Historic Price Tower In Downtown Bartlesville Under New Ownership

A historic building in Downtown Bartlesville is now in the hands of new owners.

Price Tower is the only skyscraper designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright to ever be built. The building, famously called "the tree that escaped the crowded forest," for the way it is structurally meant to resemble a tree with branches that taper upward, as well as the reason it ended up in Oklahoma.

The tower was originally destined for New York City, but Wright's plans changed due to the effects of the Great Depression. As such, Price Tower opened in Bartlesville in 1956 as a headquarters for the H.C. Price Company.

The tower has been owned by the Price Tower Arts Center for more than 20 years, and has a museum, hotel, and restaurant inside. In a special members meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, they voted to sell the property to a local group under the name Copper Tree Holdings.

Price Tower Executive Director Donna Keffer said the move was necessary to fill a large financial hole caused by the loss of its benefactors and lack of donations. 

”We have acquired a pretty insurmountable amount of debt, so we are in a position that we needed to do something and find a different alternative just to keep the building alive," Keffer said.

Keffer said the Copper Tree team has agreed to make improvements while preserving Price Tower’s history in the process. 

"The group is looking to come in and update the infrastructure, modernize the elevators, the HVAC system, the windows, update the hotel rooms and the restaurant and really keep this building alive and thriving for the future," Keffer said.

Keffer also said the deal will be finalized in the next few weeks, but would not disclose any of its specifics.