Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower: Preserving Oklahoma’s Skyscraper for History

In Bartlesville, Oklahoma, one of the most important buildings in American architecture rises from the prairie.

It is not the tallest skyscraper in the country. It is not surrounded by the crowded skyline of New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. Yet Price Tower stands as something entirely unique: the only completed skyscraper ever designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Known as “The Tree that Escaped the Crowded Forest,” Price Tower is more than a building. It is a piece of architectural imagination made real. It is a landmark of Oklahoma history, a work of organic design, and a reminder that innovation does not only happen in major cities.

For decades, the tower has drawn architects, historians, travelers, and curious visitors to Bartlesville. But in recent years, this remarkable structure faced serious uncertainty. Financial distress, legal complications, preservation concerns, and building damage placed its future at risk.

Now, a new chapter is being written.

Tulsa-based Brickhugger, LLC, a historic preservation and real estate development firm known for restoring difficult landmark properties, has become connected to the effort to preserve and restore Price Tower for future generations. Their work represents more than a real estate project. It is part of a larger mission to protect Oklahoma’s architectural heritage while giving historic buildings a useful and sustainable future.

Frank Lloyd Wright believed that buildings should belong to their surroundings.

His philosophy of organic architecture emphasized harmony between design, structure, materials, and environment. Price Tower reflects that philosophy in a powerful way.

The tower was completed in 1956 for the H.C. Price Company. Its design, however, had roots decades earlier. Wright originally developed the idea for a multi-tower project in Manhattan in 1929, but the Great Depression brought those plans to a halt. Years later, Harold C. Price commissioned Wright to design a company headquarters in Bartlesville, and Wright adapted the shelved concept for the open Oklahoma prairie.

The result was unlike anything else.

Wright called Price Tower “The Tree that Escaped the Crowded Forest” because the design, once imagined for a dense urban setting, finally had room to stand on its own. In Bartlesville, the tower could be seen from a distance, rising upward like a tree from the plains.

That tree metaphor is not just poetic. It is built into the structure itself.

The tower’s central core acts like a trunk, anchoring the building. The floors extend outward like branches. The exterior walls do not carry the main structural load, allowing Wright to create a building that feels light, vertical, and expressive. Copper panels, geometric patterns, and angular forms give the tower its unmistakable appearance.

Every part of Price Tower reflects Wright’s careful design language. The building is based on a system of triangles and angles, creating a visual rhythm that carries from the exterior into the interior spaces.

It is architecture with a purpose. It is art with a foundation.

Price Tower matters because it is rare.

It matters because it is beautiful.

It matters because it represents the only completed skyscraper in Frank Lloyd Wright’s career.

But for Oklahoma, it matters for another reason: it proves that nationally significant architecture belongs here, too.

Oklahoma’s history is often told through oil, Route 66, Native nations, ranching, military history, and frontier settlement. Those stories are important, but they are not the whole story. Price Tower reminds us that Oklahoma also has a place in the history of modern architecture, design, and innovation.

Visitors who come to Bartlesville to see Price Tower are not just looking at an unusual building. They are experiencing a landmark that connects Oklahoma to a much larger national and international architectural story.

That is why its preservation is so important.

When a building like Price Tower is lost, the loss is not only local. It is cultural. It removes a physical connection to the creativity, ambition, and craftsmanship of the past.

At the center of Price Tower’s next chapter is Brickhugger, LLC, a Tulsa-based firm focused on historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and real estate development.

The name “Brickhugger” is memorable by design. It is a playful spin on the word “treehugger,” but the meaning behind it is serious. Brickhugger’s work is built around the idea that preserving and reusing existing buildings is one of the most meaningful forms of sustainability.

Instead of tearing down older structures and replacing them with something new, adaptive reuse gives historic buildings a second life. A former office building can become a hotel. A neglected landmark can become housing, event space, restaurant space, or a tourism destination. The building survives, but it also serves a modern purpose.

That approach is especially important for structures like Price Tower. A building cannot survive on history alone. It needs care, maintenance, investment, and active use.

Brickhugger’s role is significant because the firm has experience with difficult preservation projects. Their past work shows an understanding of how historic buildings can be restored in a way that respects the past while making them useful for the present.

One of Brickhugger’s best-known preservation success stories is The Mayo Hotel in downtown Tulsa.

The Mayo was once one of Tulsa’s grandest hotels, but after years of decline, it sat vacant and deteriorating. Many people saw it as too far gone. Restoring it required vision, patience, and significant investment.

The Snyder family took on the challenge and helped return The Mayo to life as a luxury hotel, residential space, and event destination. Its restoration became part of the broader revival of downtown Tulsa and showed how historic buildings can become anchors for economic and cultural renewal.

Brickhugger’s work has also extended beyond Tulsa. In Pawhuska, The Frontier Hotel brought new life to a historic downtown building and supported the area’s growing tourism economy.

These projects matter because they show a pattern. Brickhugger does not simply preserve buildings as static monuments. The firm works to make them active again.

That same philosophy is now important for Price Tower.

In recent years, Price Tower entered a difficult and highly publicized period.

Under previous ownership, the building faced financial distress, legal disputes, preservation concerns, and bankruptcy proceedings. Reports also raised concerns about historic artifacts connected to the tower and the protection of preservation agreements.

For those who care about architecture and Oklahoma history, the situation was alarming.

Price Tower is not an ordinary property. Its architecture, interior design, artifacts, and historic spaces are all part of its significance. When a landmark of this importance faces neglect or uncertainty, preservationists naturally become concerned.

The building itself also needed urgent attention. Reports described issues involving water damage, mechanical systems, utilities, and other infrastructure concerns. For a structure as complex as Price Tower, repairs cannot be handled casually. Its unique design requires careful planning so that modern upgrades do not compromise Wright’s architectural vision.

This is the challenge of historic preservation.

The goal is not to freeze a building in time. The goal is to protect what makes it historically important while allowing it to function safely and meaningfully in the present.

Brickhugger’s restoration plans for Price Tower are centered on adaptive reuse.

The vision includes boutique hotel rooms, long-term residential apartments, restaurant and bar space, museum areas, infrastructure improvements, and restored public access. This approach would allow Price Tower to remain a living building rather than an empty artifact.

That matters.

Historic buildings survive best when people use them, visit them, care for them, and understand them. A restored Price Tower could once again welcome travelers, residents, architecture enthusiasts, and local visitors. It could support Bartlesville tourism while preserving one of the most important works of Frank Lloyd Wright’s career.

The restoration plan also involves major building systems, including HVAC, elevators, water damage repairs, and other necessary infrastructure. These are not glamorous details, but they are essential. Without modern mechanical systems and safe access, a historic building cannot remain open and functional.

The challenge is to make these improvements while respecting the building’s original geometry, materials, and historic character.

That is where preservation becomes both technical and artistic.

While Frank Lloyd Wright is the central figure in the Price Tower story, Bruce Goff also deserves attention.

Goff was one of Oklahoma’s most original and imaginative architects. His work often pushed boundaries through unusual forms, creative materials, and bold design choices. He had a connection to Price Tower and to Oklahoma’s broader architectural identity.

Recognizing Goff’s influence helps expand the story beyond one famous name.

Price Tower is part of a larger design legacy. It connects Wright’s national architectural influence with Oklahoma’s own creative history. Preserving the tower helps preserve that broader story as well.

When visitors experience Price Tower, they are not only learning about Frank Lloyd Wright. They are also encountering the creative energy that shaped mid-century architecture in Oklahoma and beyond.

Historic preservation is sometimes misunderstood as simply saving old buildings because they are old.

But the best preservation projects do more than protect the past. They create value for the present.

Restored landmarks can support tourism, encourage downtown investment, create jobs, provide housing, attract visitors, and strengthen community identity. They give people a reason to stop, explore, stay overnight, eat locally, and learn something new.

Price Tower has that potential.

For Bartlesville, a restored Price Tower could serve as a renewed tourism anchor. For Oklahoma, it strengthens the state’s architectural reputation. For Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts, it preserves access to one of the most unique works in his portfolio.

For future generations, it keeps the building from becoming only a memory.

The story of Price Tower is not only about architecture.

It is about responsibility.

Every generation inherits places it did not build but must decide whether to protect. Some buildings are lost because no one sees their value in time. Others survive because people choose to fight for them, invest in them, and imagine a future for them.

Price Tower deserves that future.

It deserves to be studied, visited, photographed, restored, and experienced. It deserves to remain part of Bartlesville’s skyline and Oklahoma’s story.

Brickhugger’s involvement offers hope that this landmark can move from uncertainty toward renewal. The work will not be simple. Historic preservation rarely is. But the reward is significant: a restored Price Tower that continues to inspire visitors and honor the vision of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Price Tower began as a dream for Manhattan, but it found its home in Oklahoma.

It rose from the prairie as a bold experiment in design. It became a workplace, a residence, a destination, and a symbol of architectural possibility. Then it entered a difficult season that placed its future in doubt.

Now, preservation offers a new chapter.

Saving Price Tower is not just about repairing walls, elevators, pipes, and copper panels. It is about protecting imagination. It is about honoring Oklahoma’s place in architectural history. It is about making sure future generations can stand at the base of the tower, look upward, and understand why this building mattered.

Price Tower is not just being repaired.

It is being returned to the public imagination.

Architect Magazine: After Months of Uncertainty, Price Tower is Under New Ownership Use for confirmation of the May 2025 sale, the $1.4 million price, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy’s response. https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/after-months-of-uncertainty-price-tower-is-under-new-ownership_o

Architectural Digest: Price Tower, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Only Skyscraper, Sold for $10 in 2023 and Has Been Embroiled in Controversy Ever Since Use carefully for background on the 2023 sale, closure, financial distress, and artifact controversy. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/price-tower-frank-lloyd-wright-controversy-explained

Bartlesville Radio: Judge Orders Sale of Price Tower for $1.4M Use for the January 2025 court ruling ordering the sale to the McFarlin Group. https://www.bartlesvilleradio.com/pages/news/443672025/judge-orders-sale-of-price-tower-for1-4m

Brickhugger, LLC Official Website Use for Brickhugger’s preservation philosophy, company background, and its stated plans for Price Tower. https://brickhugger.com/

CoStar News: Preservationist buys the only Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper ever built Use for the McFarlin Building LLC acquisition, $1.4 million sale, and bankruptcy court context. https://www.costar.com/article/905351537/preservationist-buys-the-only-frank-lloyd-wright-skyscraper-ever-built

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy filing regarding Price Tower easement items Use only if you want a formal preservation/easement source. https://savewright.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FLW-Building-Conservancy-UCC-Cynthia-Blanchard-FILED5632095.1.pdf

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation: Price Tower Use for basic architectural history, Wright connection, and confirmation that Price Tower is Wright’s only skyscraper. https://franklloydwright.org/site/price-tower/

Price Tower Official Website Use for public tour information, historic interiors, and general Price Tower background. https://www.pricetower.org/

Public Radio Tulsa: Developer tackles another iconic property: Price Tower Use for current restoration details, including water removal, roof work, electricity, elevator status, HVAC plans, and coordination with preservation groups. https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/local-regional/2025-10-10/developer-tackles-another-iconic-property-price-tower