McConnell House
This home was George Seminoff’s first big project after graduating from OSU, and it featured a leather floor in the library, hexagonal-shaped rooms with custom built-in storage, and spectacular views of the pool and backyard from nearly every room.
McConnell House floorplan:
Seminoff House
This unique home was built in phases beginning in 1959 when recent OSU graduate George Seminoff constructed a giant, one-room home for himself. As he married and had children, he expanded the home to include a bedroom wing and a second story den and children’s rooms. The completed home received an AIA award and was featured in Living Now magazine.
Seminoff House floorplan:
Central National Motor Bank expansion
The original, one-story Central National Motor Bank was completed in 1959 and designed by the same firm, Wright & Selby, that was also hired 15 years later to add a second story to the structure. The bank building and annex drive-thru across the street is now owned by Oklahoma City Public Schools.
Cover page and rendering of bank
Plan – Water Service and Meter Location
Annex drive-thru paving detail
Vault areas and employee lounges
Room Finish Schedule, floor 1, page 1
Room Finish Schedule, floor 1, page 2
Longitudnal Section Looking North
Basement Floor – Foundation Plan
First Floor and Terrace Framing Plan
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)
Duncan House
Gus Dannhauser was a builder who began to dabble in residential design in the mid-1960s. This interesting hexagonal home home was likely his first and perhaps only completed design before Dannhauser’s untimely death in 1969.
Jamestown Condominiums
With its buildings of varying widths and heights, brick-paved streets, and gaslit street lamps, the quiet and secluded Jamestown complex, located on NW 63rd between Independence and Drexel was modeled after the historic Georgetown in Washington D.C. It was the first condo development in Oklahoma City and was originally intended to consist of 130 mostly two bedroom units in the $25,000 to $40,000 price range ($195,000 – $310,000 in 2018); however, demand wasn’t as high as the developers hoped and only 40 or so were actually constructed.
Some units featured split-level floor plans with the dining room overlooking the living area, as pictured in this 1966 photo from the Oklahoma History Center’s OPUBCO archives:
Keso Clinic
Dr. Larson Keso wanted a timeless design for his new orthodontic clinic near Baptist Hospital, and he wasn’t satisfied until architect Bill Halley presented his seventh drawing for the building. Keso’s discriminating tastes were certainly rewarded with this chic piece of organic modernism that is as timeless as he hoped it would be.
The drawings in this collection include some of Halley’s early designs for the clinic.
Keso Clinic – rejected design 1
Keso Clinic – rejected design 2
Keso Clinic – rejected design 3
Keso Clinic – drawing of accepted design 1
Keso Clinic – drawing of accepted design 2
Lincoln Plaza
The 24-acre Lincoln Plaza was developed in two stages beginning in 1967 by John Lewis, president of First Fidelity Corporation. Eager to revitalize the increasingly seedy Lincoln Boulevard, Lewis believed that the complex would breathe new life into the area with its trademart, hotel, and office complex. He hired the architecture firm of Halley Riek & Associates to design the complex.
Although the trademart was never built, the rest of the complex opened to great fanfare in 1969, with Hertz and Wilson Company as anchor tenants in the office building. Boasting the most modern amenities in town, the hotel quickly filled up with patrons, including Elvis Presley, and its meeting rooms and restaurant became a second home to many local politicians and businessmen.
The drawings in this collection are preliminary site studies for Lincoln Plaza.
Kerr-McGee Tower
The 30-story Kerr-McGee Tower was designed by Pietro Belluschi with Frankfurt Short Emery & McKinley as associates. It opened in 1972 and features windows that vary in size as the structure soars to the sky. Over the years, the tower has received numerous awards, including the “25 Year Award of Excellence" from the Oklahoma AIA. SandRidge Energy purchased the building in 2007 and extensively renovated the entire campus.