Tulsa Fire Alarm Building

An interesting item came through my inbox this weekend that an Art Deco Museum is being planned for Tulsa. It is known as Decopolis and at this stage exists only as a website, decopolis.org, with a fundraiser planned for February this year.

Tulsa has a great stock of interwar architecture and one of the best Art Deco building is Tulsa is the Fire Alarm Building. It is also one of my least successful photographic efforts. I don't know if I accidently adjusted the white balance on my camera or whether it was just playing up. I any case, the photos were a horrible washed out blue colour and I've only just salvaged these examples by converting them to B&W.

You'll also notice that when I visited in 2001, this fine (and now listed) building was in a bad state of repair, fenced off with the windows boarded up.

Luckily Tulsa Gentleman and the Tulsa Preservation Commission have posted better and more recent photos on their sites.

The Fire Alarm Building was designed by Frederick V Kershner along the lines of a Mayan Temple. The decoration around the sides of the building feature stylised floral forms and dragon's heads.

However, the frieze above the door is the buildings crowning glory.

It portrays, what the Tulsa Perservation Commission website describes as

"... an 'Adonis-type' male, stripped to the waist. He has Gamewell alarm tape running through his hands. Flanking him from behind are two helmeted firefighters. A two-headed dragon is shown connected to stylized hoses with the nozzles appearing as their heads.'

I hope you can see, even from my photos, that this is a stunning piece of art.

Best of luck to the people working to establish the Tulsa Art Deco Museum and when completed will further enhance Tulsa's deco credentials.