BOK Park Plaza

[Bullbear]

Urbanized. I think you misread his post.
he was saying the sieber being what it is.. it pains him to see the Motor Hotel on this site be demolished when it could be another Sieber.

[Urbanized]

Ahh...could be. Would make sense.

[Colbafone]

Urbanized. I think you misread his post.
he was saying the sieber being what it is.. it pains him to see the Motor Hotel on this site be demolished when it could be another Sieber.

Sorry Urbanized, this is what I meant. The Seiber is awesome and I would love to see the Motor Hotel repurposed like the Seiber has been. Sorry for the confusion.

[Spartan]

Just adding that the building discussed above has got to win one of the worst design awards of all time. That is AWFUL to the millionth degree. Much like so many disgusting "modern" designs, it's as if the more we mismatch a design with pieces that don't fit together, the more people think they're great designs. This is the type of crap that is going to be the first to go when we look at what to keep as historical preservation in 100 years. SH&T!!!

I don't know about this, what kind of architecture do you approve of?

[Motley]

My initial reaction was that it is far too busy with too many elements, but I notice it somewhat similar to a building in San Diego, so I think the actual building will look far better than the drawing.

[Spartan]

I don't think it will get passed either way. Too tall apparently. I just learned of a similar proposal that the same Area Commission rejected and forced to downsize:



This was built instead (parking garage in the back is lined with skinny townhomes):

[Spartan]

I just came across this photo of West Main in 1957. Can you believe this used to be Main Street? Every single thing in the above picture is demolished. Soon the 420 W Main Building will be the only remaining historic structure on OKC's Main Street.

This is one of the most incredible urban renewal transformations.

[UnFrSaKn]

Yeah I found that and had posted it on Twitter. I have other postcards in that collection.

https://twitter.com/unfrsakn/status/599280748076539905

https://twitter.com/unfrsakn/status/599209599137255424

https://twitter.com/unfrsakn/status/599228420380237824

https://twitter.com/unfrsakn/status/599229467123318786

[bchris02]

I just came across this photo of West Main in 1957. Can you believe this used to be Main Street? Every single thing in the above picture is demolished. Soon the 420 W Main Building will be the only remaining historic structure on OKC's Main Street.

This is one of the most incredible urban renewal transformations.

I wouldn't call that a positive transformation either. It's amazing what OKC used to be and what it could still be if TPTB had a little more foresight.

[dcsooner]

To see that picture and compare to now is painful. What a disastrous implementation of supposed renewal

[jccouger]

I honestly don't even know what I'm looking at when I see that picture. I can't place orientation at all. If that was still on OKC I don't think there is any doubt it would be the most vibrant place in the entire city.

[jccouger]

Double post, please delete

[UnFrSaKn]

I just came across this photo of West Main in 1957. Can you believe this used to be Main Street? Every single thing in the above picture is demolished. Soon the 420 W Main Building will be the only remaining historic structure on OKC's Main Street.

This is one of the most incredible urban renewal transformations.

This is the StreetView location. The Oil & Gas building on the right is the only existing structure besides the Hightower way off in the distance. You can barely see the 420 S Main building also.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4676...2wVw!2e0?hl=en

[UnFrSaKn]

I could post and compare this whole intersection of Main and Robinson looking north, south, east, and west but it would take this way off topic. Just click the Twitter links in the previous page.

[UnFrSaKn]

Back on topic, I heard your typical rumor from someone who heard from a person "in the know" that this building would end up being 32 stories instead of 27. Is there any credibility to this that anyone knows?

[bchris02]

Back on topic, I heard your typical rumor from someone who heard from a person "in the know" that this building would end up being 32 stories instead of 27. Is there any credibility to this that anyone knows?

Hopefully that is true. A more impactful building would make the loss of these historic structures easier to swallow.

[Bellaboo]

Maybe they've decided to build this building on top of the parking ?

[traxx]

This is one of the most incredible urban renewal transformations.

It's odd. In the '60s and '70s, the term urban renewal had a positive conotation and sounded like a hopeful, new outlook. Now days urban renewal is a dirty word. I guess they never would've guessed that future generations would long for the urban history that met its demise with the wrekcing ball.

[bchris02]

Maybe they've decided to build this building on top of the parking ?

One can only hope.

[Jeepnokc]

This is the StreetView location. The Oil & Gas building on the right is the only existing structure besides the Hightower way off in the distance. You can barely see the 420 S Main building also.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4676...2wVw!2e0?hl=en

I am trying to place the Oil and Gas Building. Where is it and what is it now? Thanks

[UnFrSaKn]

This building, on the right side in the original StreetView link.

http://bit.ly/1HmEEzr

This is what it looked like originally.

http://bit.ly/1K96amS

[Spartan]

It's odd. In the '60s and '70s, the term urban renewal had a positive conotation and sounded like a hopeful, new outlook. Now days urban renewal is a dirty word. I guess they never would've guessed that future generations would long for the urban history that met its demise with the wrekcing ball.

Just to build on what you said, I don't think it was any one generation that had different values or something like that. People are people. I think that generally there is reverence for older history, but we always disregard more modern history like that of our parents. Cities are very cyclical.

OKC does legitimately have a higher disregard for urban history compared to most other cities, but every city has a few that have to come down on rare occasions. The difference with OKC is that we don't have a few..we have a few every year. We aren't demo'ing 2000 structures like early OCURA did, but that's largely because we don't have that much left.

OKC is at a fork where it can either hold tightly onto everything it has left, and end up making the most out of its opportunities, or it can say screw it and just take out the rest because we had might as well. It's one thing for the replacement to pale in comparison to the original we demolished, but it's another thing when we completely demolish the opportunity to build onto the city we already had.

The problem when you are recklessly unsophisticated in your ways is that you lack the ability to express yourself in terms of "Yes and..." This manifests itself in people's actions, the way that the city debates these issues, the way the city sees itself, and the real estate projects local developers deliver. You don't have to choose between this or that; this person's worth, or that person's worth; the past, or the future; traditional marriage, or gay marriage; this mode of transit, or that mode; and so on...

Just to be clear, I'm not calling OKC, OKC Talk, or you the reader unsophisticated, so calm down. I'm just saying that I feel as if OKC's demo behavior stems from a cultural trait that is prevalent in OKC. It exists in other cities, but manifests itself differently. OKC has evolved on transit, for instance, leaving some cities behind. I wish it would evolve on historic preservation. There is wrong and right to this issue, it isn't "a conundrum."

[Jeepnokc]

This building, on the right side in the original StreetView link.

http://bit.ly/1HmEEzr

This is what it looked like originally.

http://bit.ly/1K96amS

Never would have figured that one out. Thanks. Anybody know if was rebricked or just painted? I see they added arches to bottom window also.

[Bellaboo]

Never would have figured that one out. Thanks. Anybody know if was rebricked or just painted? I see they added arches to bottom window also.

I'm pretty sure this little building got an overhaul in the oil boom of the early eighties.

[Urbanized]

It did. This is one of the reasons that I am constantly harping in the need to do good HP, for instance retaining historic windows, or correct treatment of brick, ghost signs, etc.

What happens is that someone comes in and wants to do a renovation that brings a building "up to current standards," when what they really mean is that they want to disguise the fact that it is an old building. Once that is done, the building has lost so much historic integrity that when someone comes along 20 years later and wants to tear it down, there is no grounds to protect it based on intact history. "Well, the building has been altered so much that it's not really historic anymore...", and then BAM. Demolished.

Much better for an old building to be upgraded in a way that doesn't harm its overall historic character.