A Frank Lloyd Wright building in Oklahoma, the architect’s only realized vision for a skyscraper, has been sold to a company that says it will restore the tower for use as a hotel and residences.
The sale of Price Tower, which has been endangered by financial problems, comes after a period of uncertainty when it appeared that the building might be sold through a bankruptcy court proceeding or through an auction. The tower is instead now the property of McFarlin Building LLC, a Tulsa-based company that has restored historic buildings in Oklahoma and Texas. The company agreed to pay $1.4 million last year before disagreements with the owners, a subsidiary of the Copper Tree Group, temporarily tabled that transaction.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, which looks to protect Wright’s legacy, has been intensely tracking the 19-floor Price Tower in Bartlesville, Okla., because of the building’s rarity in the Wright portfolio. The conservancy said it was pleased with the transaction.
“We’ve appreciated getting to know the McFarlin team over the last several months, and our conversations have been very positive,” Eric Rogers, the communications manager for the conservancy, said in a statement. “We are reassured by their respect for Price Tower’s historic significance and their commitment to honoring our preservation easement.”
Price Tower opened in 1956 as offices for the H.C. Price Company. Though Wright designed other tall structures, Price Tower is considered his only skyscraper because it stands higher than the others and was built to fulfill Wright’s formal vision for a skyscraper as a vertical street that combined offices, residences and retail businesses.
The tower was briefly occupied by Phillips Petroleum, the oil company that has long called Bartlesville home, but struggled to find an anchor tenant after Phillips merged with Conoco and moved the headquarters to Houston in 2002.
