Touring Downtown T-Town

Saturday I needed to get out and do something. Since I'm (surprisingly) still committed to exploring Oklahoma, I thought I'd start out with something easy. I happened to notice on the public announcements board at Petty's that a local architecture group was sponsoring a tour of downtown tulsa apartments and condos. I've wanted to checkout these places for a while since everytime I look at my yard I long to live some place surrounded by concrete. Also, though I hate to admit it, I'd welcome a reason to evict certain feline inhabitants of my household. Anyway...

Jessica and I started the tour at the Philtower Lofts and I have to say that I was really impressed. Since I work just a few buildings down, I was aware of these apartments and have been curious about them for a long time. The first one we saw was just gorgeous. The apartment had a rooftop patio overlooking Boston Avenue and another patio off the master that had an east facing view. The kitchen was complete with high end finishes and the decor was contemporary. Jessica and I loved it and I was imagining myself living there anxiety ridden about Cayton falling over the railing on the patio. Yeah, great place, not really right for me...for now.

The next stop was the Tribune Lofts. They were pretty cool, but I think they would have been more impressive if the cabinetry and countertops were a little more "urban". I just don't think ceramic tile countertops really play into my concept of loft living. That is, unless they were going for a "urban meets country" thing, which I doubt. The second unit was a two bedroom apartment and I have to say that the concrete countertops made a lot more sense. But again, the all white walls, white cabinets and the white appliances were too much for me. I guess I spent too many years in OU dorms to be able to deal with so much white. I guess it's a little too much "near death experience" for me.

After the Tribune, we headed north toward the heart of Brady District. This place is NOT hopping on a Sunday afternoon. Well, there were a few Goth kids hanging out in front of Cain's which was were we ended up because of the crappy map that we were provided for finding The Boston Apartments. According to the map, the apartments should have been at Main and 244. So, we figured they had to be close to Cain's, which would have been a pretty good landmark. HA! After trudging all the way down there in the soupy humidity that is common on an Oklahoma June afternoon, we realized the map was very, very wrong. It was at this point that we noticed the address was 21 1/2 BRADY. Even though I maintain that the map was wrong, this should have been a big clue.

Despite our poor reading comprehension skills, we made it to the Boston Apartments and it was worth the trek. The owner had created a beautiful little bohemian retreat (OK, at least it's what I think of as Bohemian. I am really not sure I actually know what that means). It appeared that she had combined two units and so it was quite large. Jess and I were pretty much in love with it, but there was one huge drawback. Window units... Maybe if I hadn't just walked a mile out of my way and maybe if I hadn't had sweat pouring off of me, I wouldn't have been so turned off by the lack of central heat and air. But, amazingly, I toured the whole place in about a minute and a half, tore ass down the stairs and back to my car. I blasted the air for a few minutes and only then could I appreciate how really pretty the place had been.

The next stop was the Village at Central Park. Now, this place looks really cool. The condos are brownstones and it really does look like a Tulsa version of a neighborhood of brownstones. I was excited when these started to go up and I've been dying to get over there and give them the ol' eyeball. Again, Jess and I were totally winging it and ended up touring a couple of places that weren't on the tour but were open houses put on by realtors. Oh well, it was fun anyway. The first two places we checked out were being shown by a realtor and they were totally empty. Note to self: leave some furniture in your house if you are ever trying to sell it. A big empty apartment is just not all that appealing. But, they were a nice size and the layouts were pretty cool.

We eventually made it to the unit that was actually on the tour. Wow, that is all I can say. Wow. The owners went all out on this one. It was straight out of one of those decorating magazines that feature houses that look better than your house ever will. Seriously, I could have licked the floors they were so yummy. I had a serious case of house envy and I'm not even lying. Jessica and I could barely contain our excitement. We raced all over the house and I was making mental notes all over the place. By the time we left, I had a list of projects for Blake.

The final stop was a big Old Tulsa house at about 16th and Denver. I can't say enough about how beyond the beyond beautiful this house was. It was the kind of house that you wanted to grow up in when you were a kid. The walls were solid, strong and gave off a sense of welcome and security. It was the house that you'd want to have family Christmases in and where you'd want to gather in the kitchen and bake and swap stories. Frankly, I was drawn in by this house and it was by far the cosiest of all of the places that we stopped. I think it had the most soul. I took this tour slowly and savored all of the details in every room. This was one place that felt lived in and I didn't get the feeling that any of it had been staged. Well, that is except for the large number of abstract nude paintings on the wall. That was really a different touch. But, I figured that maybe they weren't a permanent fixture since most of them had a price tag and the artists name on the wall next to them. Check out my house and buy some nekkid paintings! Now that's the way to conduct a house tour...

(By the way, these are the opinions of the author and, really, what do I know? No need to send me any hate mail if you own or built any of these places and don't like what I said.)