Effort to put Oklahoma City's Founders Tower on national registry

Oklahoma City is considering an effort to get the Founders Tower listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

BUILDING EXTERIOR: Founders Tower, 5900 Mosteller Drive, built in 1963, functioned as an office building until 2006 when it was redesigned as a residential tower. Richard R. Brown Associates designed the renovation. PROVIDED BY AIA CENTRAL OKLAHOMA CHAPTER ORG XMIT: 1104141916484549

Built from 1962 to 1964, the 275-foot tower displays unique architectural elements, such as the revolving-platform restaurant at the top, and helped catalyze the development of northwest Oklahoma City, according to a staff report. Recently it has undergone significant renovations with the addition of luxury condominiums.

The revolving restaurant, which I remember as the Eagle’s Nest, is empty but from county property records it appears the condos are starting to fill.

According to city staff, which is preparing the application, the tower is unique for it’s architecture. As written in the yet submitted application the tower “is a highly individual mid-twentieth century high-rise building that showcases a limited timeframe in which recent technological developments and the freedom to experiment in architecture gave rise to rare building forms and details, as exemplified in the folded plate roof system and unusual slender decagonal form of this tower, plus its cantilevered balconies.”