This is something of a continuation of some pics I took of the Cline and Marion Hotel purchases ... and taken on the same day or next day (except for the 1949 "vintage" pic I did not take). It is also part of the development of my revised "downtown map" stuff which seem to grow in its content more quickly than I'd like ... I mean, I'd like to get this "project" done, but, the more I look, the more I see that I've only started to scratch the surface.

Anyway, here are some additional "midtown" pics taken a few days ago (unless otherwise noted) of non-church buildings "midtown (the "chuch" buildings will be in a later thread). There are many others that are not included here which I've not yet taken pics of ... arrgh! I should have more narrowly limited the scope of the venture. Oh, well ...

The pics below do not include some of the more obvious "midtown" stuff, e.g., Plaza Court, St. Anthonys, Sieber, etc., which are already on everyone's radar. For the most part, these are some of the more "obscure" buildings in midtown (to me) as I was driving around town in the past few days.

1st, a "new" midtown building which doesn't have a tie to the vintage past (that I know), the Northcare Community Counseling Center at 1140 N Hudson. Pretty boring stuff, but, that said, it's not an embarassing even if it's a mundane building.



Next, something more interesting. On my way to work, I drive south on Hudson on a daily basis and I've done that for about 12-14 years. "Familiarity breeds content" is appropos for me, 'cause I've never paid attention to the property below until this photo-shoot. At 1212 N Hudson, just south of the very small restautrant that seems to change hands regularly (not shown in the pic), is this small strip pic ...



... which I've wholly ignored driving to downtown. But, at the Metropolitan Library System, here's a 1949 pic of the same space:



Until opening my eyes, I'd not recognized that the 2006 place that I drive by to get to work is the same space at the 1949 pic and was principally the "Uptown" movie theater in the 1940s-1950s! Kinda fun!

Immediately to the west of the above property on the west side of Hudson is the Palo Duro apartments at the NW corner of Hudson and & NW 11th, by all appearance being an old time apartment building which appears to have been modernized (new windows are visible, and no wndow air conditioning units are to be seen), but I've not yet found any "history" about it:



At the SE corner of 10th and Hudson is the building below which has been wholly refurbshed. After its refurbishing, it was someone's law office but I don't know if that's still so ... no "law office" signs presently adorn (or blaspheme) the building ... :blink:



Go a little further south, to NW 9th street. This is one that's interesting, but about which I have NO knowledge whatsoever ... an obviously "old" probably 1920s at the latest) building which was likely (guessing) an apartment building ... refurbished, but no signs, and I have no specific address. It is on the north side of NW 9th between Harvey & Robinson ... a pic looking east from NW 9th toward Robinson, and a frontal pic looking north and slightly west, are below ...





Go a little further east to Harvey and you find this building which has been excellently redone by the law firm of Durbin, Larimore & Bialick, at 920 N Harvey. The only lawyer I know there is Gerald Durban and I'll call him for more accurate history, but this building has all appearances of being an early-day apartment building. The law firm's website shows some interior (2nd pic), and it looks great!





OK. Go to 11th street at Walker and you find the building in which my mom saw her doctor for me before I was born at St. Anthony's in 1943 ... the Osler Building, 1200 N Walker ... I've not found any pariticular history about this one yet ... this view looks northwest at the rear of the building ... the main entrance is on Walker.



The Herriman Building at 923 N Robinson (I think built in 1921) shows another midtown building which should be pretty familiar to Okc-ers who drive south on Robinson.



That brings me to the last building in this mini-midtown tour (though there are many others) ... the building now owned/occupied by United Way of Central Oklahoma. I've not yet traced the origins of this building at 1315 Broadway Circle except to be able to say that it was originally the Mayfair Apartments ... don't yet know when it was built. But, one must hand it to the post-apartment owners (most recently United Way) for preserving the heritage. 3 pics are shown below.

The 1st shows an inset-enlargement of the orginal name of the building at its entrance looking west which shows some the care taken to preserve. The 2nd shows a more distant "frontal" view, looking west.The 3rd shows a northwesterly view.







"Midtown" is an area which seems to have been largely ignored in the press, but for the splashes about St. Anthony's and projects along NW 10th, but there are many "jewels" there for history buffs, and for neat stuff that has been occurring under at least my radar for several years.

If any of you have information which helps to "fill the gaps" in my incomplete knowlege, I'll be glad to have it!

__________________
Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/

Very cool. Thanks for that!

Great Pictures, Doug! I took some comparison photos that I took of the old Uptown about a year ago (compared with the same vintage photo you have) into the law office across the street from the theater and gave them to the secretary. She said she had no idea such a neat old movie house used to thrive right across the street! She said that she would make sure the lawyers there saw the two pics.

There was a hair salon in the Uptown building up until recently. At least, I think it's gone now. Anyway, the lady told me that when she moved in there years ago, they had found inside a closet a bunch of old movie posters. She didn't think much of it and threw them away! I kid you not.

Again, great pictures of some classic old buildings, Doug. Good job!!

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Yeah, that is pretty cool. Kinda like discovering a storyline to a play you thought you knew.

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Continue the Renaissance

Thanks, guys. This is just fun stuff for me. (I won't be able to take any more pics this week ... wife is gone to Texas until this weekend with my camera ... while she's gone I'm having an affair with Angelina Jole ... wishin' and hopin' ... :tweeted: ... hope that she loses the camera like she did my earlier camera in Santa Fe ... will give me a good excuse to get a really spiffy digital camera!)

Please keep all these wishes in your prayers! :tweeted:

Writerranger, I cannot believe that the person tossed those (probably valuable) movie posters! Oh, the pain ...

On my way home this afternoon, I parked off-street and went into the Osler. The lobby was very nice and updated. A sign in the lobby said that the building was built in 1928. Looking at the building directory, it looks to be not well populated ... a couple of lawyers, several more mental health offices, and some others. A "For Sale" sign is out front (Walker).

When I have time, I'd love to have a look at the top floor which seems to have a patio/terrace or whatever ... sometime soon.

__________________
Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/

I'm pretty sure the Osler building dates back to the late 1920s, and it was originally occupied, perhaps even built, by a group of physicians.

RE: Durbin, Larimore & Bialick Building. Doug, The mirror image south half of that building is an addition designed by Rand Elliott and constructed by Berryman Enterprises about 15 years ago. I'm sure your conversation with Gerald Durban will provide more information about that.

__________________
The Old Downtown Guy

It will take decades for Oklahoma City's
downtown core to regain its lost gritty,
dynamic urban character, but it's exciting
to observe and participate in the transformation.

I stopped by the building on my way home from work a couple of days ago. According to information in the lobby, it was built in 1928. I'm assuming that's the "main" part, and not the attached part on the north.

__________________
Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/

Thanks, and, yes, I'd forgotten about the expansion, very nicely done. I've got a call in to Jerry Durbin and I'll give a follow up comment after he calls me back.

__________________
Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/

Thanks, and, yes, I'd forgotten about the expansion, very nicely done. I've got a call in to Jerry Durbin and I'll give a follow up comment after he calls me back.

__________________
Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/

Thanks, and, yes, I'd forgotten about the expansion, very nicely done. I've got a call in to Jerry Durbin and I'll give a follow up comment after he calls me back.

__________________
Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/

Excerpt From the Oklahoman today:

By Richard Mize

Greg Banta is waiting for some more pieces to fall into place before saying just exactly what all Banta Cos. has planned for the redevelopment area anchored by his Plaza Court building in Oklahoma City's MidTown.


But his MidTown Renaissance is taking shape and that's clear by looking whether he's ready to talk in detail or not.

Commercial Realtors got a quick look at "Bantaville" -- from Western Avenue to Broadway and from NW 10 to NW 13 -- Wednesday on the annual bus tour by the Commercial & Industrial Division of the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors.

"Bantaville" is my word, not his, and it won't stick -- nor should it. It just came to mind after the bus rumbled down enough streets and around enough corners and Banta pointed to enough buildings and lots -- about 45 in all, in various stages of acquisition, demolition, development and redevelopment -- to make up a small town.

Most recently, Banta picked up a couple of sow's ears he plans on turning into silk purses -- make that a couple of eyesore fleabag hotels, one long closed: Hotel Marion, 110 NW 10, and the Cline Hotel, 1018 N Harvey, both approaching 100 years old.

The plan is to turn them into office buildings or residences -- very carefully, since whatever he does, like most of what he is doing, has to be OK'd by the city's Urban Design Commission.

Good things are going on around the landmark Plaza Court, the 1920s-era shopping center that Banta acquired almost two months ago, even as some things are coming down -- including a small apartment house at 1000 NW 12, and duplexes at 1006 and 1008 NW 12 just this week -- to make room for improvements.

The two-story, 55,000-square-foot Plaza Court, which fronts the traffic circle at NW 10 and Walker Avenue, has already had its lower floor restored. A Subway sandwich shop is open and Banta said other tenants are lined up.
Funny. Most of us in the news business have filters to keep out marketing hyperbole. But this, from a company flier, got through mine because it rings true, not just hopeful:

"With both retail and dining spaces centrally located, Plaza Court is uniquely poised to benefit from this resurgence. The pulse of the city is about to change ... "

Make that "change again." The rest of the bus tour provided example after example of how the heart of Oklahoma City is beating stronger than -- well, maybe stronger than ever.

At least until Friday's news that Kerr-McGee Corp. was selling out to Anadarko Petroleum, based in Houston. The news stopped the heart of downtown cold.

Until then, the heart of the city wasn't racing, because more than funny money -- the kind with an oil derrick in place of the Eye of Providence -- was involved. "Real" capital was flowing, too. It made for a nice, steady, strong heartbeat.

Not news, but it bears repeating once in awhile -- and it helps to lay eyes on some of what it hath wrought, which was the point of the bus tour:

The Chesapeake Boathouse, more than another cool building by architect Rand Elliott, but an anchor (ha) for future development along the river.
Centennial on the Canal, still just a billboard right now, but an eventual 30 condominiums facing the Bricktown Canal, by developer Randy Hogan.
The Classen, Richard Tanenbaum's redo of the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired office building into a condo tower (with a just-opened model) and retail at 2200 Classen Blvd.
Brownstones at Maywood Park and Central Avenue Villas, just north of Deep Deuce, by Triangle Development.
Harvey Lofts, a redo of the old Wesley Hospital and nurses quarters by Bert Belanger and others, at NW 12 and Harvey.
Note all the housing projects. Signs of real life, not just night life. Signs of a steady, strong heart, not fibrillation.

Of course, those could be famous last words, in light of the Kerr-McGee news.

__________________
" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

Very nice article. Good old-fashioned street reporting.
I think Richard is worrying too much about Kerr-McGee though. My guess is they will be missed - but forgotten quickly.

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