Philtower, Downtown Tulsa
Location: 427 S. Boston Ave.
(Downtown)
Architect: Edwin Buehler Delk and
Keene and Simpson
Completed: 1927
National Register Listed: Yes
Perhaps more than any other building in Tulsa, the Philtower Building is believed by many to have figured in the major decisions affecting the oil and gas industry in the United States. This was particularly true through the 1950's, when many of the most influential of the industry's leaders were either tenants in or visitors to the Philtower.
The building also has architectural signifcance. It represents the late Gothic Revival style embellished with Art Deco details. Among its notable features are its sloping, unusually colorful tiled roof; two gargoyles above the Boston Avenue entrance; a magnificent first-floor lobby with unique chandeliers; and a broad second-floor mall. The generous use of mahogany throughout the building is also striking. Another interesting feature is the carefully preserved office occupied by Waite Phillips. Its beamed ceiling extends upward in an A-frame manner to a height of twenty feet. It boasts richly paneled walls, a small fireplace framed in blue tile, and a private bathroom.
The Philtower was considered strategic in both time and location. It was to have been the link in architectural magnificence between the then-proposed Union Train Station at the north end of Boston, and the soaring Boston Avenue Methodist Church on the south. The building stands much as when it opened in 1928. Its strikingly colorful, sloping, shing-tiled roof still spots the blue night with checkers of yellow.
Philtower, Downtown Tulsa
Location: 427 S. Boston Ave.
(Downtown)
Architect: Edwin Buehler Delk and
Keene and Simpson
Completed: 1927
National Register Listed: Yes
Perhaps more than any other building in Tulsa, the Philtower Building is believed by many to have figured in the major decisions affecting the oil and gas industry in the United States. This was particularly true through the 1950's, when many of the most influential of the industry's leaders were either tenants in or visitors to the Philtower.
The building also has architectural signifcance. It represents the late Gothic Revival style embellished with Art Deco details. Among its notable features are its sloping, unusually colorful tiled roof; two gargoyles above the Boston Avenue entrance; a magnificent first-floor lobby with unique chandeliers; and a broad second-floor mall. The generous use of mahogany throughout the building is also striking. Another interesting feature is the carefully preserved office occupied by Waite Phillips. Its beamed ceiling extends upward in an A-frame manner to a height of twenty feet. It boasts richly paneled walls, a small fireplace framed in blue tile, and a private bathroom.
The Philtower was considered strategic in both time and location. It was to have been the link in architectural magnificence between the then-proposed Union Train Station at the north end of Boston, and the soaring Boston Avenue Methodist Church on the south. The building stands much as when it opened in 1928. Its strikingly colorful, sloping, shing-tiled roof still spots the blue night with checkers of yellow.