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Bartlesville: Best small-city skyline in the US?

shane453

By shane453
in Oklahoma

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shane453 Whistle-Stop

shane453

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Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Population: 35,000

Washington County Population: 48,000

(Part of Tulsa CMSA of 936,000)

Bartlesville was the headquarters of Conoco-Phillips Oil Company, which is now moving back to its home city. Many of its skyscrapers are remnants of CP's presence.

Bartlesville is world-famous architecturally because it is the location of Frank Lloyd Wright's tallest skyscraper, one of only two in the world. (The other in Wisconsin.) The Price Tower is the inspiration for Oklahoma City's highrise condo building The Classen, next to the Gold Dome in Little Saigon.

The Price Tower is 58m tall/19 stories, and now mostly a hotel:

image021.jpg

image019.jpg

But, as incredible as a 221 ft skyscraper is for a city of 35,000 people, it is only the fourth tallest in Bartlesville (But it does remain most significant.)

1. Phillips Petroleum Building - 89m

2. Plaza Office Building - 75m

3. Phillips Tower - 69m

4. Price Tower - 58m

5. Adams Building - 58m

(http://emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/?id=102507)

The Tallest:

Phillips_petroleum_building_1_jpg.jpg

Skyline:

53.jpg

12_bottomcity.jpg

image004.jpg

image006.jpg

300px-PriceTower.jpg

Best for last:

A68BDB54-255D-489D-9564-02FE25E7F6E3.JPG

Hope you enjoyed meeting this small town with a big skyline.

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dimebag1980 Metropolis

dimebag1980

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I've always been impressed with Bartlesville, mainly because of Frank Lloyd Wright's influence there. I believe it's the most impressive small city skyline... at least that I've ever seen. I mean, how many cities of only 35,000 people actually have any buildings over 10 or 15 stories? I would venture to guess not many!!

The picture showing the road leading into the city from uphill reminds me a lot of driving into Peoria, IL from uphill. It's quite an impressive sight... and Bartlesville is impressive-looking as well.

Very cool pics; thanks for posting them.

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shane453 Whistle-Stop

shane453

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I like it more than the Classen too. The colors in the Price Tower are really unique. (Not that the Classen's gold isn't unique.) I like the Classen in combination with the Gold Dome, but I like Price Tower better overall. Besides, the Classen is just a copycat design.

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dimebag1980 Metropolis

dimebag1980

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I think it would still be impressive for a city of 100k, even.

I agree with this. If you ever get a chance to see the skyline in Tyler, TX, that is a city of 90,000 with a fairly impressive skyline for a city it's size. Its largest building was based off the Sears Tower, although it's many, many times smaller.

Two other cities with roughly 100,000 population and impressive skylines would Texas' "Tall City," Midland and Peoria, IL. Both of those cities impress me for their size.

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richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

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Bartlesville has a very impressive Skyline for it's size ! I was really suprised !

Another smaller city, Greenville SC at 57,000 has a impressive skyline ! Nine bldgs. 12-stories or more, with their tallest at 22 floors. Three more high-rises are planned, including at 20-story condo.

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richyb83 Megalopolis

richyb83

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Greenville had a major revitalization program for it's Downtown/CBD way back in the 60's. This had become the blueprint for many major cities to revitalize the inner-cores. I know there are some major corporations in the area. So the Bank's seemed to have followed ? I think their Convention Center and Hotel was the thing to ignite Downtown.

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Okie Whistle-Stop

Okie

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Maybe if you ever read the Bartlesville section... (jab jab)

They aren't completely moving the HQ back, at least not officially yet, but they are moving over 1,000 jobs back. And it seems, or maybe I'm wrong, that they let people choose to move to B'ville or stay in Houston, which you can imagine how that goes... (I don't understand it, but for some reason Houston's not real popular with the folks these days, LOL)

There's a billboard on US 75 coming in from North Tulsa that reads "Houston: We have no problem" that pretty much sums up the whole deal. I would imagine people are a bit hesitant at first to move to a small town in Oklahoma, but I think the word about Bartlesville is getting out, or atleast among Conoco Philips employees.

Edit: You all failed to touch development in downtown Bartlesville through the TIF that B'ville passed a couple years ago. There's actually a dedicated website on the subject matter.

http://www.visitbartlesville.com/downtown/

Enjoy. (It is kind of incomplete, though.)

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bigboyz05 Burg

bigboyz05

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I've always been impressed with Bartlesville, mainly because of Frank Lloyd Wright's influence there. I believe it's the most impressive small city skyline... at least that I've ever seen. I mean, how many cities of only 35,000 people actually have any buildings over 10 or 15 stories? I would venture to guess not many!!

The picture showing the road leading into the city from uphill reminds me a lot of driving into Peoria, IL from uphill. It's quite an impressive sight... and Bartlesville is impressive-looking as well.

Very cool pics; thanks for posting them.

I just got through learning about Frank Lloyd Wright in my art class. Anyway, I agree that Tyler has an impressive skyline for it's size. Another city that has a great skyline is the town of Yellowknife in Canada. This town only has 17,000 people.

Roswell, NM also has a great skyline. I passed through there back in 1993 and I saw all these tall shiny buildings and I was very impressed. Roswell has about 45,000 people.

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dimebag1980 Metropolis

dimebag1980

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I just got through learning about Frank Lloyd Wright in my art class. Anyway, I agree that Tyler has an impressive skyline for it's size. Another city that has a great skyline is the town of Yellowknife in Canada. This town only has 17,000 people.

Hmm, never heard of Yellowknife. I'll have to Google it so I can see the skyline. It does amaze me how such small places can be so overwhelmingly urban.

Roswell, NM also has a great skyline. I passed through there back in 1993 and I saw all these tall shiny buildings and I was very impressed. Roswell has about 45,000 people.

Those weren't buildings, they were extraterrestrial communities cleverly disguised as Earthly buildings.

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