When renowned Tulsa architect Joseph R. Koberling Jr. returned from a year in Europe, he bore such disgust for its "soulless" contemporary constructs that he determined to elevate the joy of life in a new art deco design for Public Service Co. of Oklahoma.
While the architects incorporated art deco even into those fixtures, from chevrons in the torch holders to stepped-back geometric motifs across the spandrels, the nighttime glow from that 210,000-watt system instantly emerged as the structure's standout feature.Like many tenants past and present, McDaniel would love to see the beacons lit anew. He's offered to create an LED system allowing computer control, but at just 40-percent occupancy, Atkinson said the building does not generate enough cash flow to justify a fix some sources estimated could cost $60,000 or more.Both paintings were made in Arles after van Gogh had lived and studied in Paris, and met various French impressionists. His own style became much lighter, less moralistic and more rife with color.Lee Anne Ziegler, executive director of the Tulsa Foundation for Architecture, noted the architects incorporated a number of art- deco standards throughout a reinforced concrete and steel structure designed to support eight stories, but limited at first to five. Vertical piers rose from ground to rooftop, flowing past recessed upper windows framed in steel. Painted spandrels atop the structure extended these vertical lines into the sky.The Transok Building retains a puzzling office layout imposed at some time through a history of internal renovations. It also boasts a charming art deco lobby, high ceilings and beautiful brass work."I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day." Vincent van Gogh"I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green," van Gogh wrote. Yellow walls give on to blood-red walls that lead to an obtrusive green ceiling, and lining the walls are the locals at the bar tables, hunched over in late-night stupor. Lamps hang from the ceiling, surrounded by Vincent's wheels of curving yellow strokes.Transok represents the only Kanbar property with its retail space fully leased. It also boasts updated electrical and fire alarm systems.The other van Gogh caf� painting, "Caf� Terrace at Night," shows the exterior of a caf� which still stands in Arles, though it was renamed The van Gogh Caf� and remodeled to closely resemble the painting which immortalized it. He painted this work in a flurry, using many of the same techniques he employed in his drawings. This is one of his most beautiful paintings, full of the light and peace he sought, but never found."It's got one of the best views out of these windows," said Stuart McDaniel of GuRuStu Group, a tenant since 2008. "You are working in a piece of art instead of a box with four sides. Especially for us, being a creative firm, it provides inspiration and fun, each being able to see that on your way to work."The PSO kept the 600 S. Main St. tower its home for decades, adding two recessed floors in 1961 to house offices and mechanical systems. When the utility renovated downtown's Central High School in 1978 for its new Tulsa base, subsidiary Transok Pipeline took over the 1929 structure - and the name stuck even after the pipeline departed. Kanbar acquired the 66,000-square-foot tower in 2005."Everybody loves that building," said Atkinson. "You take people to all our properties and that will be the one they say, 'I really like that.'"An estimated 7,000 people streamed through the building on opening night, the Tulsa Tribune reported on April 17, 1929. As Tom Herick's Orchestra serenaded guests, PSO handed out brochures calling the building "The Monument in Light."The bedroom was damaged in the blaze and the first floor was smoke logged.
"If we could get fully leased, we'd do that," Atkinson said. "We've had a bid to do that and it is very expensive. Unless the building performs better, we're really not in the plans to do that."
Author: Kirby Lee Davis
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