Location: Oklahoma City - OK
Architect: Robert Roloff of Bailey Bozalis Dickinson & Roloff
Build Year: 1958

Citizens State Bank / Gold Dome

Citizens State Bank opened for business on May 27, 1948 and, as one of the only suburban-based banks, it grew so rapidly that the directors looked to expand within a few short years. They chose a site at the corner of NW 23rd and Classen where the old Jefferson School had recently closed and hired Bailey Bozalis Dickinson & Roloff to design a thoroughly modern building that would be a true bank of the future. Robert Roloff returned with plans for a Buckminster Fuller-inspired geodesic dome, which proved to be just what the directors were looking for. The Gold Dome opened to great fanfare in 1958 and remains a beloved architectural icon today.

Gold Dome Opening Commemorative Publication

(vintage photo courtesy the Oklahoma History Center)

Location: Oklahoma City - OK
Architect: Robert Roloff of Bailey Bozalis Dickinson & Roloff
Build Year: 1960

Plaza Tower Hotel

The 10-floor, hexagonal-shaped Plaza Tower Hotel was the first hotel built in OKC since the Skirvin Tower was completed in 1938. The building housed a generous lobby, dining room, and various shops. While it was constructed next to the ever-expanding St. Anthony medical complex and was the only upscale Midtown hotel, the Plaza Tower never really took off and, within a few years, was converted to office space and renamed the Shartel Professional Building. In 1986, new owners announced that the building would undergo yet another conversion, this time to an elderly living center, but the continuing economic downturn kept cash-strapped developers from pursuing the plan. Two years later, OKC’s most modern hotel was unceremoniously demolished. The site sat vacant for over 25 years until construction began on the LIFT apartments in 2016.

Go here to view a brochure from the Plaza Tower Hotel.

Plaza Tower Hotel