Pierce Block

The Pierce Block is a historic building in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma on the northeast corner of Third Street and Detroit Avenue, that was constructed as a hotel in 1909. According to the Tulsa Preservation Commission, it is the oldest remaining post-statehood hotel in Tulsa. Originally it was a few blocks west of the Midland Valley Railroad passenger station, which was at Third and Greenwood Avenue.[1]

Pierce Block
Pierce Block
Location301 E. 3rd St.,
Tulsa, OK
Built1908–1909
Architectural stylePlains Commercial
NRHP reference No.79002033

Building design and use

The building architecture is Plains Commercial style. According to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) application, it was used continuously as a hotel for seventy years. The hotel was on the second and third floors.[2] The ground floor was largely devoted to retail space, and housed the Mammoth Credit Company clothing store until 1929. Building tenants included primarily a succession of printing companies after 1948.[2] Later the retail space was occupied successively by a paint and wallpaper store, a vending machine company and a billiard parlor. Most recently, it contained the offices of a local television station.[1] The Midland Valley station was closed and subsequently demolished after all passenger railroad services transferred to the Union Depot in 1931.

The building is a utilitarian design, with a painted brick exterior. The ground level has store-front windows with clerestories (which have since been enclosed), and a recessed entrance with a single door and fanlight for the hotel. Over the doorway is a stone inscribed "Pierce Block 1909." A stone string visually divides the first and second floors. The second story has nine arched windows, while the third story has rectangular windows that are defined by horizontal bands. Horizontal brick bands create a false front for the flat roof. The Detroit Avenue elevation has two openings, a freight door and a store display window (now covered with boards.[2]

The Pierce Block is the second oldest structure in Tulsa listed on the National Register of Historic Places (the oldest being the Dawson School).[3] Its NRIS number is 79002033.[4]

References
  1. Tulsa Preservation Commission. It was the first building in Tulsa that combined retail and residential uses. "Pierce Block." Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  2. [focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/79002033.pdf "National Register of Historic Places Application Form – Pierce Block." October 3, 1979]. Accessed August 16, 2015.
  3. Sharrer, Ed. Tulsa Preservation Commission. "Happy 100th Birthday, Pierce Block!" March 3, 2009. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  4. National Register of Historic Places database
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