The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Steve Lackmeyer column

Feb. 22--For local preservationists, the upcoming Board of Adjustment hearing on the fate of downtown's Stage Center rivals the moment that city leaders decided 40 years ago that the Criterion Theater had to go to make way for Century Center Mall.

If Preservation Oklahoma is successful in its appeal March 6 to stop demolition of Stage Center, then the developer. Rainey Williams Jr., likely will take the matter to district court as he continue to pursue construction of a new OGE Energy Corp. headquarters at 400 W Sheridan Ave.

If the appeal loses, sources are uncertain whether Preservation Oklahoma will appeal in court, or whether they can establish sufficient standing with a judge to make such an appeal.

The story of the Criterion Theater is a much clearer, more damning indictment against short-sighted urban planning. The theater was still a viable venue, having drawn lines for first-run movies as late as 1968. The building was torn down in 1973 to make way for a Century Center Mall that was never a viable operation.

Stage Center, meanwhile, has long been argued by even its arts patrons as a challenging venue in terms of operating and maintenance costs. The place was devastated by floods in 2010. The community always has been divided as to whether it was an architecturally stunning building (as deemed by the international architecture community) or simply an ugly building with too much of its guts (intentionally) exposed to the public.

Have no doubt that Oklahoma City has destroyed some unquestionably beautiful buildings. Here's my list of the most stunning buildings we destroyed:

Colcord Mansion

Charles Colcord was an early day lawman in Oklahoma City, an oilman and developer. And while his beautiful former office building built in 1910 survives today as the Colcord Hotel, the grand mansion he built at 421 NW 13 didn't fare as well.

The late Mary Jo Nelson, who at The Oklahoman pioneered the very writing and reporting I do today, provided a history of this loss back in 1990. She noted that the Colcord Mansion was the final and most devastating hit suffered by Heritage Hills before the neighborhood north of downtown organized and fought back.

Slow commercial encroachment began as early as 1929 as businesses found property cheaper and more available in residential locations. Before long, Heritage Hills was lined with several physician's and dentist's offices, a rest home, a flower shop, doctors' office buildings, a pharmacy, a women's club headquarters, a chiropractor and an insurance company. The city would not fight the intrusion, so the residents did.

Four residents, Martin Cummings, Dr. O. Alton Watson, Edgar VanCleef and Kenneth Draper, raised a war chest for legal action, filed lawsuits and won, often before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. A large factor in their success was a restriction against businesses and commerce that was decreed by the early developers.

Then, in the 1960s, the skirmishes evolved to all-out warfare that would continue for nearly two decades. Businesses and hospitals began buying up property for expansion. Residents lost a big battle when the majestic Colcord Mansion at NW 13 was destroyed to make way for a rather forgettable headquarters for Standard Life Insurance.

But Nelson noted the homeowners and preservationists won the war, helped in part by George Shirk's appointment as mayor of Oklahoma City. A prosperous lawyer and businessman, Shirk was dedicated to progress, but he also was a devout historian committed to cherishing and learning from the past. Shirk created the city's first historic preservation commission and directed the municipal staff toward preservation. Four of his first nine appointees were from Heritage Hills.

The neighborhood formed its own charitable corporation, Historic Preservation Inc., to carry on its effort. On Feb. 11, 1969, the city council adopted historic preservation zoning laws, giving a historic neighborhood's residents the right to approve or disapprove changes to the exterior of a house. Those laws continue today.

The Mercantile Building

The Mercantile Building, 30 N Hudson Avenue, was designed by architect Andrew Solomon Layton. It was built as the Levy Building and later renamed the Mercantile Building. It was built by the original owners, brothers Sam and Leon Levy, who constructed the first five stories in 1910. In 1926, they added three more floors. The detailing, captured in a photo essay authored by Mary Jo Nelson in the mid-1970s, was ornate and rivaled only by First National Center.

The building was destroyed on February 29, 1976, by the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority to make way for a Galleria shopping mall as called for as part of the Pei Plan authored by I.M. Pei. The shopping mall was never built, and the site remained a parking lot for 35 years until it became the site of Devon Energy Center.

The Hales Building

The Hales building, 201 W Main, originally was built by Oklahoma City Banker E.H. Cooke for his State Bank, which later morphed into First National Bank. W.T. Hales purchased half of the the building in 1915 and bought the last half in 1928. The Hales Building was directly north of the Katz Drug Store, famous for Clara Luper's sit-in on August 19, 1958. Mauran & Russell of St. Louis were architects for the Hales building, while the Selden Breck Construction Co of St. Louis was the contractor.

The building was faced with Bedford Stone from Indiana and had imposing street facades. Bedford stone is a light colored, fine grained limestone that is very uniform and well suited to large architectural projects. It was used in the state capitols of Indiana, Georgia and Illinois as well as hundreds of other signature buildings, both public and private. The finish throughout the building was quartersawn white oak. The floors were of Tennessee marble with a wainscot of Italian marble. The building was one of the last historic structures torn down by Urban Renewal after a long legal fight was waged to save it.

The Biltore Hotel

If you lived in Oklahoma CityBiltmore Hotel. Charles Colcord is best known for his razed mansion and the still-standing Colcord Hotel. Colcord also led the group that set out to build the Biltmore Hotel in the late 1920s.

Designed by architects Hawk and Parr, by the time it was completed in 1932 the Biltmore was 33 stories high and was heralded as the state's tallest building. Financial woes plagued the hotel throughout most of its life and the doors were closed in June 1973. The Biltmore's destruction is often blamed on the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority and planner I.M. Pei, but their initial plans called for the hotel to be a part of the Myriad Gardens. The owners forced the demolition, not Urban Renewal.

Thousands of people turned out to watch as the massive structure was dynamited October 16, 1977. Ironically, the Biltmore had undergone a $3 million renovation in the mid-1960s and was renamed the Sheraton-Oklahoma Hotel. The hotel was one of the largest demolitions in the country to date when it was blown up in 1977 to make way for the Myriad Gardens.

The YMCA Central Branch

We can't blame the Urban Renewal Authority on this loss either. The building was a rare example of the International style of architecture when it opened in 1952. The building was extensively damaged by the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The property was sold by the YMCA, and the new owners tore it down a couple years later to make way for a surface parking lot. Serious developers believed it could be saved and converted into housing. A few years later, I suspect the building could have been saved and converted into a very special example of downtown housing.

Warner Theater

The Warner Theater was built in 1905 by one of the city's original founding fathers civic leaders, Henry Overholser, and was known for years as the Overholser Opera House.

It was used by many of the most famous stock and opera companies in theatrical history, by bands and symphony orchestras, and other entertainment units.

When purchased by John and Peter Sinopoulo (1916-17), it was turned into a combination vaudeville-movie house and lived again as the Orpheum Theater on that vaudeville circuit. It was the only theater in Oklahoma City completely equipped with stage, dressing rooms, scenery handling machinery, and other equipment, for legitimate stock companies. Such amenities, and its location across the street from the Myriad Gardens, should have made it an ideal revived performance venue. Instead, it was torn down by the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority to make way for a downtown Galleria mall that never materialized. The site remained a parking lot for 30 years before it was developed into what is now Devon Energy Center.

County Courthouse

We were idiots. And yeah, this is where I can say we were idiots from here on out. The 1906 Oklahoma County Courthouse was an unmistakable landmark in the downtown skyline. The Romanesque style courthouse was designed by architects William A. Wells and George Burlinghof. Commercial interests created controversy over the location and design early on, arguing whether the courthouse should face Main Street or Grand (now Sheridan Avenue). A compromise led to the entrance facing Dewey between Grand and Main -- an awkward arrangement that prompted most visitors to enter through the side and back entrances and rarely using the grand front entrance.

Exterior walls were constructed of Indiana limestone with the interior floors of granite and the walls and stairways of Vermont marble. The population quickly outgrew the building, and county government operations soon moved to surrounded office buildings. When the county moved to its current location at Hudson and Walker, the old courthouse was leased to the federal government for wartime agencies during World War II. A fire damaged the building in 1944, and development interests persuaded the county to sell the building in 1950. The property was converted to parking and eventually developed into a Holiday Inn, which is now the Character First Institute.

Baum Building

Built in 1909 and completed by 1910, the Baum building at Sheridan Avenue and Robinson was designed to mimic the Doges Palace in Venice, Italy. The building was built in an era that also saw construction of the Skirvin Hotel, the original Oklahoman building and the Colcord building. From 1923 to 1957 the building was home to Fidelity National Bank.

The building was targeted for clearance by the Urban Renewal Authority as part of the 1960s era Pei Plan. Then Mayor George Shirk hired engineers to see if the building could be moved, but no plan for its rescue emerged. The building was razed in 1973.

Criterion Theater

If Penn Station is the national disgrace when it comes to destroyed architectural beauty, the Criterion Theater is Oklahoma City'sPenn Station. The theater boasted a French-style lobby and auditorium with an art deco mezzanine, and was operated by Paramount. Built in 1921 at 118 W Main, it originally seated 1,900 but later reduced its size to 1,650.

The building still was in use just months before it was destroyed in 1973 by the Urban Renewal Authority to make way for Century Center Mall.

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