Preftakes Block

[mcca7596]

Man, I didn't know Larry Nichols advocated Sandridge's campus plan. Why couldn't it be "Urban Live-Work-Play"?

[Doug Loudenback]

Carpenter Square is two stories? Sure doesn't look like it. Also the lunch box and bus station appear to be 1 story.

I'm not positive about the Carpenter Square building ... the interior photos posted by UnFrSaKn seem to show 1 tall floor. I'll see if I can find it on the assessor's website and that should show a floor plan.

But, as to the bus station, though it's hard to tell, it is 2 stories on the north end. When I was a very young boy, probably 4 or so, I still recall being in the bus station. There was a public stairway on the east side leading to a storage locker and lounge area. At top landing, there was no wall on the south side and you could look down at the 1st floor (and vice versa).

[Pete]

What the heck would Devon need that block for? They clearly have plenty of space for a long time otherwise they wouldn't have reduced the size of their tower.

Regardless, I trust Devon to the right thing if they do acquire some or all of that block.

[Doug Loudenback]

Holy cow...see what it once looked like. Why not revert it back to something like this?

Excellent finds, UnFrSaKn.

[Pete]

I believe Carpenter Square is one story with a basement.

[UnFrSaKn]

Here's the row of buildings west of Carpenter Square and Harbour-Longmire.

[Pete]

Devon is going to buy the block from nick. This is just a strategic buy and hold

Since we know Devon programmed their tower and other buildings to meet their business needs far into the future, this could only be for development of another sort -- probably housing and /or a hotel.

At least Devon has tons of money and could put up something on a large scale... Maybe this will be our first mid- to high-rise condo structure.

[UnFrSaKn]

Bing Maps for current view.

[Doug Loudenback]

What we are calling the Carpenter Square building was built in 1939 so there must have been a tenant before Baron's.

It's been awhile since I researched that (in 2007) but my common method is (1) get a street address if I don't have one for a building, (2) search the Oklahoman's archives for address matches, and (3) look in the assessor's records. Although I don't recall with certainty, probably the oldest tenant I could identify in the Oklahoman's archives was a 1946 tenant to match the address, 400 W. Main. Chances are that the construction date was from the assessor's records. I'll take another look and post again here if I get any better information.

[Reno and Walker]

UnFrSakn Awesome Job,

I neeed a photo of the south west corner of Walker and Sheridan or grand same name.. Its caddy corner to the bus station I will be glad to pay you for it. Its where my grand pa's store was and my parents restaurant was back in 50's. Cannot find anything on line OK Historical has nothing. . Where I grew up now its a gravel parking lot that devon uses for all there workers. man I will owe you big time if you can pull it off... thanks jp

[UnFrSaKn]

Ran across this earlier.



Bing Maps view

Found this also. Will this work?



Bing Map view

Is that Walker?

[UnFrSaKn]

#11 Bus Station

I'm planning on putting these and more in with the video I'm working on.

[UnFrSaKn]

March 3 2011

[betts]

Love that building! I would love to see it as something other than a Greyhound station. Why don't we buy the Greyhound station, sell Greyhound the current city bus hub and put the city bus hub at the new hub?

[Doug Loudenback]

It's been awhile since I researched that (in 2007) but my common method is (1) get a street address if I don't have one for a building, (2) search the Oklahoman's archives for address matches, and (3) look in the assessor's records. Although I don't recall with certainty, probably the oldest tenant I could identify in the Oklahoman's archives was a 1946 tenant to match the address, 400 W. Main. Chances are that the construction date was from the assessor's records. I'll take another look and post again here if I get any better information.

More on Carpenter Square

The County Assessor's record for 400 W. Main shows the top part was a one-story building but with a larger basement than the top floor, and it shows a 1939 construction date.

An April 23, 1939, article, while discussing the Davis Bros. building at 412 W. Main, noted in passing that the building previously located at 400 W. Main by Merilyns (Ready to Wear) had been earlier destroyed. I can confirm that ads show Merilyns to be a tenant from 1933 until 1938 at the former 400 W. Main location (as were several other occupants going back at least far as 1904 (Minnetonka Lumber Co.). I could locate nothing about the current building's construction (which the assessor's records show as 1939). I could find no mention of anything located at this address after 1938 until Baron's ran an ad for employees in "Oklahoma City's newest shop" on November 22, 1942. I could not find a grand opening ad but it would presumably be December 1942 or January 1943.

[Doug Loudenback]

Here's an excerpt from a 2007 blog article, http://dougdawg.blogspot.com/2007/03...wn-hotels.html which is located at 408-410 W. Main (I think). Not too long after I wrote the article Anita Sanders sold the property to Mr. Preftakes ... pretty interesting story, the kinds of things one won't get with a shiny new building, that's for sure:
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The Swan/Howard/New Albany/Wren. What's a hotel? How is a "hotel" different from a "rooming house" or a "motel?" Doug Dawg doesn't know. Downtown in days gone by had several places that might be called, "rooming houses," but which which were sometimes called, "hotels." This is one such facility, and it still stands today.

A friend and colleague of mine, lawyer Anita Sanders, owns this property today at what is now called, "410 West Main." It is between Hudson and Walker, two buildings east of the old Harbour Longmire Building which is now called, "Main Place." Although her offices are on the first floor, she tells me that (it is said ... and I think that she may believe it) ghosts of guys and/or gals gone by may still inhabit the presently unused second floor. Judging by the article I'll mention in just a bit, Doug Dawg wouldn't doubt it!

The Building Today (pic taken by Doug Dawg on March 29, 2007) (click for larger)



Ms. Sanders is quite proud, and rightly so, of acquiring this vintage property and converting and restoring it into office space, and she furnished me with many pages of documentation as to her own research of the building. Sad to say, it does not seem that she nor I have located an image of this building in the days that it was a "hotel." We'll just have to make the best of it ... close your eyes and think back to 1913 or 1910. Think old-timey vertical telephones, think horses & buggys with some cars around here and there ...

Ms. Sanders' documentation dates the construction of this building in 1913. However, I searched the Oklahoman's archives and found want ads placed there by occupants of the "Swan hotel" and/or "Van Swan rooms" as early as 1910. One article described a lawsuit petition filed against the owner (for breach of contract to sell items of furniture, etc., which may have wound up in the hotel) and said that Ms. Van Swan had owned the hotel since July 1910.

Whether a "hotel" or "rooming house," temporary residents were on the 2nd floor ... 408 1/2 W. Main ... and commercial tenants occupied the first (408 and 410 W. Main), ranging from Singer Sewing Machine to Dixie Shops and others. As for the "hotel", its name changed over time ... originally the Swan, then the Howard, and New Albany, and the Wren (for only a year's time, in 1934).

But, in that year, 1934, the year of the Wren, the building earned its niche in Doug Dawgz Blog! More particularly, on July 19, 1934, a raid of the then called "Wren Hotel" was made during a police crackdown on bad guys. OCPD Detective D.A. Bryce (aka legendary sharpshooter "Jelly Bryce" of later FBI fame), when Ray O'Donnell, a hotel resident, pulled a gun and gripped it in both hands, got 5 rounds back from Detective Bryce, ending his lifetime on this planet! The police were looking for Harvey Pugh, companion of Clyde Barrow (as in "Bonnie & Clyde").

The July 19, 1934, Oklahoman is shown below. Click for larger.



Want more? See the book at Amazon:



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That's a great book, by the way, and I highly recommend it.

[UnFrSaKn]

Hey Doug, I remember reading that blog post on that building a while back but couldn't find it again last night to save my life.

[metro]

I too have also been wondering if he was just buying and holding for a flip. I could see Devon building condos and a hotel on the property, but hopefully won't Sandridge everything and decide to restore.

[Spartan]

How do you NOT restore a great old building like this? It's just so perfect.

[UnFrSaKn]

To "SandRidge something" is a phrase I can get behind.

[metro]

Can I coin it since I was the one who used it? I'm thinking about making some T-shirts, "don't Sandridge our history"

[soonerguru]

It is so amazing how urban Oklahoma City was. It's also so sad to see what it is today -- even as it's begun its "renaissance." It had so much density -- a truly urban environment. I know so many people are committed to bringing it back and working hard to do so, but allow me a moment of sadness as I peruse this old images.

[Kerry]

It is so amazing how urban Oklahoma City was. It's also so sad to see what it is today -- even as it's begun its "renaissance." It had so much density -- a truly urban environment. I know so many people are committed to bringing it back and working hard to do so, but allow me a moment of sadness as I peruse this old images.

It is probably best if you try not to think about it. My mom collected old postcards at one time and she bought one that had been sent by someone who moved to Oklahoma City from Chicago. The author was trying to pursuade family and friends to come to Oklahoma City becasue it was so modern, lively, and had lots of things to do. Much better than Chicago he said. It was dated some time in the very early '50s.

[Reno and Walker]

Man oh man was it urban, my dad tells me stories about all the greeks and lebanese people who lived down there around NW 7 and Western. You had so much European Immigrants living downtown it was incredible.. I showed my Mom the old pictures and she almost started crying. She was like i used to eat lunch there, thats where I shoped, That was my old business before we moved it down the street. OKC really messed up downtown I am glad to see it come back.. UnFrSaKn you made my parents day, but I still am looking for the pic of the IOOF building you did get the very corner of it.

[UnFrSaKn]

My video shot from March 3 will be up shortly.