OETA Video of Core to Shore

[Platemaker]

Since the central park plan already calls for an events center...

I would imagine the film exchange in the area could easily be renovated and have some sort of addition added to it to accomplish the same goal. Maybe some sort of ultra modern addition juxtaposed against the old 1920 (I think) structure.

[Urbanized]

Get them on the historic register, then they can't tear them down.

Man, that's not true at all, Metro. It's one of the biggest misconceptions about National Register listings, and you're not alone in thinking it. A listing on the National Register affords a building ZERO protection against demolition, other than perhaps elevating its standing among people who wouldn't care about the building otherwise. It also doesn't protect the building from inappropriate alterations inside or out.

People confuse National Register listings (which serve mainly to call attention to a building or district, or to make such places eligible for specific grants) with local historic preservation ordinances, most of which pertain to exterior modification of buildings in locally-mandated historic districts (Heritage Hills, Crown Heights, Mesta Park are local examples of this). Putting those buildings on the National Register wouldn't change their plight, except possibly to mobilize the local preservation community.

[LakeEffect]

Man, that's not true at all, Metro. It's one of the biggest misconceptions about National Register listings, and you're not alone in thinking it. A listing on the National Register affords a building ZERO protection against demolition, other than perhaps elevating its standing among people who wouldn't care about the building otherwise. It also doesn't protect the building from inappropriate alterations inside or out.

Technically, if Federal funds are being used for demolition or renovation, then the National Register does matter more. But generally, you are spot on.

[Urbanized]

That's a great point. It would have been more accurate if I had said it afforded a building ZERO protection against anything other than federally-funded demolition (and that can still be worked around through a review process), and that federal grants or tax incentives for renovation would mandate certain HP standards be followed.

But the point that I was trying to make is that National Register listings, despite widespread public misunderstanding otherwise, do NOTHING to stop city- or private-funded demolition. At most, it gives preservationists a more compelling argument for retaining a structure.

[LakeEffect]

AND, on top of that, recent case law has indicated that a City cannot base its own protection of historic resources off of the Register. A City must identify its own resources through its own process... some Cities had zoning codes that afforded protection to structures on the Register, but that is now most likely indefensible in court (I don't think it went all the way to the Supreme Court, if there was even a constitutional issue). However, Cities can use the information provided in a Register nomination to create their own list...

[metro]

Interesting to know, thanks for pointing that out, but at the very least as you stated, it would help the buildings plight, drawing more attention and awareness to it, thus hopefully enough public outcry to save it.

[Puppet]

Just watched the OETA video. Very nice. Smart, creative people. It surely made me think about my mortality, and how I'd like to be able to see the city 50 years from now but still alive and not dead! Ha! At least I'll hopefully make it for the stunning Skydance Bridge.

The buildings which are at risk are pretty much if not altogether identified in photos I took when I put my Core To Shore article together, specifically, here.

I'm not sure whether the Film Exchange building is actually the original Film Exchange. I know that Steve mentioned that in one of his OkcCentral posts but when I asked him for detail, he didn't have any. I think he was repeating what he'd heard somewhere. I've not been able to pin that fact down. Original or not, it sits on the west side of Robinson and would be one marked for destruction in the initial phase of Core to Shore, which is effectively in the MAPS 3 area.

The building in 1946



The building today






The other principal building sits on Broadway, the 1909 International Harvester building.





Strictly speaking, Core to Shore Phase 1 & the Maps 3 area's east boundary is Robinson, so the Broadway property would be a block east. However, in this Journal Record article, the following appears:


There are other old buildings to consider as well, but these are the 2 that strike me as being the most significant.

Way too cool... Family worked for International Harvester for many years in Ft. Wayne and Chicago and moved back to Oklahoma because there was a manufaturing plant in NE OK... Never knew that building was an old Harvester building...