One Last Look at the India Temple Building?
We're getting a glimpse at what's behind the concrete facade on the old India Temple building.
Demolition is underway.
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I’m sick to death of watching all Sandridges’s .. “We’re such a good citizen ads”.
Iconic building my a**.
In my book Sandridge is SCUM. So are the city employees and board members that allowed this to happen.
Very good Martz… yeah, she’s none too thrilled about their data mining or whatever it is that led to them sending her a birthday card. I can pretty much guarantee they’ll never get her business. She’s not happy…
We will forever have this gaping hole in the middle of our downtown. Thanks for lying to the citizens of this city and taking part of our urban fabric down with your plan for a corporate plaza, Sandridge. Disgusting.
What’s funny to me is that there was some argument that the original character of the building couldn’t be retained. Yet, we see that it is still there. Also St. Louis has had some recent renovations to historic buildings where concrete facade has been removed. I hope we began to care more for our history before it’s all gone. There’s not much left, as it is right now.
Here’s some video I did last month before they started demolishing the outside of the building. This will probably be the “RIP” final tribute video…
Such a shame. Why are they doing this again? When SandWhatever goes belly up it’ll just be more spilled milk.
Of course that great old exterior was under there. It would have been expensive to remove it. It was easy to cover it up. Didn’t we all assume Sandridge was lying? Or at best, disinterested in finding out the truth. What a lack of care for historic Oklahoma City. I could care less about some sterile public plaza downtown. Plant trees in wells in the sidewalk, not on the bones of our once great downtown.
Jonathan–I proposed we bitch about it until we’re red in the face and make sure that this never happens again. That’s what we can do about it. Or you guys could have believed us last summer when a group of citizens was trying to save OKC’s history and preserve our building standards…
Instead you balk whenever someone stands up and raises opposition. I get it that opposition is ugly and attractive. But don’t just write it off each and every time like you guys do.
I’ll have to agree with Nick’s reply, above, as to what to do about it. It’s not just about spilled milk, it’s an ongoing issue and Sandridge’s activity in dismantling historical downtown structures will probably not be the last such attempt. As an example, consider this on-going discussion at okctalk.com concerning the block immediately west of the Devon Tower. The time may well come that nothing or almost nothing is located downtown (other than Bricktown) which connects our past to our present and future. Downtown may well become, if it hasn’t already, a city without a past. One day, someone may come to wonder, “Who’s my daddy?” Or maybe not.
But, the sad truth is … most in the city may not care. Younger citizens never even knew of the downtown of John A. Browns, Rothschild’s, the Criterion, the Midwest, all the downtown retail and cinema, and, yes, the dusty old shops and pool and gaming halls where the city’s gentry would probably not deign to be seen in unless they wore a disguise of some sort.
And if few care, the SandRidge clones will probably get their way. But for those, be they few or not, who do care, it is not just a matter of spilled milk.
And sadly Bennett (Thunder) and Devon (Nichols) lent their hand and supported this atrocity (on their respective company letterhead).
Yeah but we all know Marsha Wooden wrote those letters of support for everyone, and Tom Ward got his friends to sign off on it and then coerced a bunch of others to sign it.
It wasn’t savable, those who understand structures know that. It wasn’t just Sandridge’s opinion either.
“Who understand structures” okay Matt, impart profound knowledge, please. You mean the National Trust For Historic Preservation doesn’t “understand structures?” You mean that the local affiliate of that highly-respected organization, Preservation Oklahoma, doesn’t “understand structures?”
I think what you mean is that those who understand structures to be objects in space thought it wasn’t worth saving, whereas those who understand structures to be objects that create space thought they were highly worth saving–enough to rally their side and wage a fight.
Come on. That’s one of the most blatantly non sequitur things I’ve heard in a while..
The National Trust for Historic Preservation I am sure does understand structures, but I think the their opinion is slanted toward saving most buildings. 10′-0″ finish floor to finish floor isn’t savable.
It’s funny that you mention Preservation Oklahoma and then non sequitur a couple of paragraphs later. I guess it all depends on who’s point you are trying to argue, right?
If you want to get into an argument about space versus place or architectural theory then let’s go. The only thing that building had was age. Sorry your building got torn down.
Whew…
For a moment, I thought this was Mercy after facing the wrath of Mrs. Lackmeyer.