Today my friends and I toured the most beautiful home, Tulsa’s Osher House. Built in 1963, the Osher House was designed by Bruce Goff’s student Blaine Imel and is also known as “The Flintstones House.” The unique circular design shines with aqua glass.
Here are some highlights from the tour.
Yesterday my friends and I had a lovely day of touring homes and we got both a lot of sun and a lot of steps ☀️
First we toured the neighborhood where my friends live, Tulsa’s historic Lortondale mid-century modern homes. Here are some highlights:
Also, one house in the neighborhood had a beautiful wildflower yard! 😍
Next, we toured the Adah Robinson home, designed by artist and teacher Adah Robinson with the aid of her student Bruce Goff as well as assistance from Joseph Koberling. The Art Deco house features leaded glass windows, hollow tile, stucco, and terrazzo floors. The unique layout welcomes visitors with a stunning two-story living area with a huge open space, tall windows, and a beautiful light fixture. Adah Robinson was also a concept designer for Tulsa’s famous building, the Boston Avenue Methodist Church.
Growing up in the Tulsa area, I was aware of our bleak past, a time and place where black business owners had started to thrive, only to have their lives and shops destroyed by a racist white mob during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, which writer Scott Ellsworth described as “the single worst incident of racial violence in American history.” Some, who were able to, rebuilt their businesses, but undoubtedly, our Tulsa Greenwood district would look very different today if all of those businesses had the opportunity to continue to flourish.
I realize that times are difficult for many, but when you go to shop, consider the black-owned businesses you could be supporting. As an Etsy buyer and seller, I was glad to see Etsy highlight some excellent black-owned shops recently. And as a member of Etsy seller groups, I have seen the impact of this support on the lives of many shop owners this week, and I hope we will remember to continue to build up these communities in the future.
When you support these wonderful, vibrant businesses, you support an economic and societal presence that has been stolen from too many people.
Here is the second stop on the Tulsa Goes Mod! tour this last weekend, the Page Belcher Federal Building, which was built in 1967.
It stands between the formidable Central library and the unmistakeable BOK center, and while many Tulsans think it’s a plain site to see between the two, it’s still a historical icon, and I must say that I for one prefer the classic, clean design of the structure to its new BOK neighbor.
I had an amazing weekend enjoying the cool fall air rolling in and going on one of Tulsa Foundation for Architecture’s “Second Saturday” tours, Tulsa Goes Mod!
Here’s a photo of Tulsa’s Mayo Hotel (1925) from this weekend, which was the first stop on the tour. It was designed by architect George Winkler and built by the Mayo Brothers.
The interior of the hotel has retained much of the art deco feel and ornamentation.
