Frank Lloyd Wright Price Tower

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

"The tree that escaped a very crowded forest" - Frank Lloyd Wright

PRICE TOWER

Wright

[bachanon]

price tower is great fun.....if i may say so. thanks for the entry. i look forward to more posts like this one.

[ssullivan]

I visited the Price Tower last February while in Bartlesville for a week doing an early retirement program for Schlumberger. What fun it was! I begged for the Bartlesville assignment in our firm (the other choice was working that week in Sugar Land or Lawrence, KS) just so I could go see the tower in person. After a period of neglect, the tower has been reborn as a boutique hotel, fine restaurant, and attraction for those interested in Wright's architecture. There's also a little art museum with rotating exhibits. While I wanted to stay in the hotel, it was more money than my employer was willing to charge to our expense account with the client. However, I did get to eat dinner one night there at Copper, the restaurant located on two of the tower's upper floors. And I returned at the end of the week on Saturday afternoon after finishing up with work for a tour of the tower, which included an exhibit of some of the original furniture Wright designed for the building, and visits to the very top floors and HC Price's office.

I have a travel journal on IgoUgo.com on my visit to Bartlesville and the Price Tower. And here are a couple of pics from my trip there.

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

A google rummage of Bartlesville Skyline uncovered this-

From what I know, every one of the buildings are occupied by the Philipps 66 Compnay, which resides in Houston now. They kept everybody who was in Bartlesville in Bartlesville though. Same as Conaco did with Ponca City. The bell tower looking office tower in the middle is the Frank Philipps Tower.

Jane Philipps Medical Center, out in the suburbs off by Tuxedo Blvd and U.S. 75.

Coming into Bartlesville from the west suburbs, you can see our Price Tower off to the right. It looks so small compared to the rest.

Relocate America's list for 100 best communities: [edit: This is the top 10]

Venice, FL

Paragould, AR

Edmond, OK

Bonita Springs, FL

Asheville, NC

Colorado Springs, CO

Bartlesville, OK

Carlsbad, NM

Huntington Woods, MI

Madison, WI

I just thought that was interesting.

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

I added a poll, I didn't expect any Texans to have been through Bartlesville, so I thought learning what their favorite thing about Bartlesville could be interesting. These are just some things I try to visit when I am in town, if you feel I left some out, let me know.

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

After much debate, I voted for the university, because it gives Bartlesville an even more authentic perspective.

[ssullivan]

I was pleasantly surprised by my trip to Bartlesville last winter. I mainly went for work and opted for that assignment because I wanted to visit the Price Tower, but I ended up really enjoying my stay. I ran out of time and didn't get to tour the Frank Phillips house but will definitely do that on another trip. The downtown area, probably because of ConocoPhillips maintaining a downtown corporate campus, is booming, with lots of locally owned retail shops and some excellent restaurants.

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

Yeah, and while it is copnsidered a suburb of Tulsa by some idiots like Emporis (there is clearly atleast 10 miles of undeveloped land between B'ville and the farthest north Tulsa suburb) it actually has higher occupancy rates than d'town Tulsa, which is hard to beat, and unlike d'town Tulsa, does not shut down after dusk. The best architecture is definately the Price Tower, but the university comes close. I meant to include the Woolaroc Musuem. Darn!

[energyman2005]

I could be wrong, but isn't the Price Tower famous for the fact that its design has no right angles in the entire complex?

When I visit (my grandparents live in Bartlesville) we stay in the Phillips Hotel and frequently try to make a walk through downtown and into the Price Tower. We had a chance to walk into one of the rooms a few years ago and it looked like something out of A Clockwork Orange. Lots of browns, oranges, and drab colors with a very strange design and very strange furniture. I remember being creeped out by all of it actually.

Very neat building though. Bartlesville is a true anomaly in terms of its skyline thanks to Phillips 66. I would venture a guess and say that it has the most impressive skyline of any town with less than 100,000 people.

[YakuzaIce]

I could be wrong, but isn't the Price Tower famous for the fact that its design has no right angles in the entire complex?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know about that, but looking at this picture it looks like it has right angles.

[ssullivan]

There are no 90 degree angles in the building. It has some that are close and look like they are almost 90 degrees, but none of them actually are.

[HoustonianInColorado]

The most interesting place in Bartlesville:

http://www.woolaroc.org/