Before We Dismiss What Buildings Remain Standing in Core to Shore…
Candidates for Demolition? Not under Urban Renewal.
The same buildings today - home to the Deep Deuce apartments clubhouse.
The Littlepage Building - boarded up and ugly, right? Once again, the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority chose a new course of direction and required developers to build around the blight.
The Littlepage Building today - home to Sage Cafe and Gourmet Market, a corporate furnishings store and apartments upstairs.
Another building that needed a savior and could have been torn down in the name of progress.
Maybe it's easy to write this building off - the north facade's windows are broken and covered with graffiti as city officials have turned their backs on building maintenance in the area.
The same building in its heyday - once home to the Oklahoma City branch of International Harvester.
Another building that doesn't appear in any Core to Shore plans.
Yet another building not shown in Core to Shore plans.
Definitely not shown in Core to Shore plans. Once the original Film Exchange building.
While no other buildings have the architectural significance of Little Flower Church and Union Station, several notable older buildings, such as the Latino Community Development Agency building, contribute to the character of the area and could be incorporated into development projects if economically feasible.”
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I just don’t like how at the Core to Shore meetings, a lot of people asked, what about all of these historic buildings along Robinson or SW 3rd that still remain, and the people putting on the C2S meeting would just say no the buildings are negligible they don’t matter it’s no big deal, ANYWAY moving on to theeeese shiny new renderings!…
The idea of core to shore is great, since each of our districts does feel isolated and insular, in no large part due to the design of our highways. Broadway extension effectively places a brick wall between the health complexes/capitol area and bricktown/deep deuce/etc. It’s nice to have one of those walls moved (I-40), particularly to where we’re already blocked off naturally due to the river. I’m not going to say that all of the buildings you’ve chronicled should be retained, but some semblance of the character the c2s area lost years ago should definitely live on. Another V-Park isn’t the answer, unless we want a ‘drive to’ district to make us feel good about ourselves from a distance. I’d rather have something that people actually use and can easily get to on foot/bike/etc. We don’t need Memorial Rd. in downtown.
I think Austin is a great city to look at for inspiration of how things can be tied together well. A river, to a downtown, straight into an entertainment district, straight into the capitol complex, straight into a major university. All walkable for the most part, and none of it feels walled off from one other. It all feels like one continuous Austin, and I hope that’s what we strive for, not for a bunch of “districts” divided by mega-freeways and boulevards that we don’t need. This all was real city once before UR, and I’d like to see that remembered and alluded to in anything we do. Of course, we’re missing the original transit systems that had no small part to do with that, but regardless, that’s another debate.
Good point Kris. Look at the Flat Iron district. That is just one or two buildings and that area has so much character because of these two buildings.
Good point Nick. The people that designed Core to Shore didn’t care about OKC’s history. They cared about their design. They didn’t care about the people of OKC, they cared about their design. That is the problem with a lot of these design/architecture firms. They care more about getting their designs out there than using the existing character of an area. Look at what happened in the 70s and 80s. They didn’t care about the character that was already in OKC, they cared about their design.
I’ve downloaded the “Final Report” (2008) from the City’s Core to Shore Website: City of Oklahoma City | Core to Shore … at 152 MB, it may take some time to download, at least it did for me.
I found the following in that file which doesn’t bode well for historical preservation issues, except as to Little Flower, Union Station, and perhaps the old Riverside School and next-door church on SW 11th:
(From Page 30 of the PDF File, Page 22 of the Report)
“BUILDINGS AND HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
The Core to Shore district’s building stock is a mixture of industrial buildings, brick warehouse structures, storage yards, and older residential structures interspersed with vacant land. Many structures are in poor condition. Two buildings in the district, Union Station and Little Flower Church, have special historical and architectural significance.
Union Station, opened in 1931 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located directly south of the US Postal Service building that blocks a clear view of its historic, Mission Revival facade. The former depot currently houses the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority (COTPA) and a small business, but it is not used for public events. Little Flower Church, at 1125 South Walker Avenue, was established in 1926to serve the large Mexican immigrant community that lived in the Riverside neighborhood at the time.
While no other buildings have the architectural significance of Little Flower Church and Union Station, several notable older buildings, such as the Latino Community Development Agency building, contribute to the character of the area and could be incorporated into development projects if economically feasible.”
The report does not otherwise identify what (if anything in particular) may have been meant by the phrase, “several notable older buildings” other than Riverside School & the old church (which are the Latino, etc., buildings).
Sorry … I didn’t properly enter the link to the City’s Core To Shore website … it is http://www.okc.gov/planning/coretoshore/index.html
This is an extremely valuable post. Keep in mind though that many “redevelopment plans” put placeholders for buildings. They leave the individual redevelopment parcels up for debate/interpretation when the architect comes up with plans. I personally know many of the architects on the Core to Shore team and they are probably as sensitive as us to tearing down great old buildings.
I would be more concerned about an “out-of-state” design firm that might not have such sensitivity. It is unfortunate though that the redevelopment proposal does not include a line item list of the more substantive buildings that you point out. That Harvester Building looks promising.
By the way, has anyone been to the bar in the basement there? What kind of bar is it?
As long as Anthony McDermid is on the committee, I feel confident that there will at least be a debate over these buildings individually.
At page 33 of the PDF file containing the 2008 Final Report 5 photos appear. The caption at the bottom of the page and without further description reads, “Underutilized land of the project area where outmoded industrial uses and vacant lands have a detrimental effect on the scattered residences.”
The photo at the top of page 33 is of the International Harvester building, as well as lots of debris in the vicinity. The caption is sufficient vague that it could be said, “Well, we didn’t mean to include the building, just the mess,” even though no such disclaimer is given.
Example 1: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/coretoshore/CoreToShorePlan_2008_33_example1.jpg
Example 2: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/coretoshore/CoreToShorePlan_2008_33_example2.jpg
Example 3: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/coretoshore/CoreToShorePlan_2008_33_example3.jpg
Example 4: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/coretoshore/CoreToShorePlan_2008_33_example4.jpg
Example 5: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/DougLoudenback/coretoshore/CoreToShorePlan_2008_33_example5.jpg
Good article and points raised. If they had bull dozed all of the buildings and built new, would Bricktown be Bricktown?
The International Harvester building used to be home to a slew of live music clubs in its basement back in the late 90s. Very cool basement area.
Bravo to Steve for raising this issue and to all the commentators here for this thought-provoking thread. I think preserving as many of these old buildings in the C2S area would be wise, for many of the reasons stated above. But also that would provide some variety to the eventual redevelopment of the area. As Steve shows is the case in Deep Deuce, an old building mixed in with newer ones creates a sense of variety and interest. It would also encourage a mixed usage of space…restaurants and businesses below, apartments above…and this mixed usage is what brings a neighborhood to life.
This is a very important post, Steve. I believe these historic buildings definitely have potential, and could be the anchors by which future development happens in C2S. As we have learned from Deep Deuce, it only takes one old building with character to make an entire new development successful. That one building’s history and memories can spur the neighborhood forward with a sense of authenticity.