The design of the US$1.25 million edifice is credited to two individuals: Adah Robinson and Bruce Goff. Robinson was an art teacher at Central High School in Tulsa, and eventually was chair of the art department in the University of Tulsa. Robinson sketched the original ideas for the church. Bruce Goff, formerly one of her high school students, and the architect in 1924–1926 of her home and studio, then took the sketches and came up with the design for the church. Officially, the architecture firm credited is Rush, Endacott and Rush where Goff apprenticed (from age 12 and became a partner in 1930). There is still some debate over who was more responsible for the building. The church credits Adah Robinson with the design of this building, while Goff experts maintain that it is clearly his design. The definitive book on the subject, Tulsa Art Deco [see References, below] says of that issue that "it is not the purpose of this book to offer a resolution to that controversy."
The original building consisted of a semicircular auditorium, a soaring 225-foot (68.5m) tower, and a wing containing class rooms. The soaring straight lines of the tower provide physical, visual, and philosophical linkage to the Gothic Cathedrals of past ages as well as allowing the designers to indulge in the Art Deco celebration of the vertical.
Tower detail
At the top of the tower, as well as on many of the other high points and used much in the same manner that churches in the Middle Ages utilized crockets and finials, is a stylized sculpture that represents two hands raised upward in prayer. This motif of praying hands is one that is echoed throughout the building and is one of the areas of design that can be traced back to the early drawings by Robinson.
While the building is in many ways unique, the idea of the large, semi-circular main auditorium has an earlier precursor in another Methodist church, Louis Sullivan's St. Paul's Methodist Church, designed in 1910 and built, somewhat modified, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1914.
Like many other Art Deco buildings, the Boston Avenue Church reveled in the use of various building materials, so metal, glass, terra cotta, Indiana limestone and Minnesota granite can all be found. The exterior is decorated with numerous terra cotta sculptures by the Denver sculptor, Robert Garrison, who had been a student of Adah Robinson's in Oklahoma City. These sculptures include several groups of people at prayer representing Spiritual life, Religious Education and Worship. In these groups again can be found the two hands together motif.
Above the south entrance are the equestrian Circuit Riders, statues of the early Methodists engaged in spreading the Good Word. Two of the three riders represent historic individuals, Bishop Francis Asbury, the first American Methodist bishop and Bishop William McKendree, while the third figure, the one in the center, is symbolic of all the other men of God who did His bidding from horseback. The face on this rider was created by Garrison using the church minister's father-in-law, the Rev. T.L. Darnell, of as his model. Rev. Darnell had in fact been a circuit rider for half a century. Over the north entrance of the building there can be found idealized statues of John Wesley his brother Charles Wesley and Susanna Wesley, their mother. Other places on the exterior reveal classic art deco styles organic plant designs, which. like the stained glass windows were based on designs drawn from Oklahoma flora, most notably the tritomas and coreopsis flowers.
Detail above entrywayChurch interior
The building was not long in making an impression on the architectural world. Influential art critic of the day, Sheldon Chaney, allows it 5 pictures in his book [see References. below] and praises it saying that, "its detail is daringly new, its ornamental idioms fresh and vital, its masses fairly well sculpted and perfectly expressive of the plan," and adding, "But why for the Methodists?"
In 1993, murals were installed on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the congregation. They were designed by Chicago artist Angelo Gherardi who continued the Art Deco design to be consistent with the building's interior and exterior design.
The construction of a columbarium inside the building was completed in 2000. Designed by Tulsa architect Roger Coffey, it allowed for the cremains of church members and their immediate family members to be interred there. The columbarium contains a 6-foot (1.8m) by 25-foot (7.6m) cut glass window created by Richard Bohm of the Tulsa Stained Glass company.
A stone from the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church is one of the stones embedded in the walls of the Chicago Tribune Building, along with over 100 others picked from historic buildings and famous sites from around the world.
The Boston Avenue Church contains a 105 rank Möllerpipe organ, dedicated in 1962 at 72 playable ranks of pipes and expanded in 1986. The organ was further modified in 1995 by Daniel Angerstein. In 1999 a new Trompette-en-chamade was added. A complete stoplist for the organ can be found on the Organ Page for the Boston Avenue Church.[4]
The church was built by W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation.[5]
The Price Tower is a nineteen-story, 221-foot-high tower at 510 South Dewey Avenue in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. It was built in 1956 to a design by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is the only realized skyscraper by Wright, and is one of only two vertically oriented Wright structures extant; the other is the S.C. Johnson Wax Research Tower in Racine, Wisconsin.
Bruce Alonzo Goff was an American architect, distinguished by his organic, eclectic, and often flamboyant designs for houses and other buildings in Oklahoma and elsewhere.
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma. It has many diverse neighborhoods due to its size.
Tulsa is a hub of art deco and contemporary architecture, and most buildings of Tulsa are in either of these two styles. Prominent buildings include the BOK Tower, the second tallest building in Oklahoma; the futurist Oral Roberts University campus and adjacent Cityplex Towers, a group of towers that includes the third tallest building in Oklahoma; Boston Avenue Methodist Church, an Art Deco church designated as a National Historic Landmark; and the BOK Center, an 18,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa.
Downtown Tulsa is an area of approximately 1.4 square miles (3.6 km2) surrounded by an inner-dispersal loop created by Interstate 244, US 64 and US 75. The area serves as Tulsa's financial and business district; it is the focus of a large initiative to draw tourism, which includes plans to capitalize on the area's historic architecture. Much of Tulsa's convention space is located in downtown, such as the Tulsa Performing Arts Center and the Tulsa Convention Center, as well as the BOK Center. Prominent downtown sub-districts include the Blue Dome District, the Tulsa Arts District, and the Greenwood Historical District, which includes the site of ONEOK Field, a baseball stadium for the Tulsa Drillers opened in 2010.
The Oklahoma Natural Gas Company Building is a historic building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at 624 South Boston Ave. It was one of the first local Art Deco buildings built in the new Art Deco style, along with the Public Service of Oklahoma Building. This choice by the relatively conservative utility companies made the style acceptable in the city, with many Art Deco buildings built subsequently in Tulsa. The building was designed by Frank V. Kirshner and Arthur M. Atkinson. It was built of reinforced concrete, and clad in buff brick, except for the lower two stories, which are clad in limestone. The verticalness of the building is emphasized by piers rising the entire height of the facade with windows placed between the piers.
Alfonso Iannelli was an Italian-American sculptor, artist, and industrial designer.
McAllister Tower Apartments is a 28-story, 94 m (308 ft) residential apartment skyscraper at 100 McAllister Street in San Francisco, California. The property is owned and operated by the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. The tower includes mixed-use offices on various floors, and the Art Deco-styled "Sky Room" with a panoramic view on the 24th floor.
Central High School is the oldest high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was founded in 1906 as Tulsa High School, and located in downtown Tulsa until 1976. The school now has a 47-acre (19 ha) campus in northwest Tulsa. Tulsa Central is part of the Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma's largest school district, and is a public school for students from grades 9 through 12. Since 1997 it has served as a fine and performing arts magnet school.
The U.S. Courthouse, Wichita, Kansas is a historic post office, courthouse, and Federal office building located at Wichita in Sedgwick County, Kansas. It is a courthouse for the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
The United States Post Office and Courthouse, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is a historic post office, courthouse, and Federal office building built in 1912 and located at Oklahoma City in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. It previously served as a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, and of the United States Court of Appeals, briefly housing the Eighth Circuit and, then the Tenth Circuit for several decades. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It continues to house the Bankruptcy court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The building includes Moderne and Beaux Arts.
Keene & Simpson was an American architectural firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, and in practice from 1909 until 1980. The named partners were architects Arthur Samuel Keene FAIA (1875–1966) and Leslie Butler Simpson AIA (1885–1961). In 1955 it became Keene & Simpson & Murphy with the addition of John Thomas Murphy FAIA (1913–1999), who managed the firm until his retirement in 1980.
The Philcade Building is an office building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma at the southeast corner of East 5th Street and South Boston Avenue. Designed by Leon B. Senter, for oilman Waite Phillips, it was begun in 1929 and completed in 1931. It is noted for its Art Deco zigzag style architecture. The building was listed in the National Register on September 18, 1986, under National Register Criterion C. Its NRIS number is 86002196. It is also a contributing property of the Oil Capital Historic District in Tulsa.
Joseph R. Koberling Jr. was a Hungarian-American architect. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he emigrated to the United States, first to San Francisco, then, in 1917, to Tulsa, Oklahoma where he was a student of noted art teacher, Adah Robinson. He was in the first graduation class of Tulsa Central High School. He was then educated at the Armour Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture in 1925. He returned to Tulsa, where he began practicing. He received his Oklahoma license in architecture in 1929, which he maintained until his death.
Adah Matilda Robinson was an American artist, designer and teacher, who influenced many other artists, especially architects, during the first half of the 20th century. Born in Indiana, she was educated in art schools in the Chicago area, as well as receiving private lessons from noted artist there during the late 19th century. Adah moved with her family to Oklahoma City, where she began teaching art. She moved to Tulsa and became the first art teacher at Tulsa High School. One of the pupils in her first class was the aspiring artist, Bruce Goff. Later, she taught another student, Joseph R. Koberling, Jr., who would also become a noted architect. In 1928, she was hired as the founder and chairperson of the Art Department at the University of Tulsa.
Tracy Park is a historic neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is a relatively small neighborhood consisting primarily of single-family houses that were built in the Riverview Addition during the early 1920s. The Tracy Park Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 20, 1982 with the NRIS number 82003707. The district is bounded on the north by 11th Street, on the east by Peoria Avenue, and on the south and west by the Inner Dispersal Loop. It was the first area in Tulsa to be nominated as a district on the National Register of Historic Places.
Rush, Endacott and Rush was an American architectural firm known for its designs in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 1912 to 1929.
The Gillette-Tyrrell Building is a building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was begun in 1929 by two Tulsa oilmen, J. M. Gillette and H. C. Tyrrell. They initially planned to construct a three-story office building at 432 S. Boulder Avenue, topped by a ten-story hotel, but these plans were canceled during the Great Depression and they stopped construction at the third floor. In 1931, they sold it to the Knights of Pythias, who decided to complete it as an office building and renamed it the Pythian Building.
Harris, Jo Beth, More Than Just a Building: The First Century of Boston Avenue United Methodist Church, Council Oak Publishing Company, Tulsa, Oklahoma 1993
Junior League of Tulsa, David Halpern, photographs, Tulsa Art Deco, Junior League of Tulsa, Inc., Tulsa Oklahoma 1980
Junior League of Tulsa, David Halpern, photographs, Tulsa Art Deco, First revised Edition, Junior League of Tulsa, Inc., Tulsa Oklahoma 2001
Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture in America, unpublished manuscript
The Columbarium at Boston Avenue Church, pamphlet published by the Boston Avenue Church United Methodist
Tribune Tower: the Story of the Tower, Chicago Tribune 1968
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