircase with a metallic mesh sphere that reaches 50 feet in height to the tip of its spire. Constructed of steel components (mesh fencing, perforated plate, textured tread plate, and steel rods), the tower is painted in primary colors red, yellow, and green. Then we found several of his homes that he designed. Our last stop on the Bruce Goff tour was the Redeemer Lutheran Church, Education Building. Maybe the best use of the blue slag glass he used in so many buildings in my opinion.

Last stop was Woolaroc which was established in 1925 as the ranch retreat of oilman Frank Phillips. The ranch is a 3,700-acre (1,500 ha) wildlife preserve, home to over 30 different species of native and exotic wildlife, such as bison, elk and longhorn cattle. Woolaroc is also a museum with a collection of Western art and artifacts, American Indian material, and one of the largest collections of Colt firearms in the world.