Last Glances at the India Temple Building
A debate raged last year over whether there was any of the original exterior left to save on the 1902 building that SandRidge Energy wanted to raze to make way for a landscaped plaza. For the past several weeks demolition has been done floor by floor and it was difficult to get a view of the original building (it was masked with tilt-up concrete facade by Kerr-McGee in the 1960s).
These photos provide a glimpse of what was hidden behind the mask:
Taken two weeks ago....
Taken today.
Downtown’s oldest building is now completely removed save for a couple of back walls facing the SandRidge parking garage.
Next in the SandRidge Commons project: demolition of the old Petroleum Club/auto hotel facing Kerr Park, continued renovation of SandRidge Tower, and if original plans are followed, restoration of the old Braniff Building.
NOTE: I understand there are a lot of emotions running high among some readers. But please try to refrain from personal attacks and name-calling.
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Comments
People, show some respect to SandRidge. In a few energy conferences I attended, a lot of people have thumbs up for SandRidge. With the US government’s intention to encourage more domestic exploitation and drilling, SandRidge will have a lot more room to grow.
Here’s a reference photo from 20s.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j286/UnFrSaKn/Old%20Oklahoma%20City/India%20Temple/21412M33.jpg
Barely hanging on, Mark? You would think that someone (Tom Ward) who could build a company from scratch to over 1,000 employees would have the clairvoyance to take advantage of the petroleum boom! Please tell me you don’t want us to believe that. Just come out and say that you hate their urban planning.
Um, yeah… I think it’s safe to say there are at least two opposing schools of thought going on the pros and cons of the planning that went into SandRidge Commons.
SandRidge is garbage, and it’s true that Tom Ward is sort of an……. interesting character. But needless to say, they have done a huge disservice to this community in my eyes, and the events of last summer are absolutely disrespectful to this city. They just mowed right over every procedure and ordinance that this city has, requiring downtown development to conform to urban standards.
They absolutely thumbed their noses at people who wanted to make their project better and I believe this will go down as a huge travesty. I almost don’t even want to talk about SandRidge even more. There is nothing left to say about them.
There, I wrote two paragraphs about SR without personally insulting anyone. That’s an accomplishment for me, and I’m hardly alone in that.
Just barely Nick… let’s try it like this: imagine you’re in the room with a SandRidge executive or Tom Ward himself. Then, as you type out words (usually with an anonymous handle, and not like Nick), ask yourself: “would I say this in person to these folks?” Let’s keep this conversation civil.
Saw this driving by the other day and couldn’t help but think “it was all there the whole time.” Sad because this city could have actually gained back some history that most people didn’t even know was sitting there. What a deviation that would have been.
Everybody vilifies SandRidge, but the real culprit who destroyed this building in the first place is apparently Kerr McGee and the others who let this fall into disrepair and then destroyed it. So far the critics have let them off scott free.
Not at all, not at all. There is plenty of blame to go around on it (at least the previous owners were willing to sell the building to developers that were going to renovate). SandRidge gets the brunt of it because they are the ones responsible for pulling the plug.
Steve, do you doubt that I would tell SR exactly how I feel about them?
Maybe I shouldn’t, but I don’t have that kind of diplomatic self-restraint.
I somewhat enthusiastically supported the SandRidge plan. After seeing these images and watching some of the demolition I’m quite disappointed. So much of the building appeared capable of restoration. For me its very difficult to moderate a desire to retain the great buildings we have and allow property owners to do what they desire with the property they own.
I think the sad reality is that an owner with the desire to restore this building could have. For some reason SandRidge and/or Tom Ward didn’t.
Maybe, through this demolition tragedy, OKC could make their ordinances more stringent and/ or better. This has happened twice, it probably shouldn’t happen a third time.
The only good news about this is that in 100 years a new energy company will be tearing down the Devon tower and the new SandRidge facilities. Cheers.
It’s heartbreaking to see that beautiful facade and know that the India Temple could have been saved. What a huge loss for downtown.
I continue to be astonished at the fact that people ever thought it was an improvement to install tilt-up concrete facades over buildings–especially buildings like the India Temple.
Did they happen to find the corner stone or the time capsule that was placed at the time of construction?
Tom Ward, (NOTE: Mark, please restrain from name-calling). May he never ever receive the respect he strives so hard for.
I am told over an over from industry insiders his company is barely hanging on, and the company is mentioned repeatedly as a takeover candidate by investment advisors.
Of course we the citizens will be left with a gaping hole with tall grass surrounding it.