The starting bid for a piece of architectural history in Bartlesville, Oklahoma may end up being $600,000.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Price Tower was scheduled for online auction Monday on the website Ten-X, but has been pulled for a second time. The Tulsa World reports officials are "awaiting further updates from Ten-X."
Initially the tower was scheduled to be auctioned on the same website Oct. 7-9. The starting bid was set at $600,000 for both sales.
Wright is a world-renowned architect who almost exclusively focused on houses. Price Tower is special because it’s a skyscraper with some unique touches.
Wright normally tried to fit his buildings into their natural surroundings. He called it “organic architecture.” Architect and University of Oklahoma Professor Ted Reeds said Price Tower deviates from Wright’s signature style.
“He was very conscious of geometry, forming first the building and then fitting use to the geometry,” Reeds said, “which is a little bit different than his organic philosophy of fitting a building to a site.”
This geometrically focused design allows the skyscraper to have some quirks, like triangular elevators and sharp angles.
The famous building does have some legal baggage: multiple pending legal actions involving three different parties.
Price Tower’s owner, Copper Tree Inc., sold some tower artifacts, including furniture, earlier this year to a Dallas gallery. In response, the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy filed a legal action known as a Uniform Commercial Code statement, claiming the unilateral sale of the artifacts violated a preservation easement. A UCC statement means if the owners of Price Tower default on their loan, the conservancy would be in the first position to claim the collateral.
Copper Tree executive Cynthia Blanchard sued the Frank Lloyd Wright Conservancy and the Price Tower Arts Center in October. Blanchard alleged the preservation easement held by the conservancy has been voided since 2023.
There is good news for buyers: they can look at building documents before buying.
“Once someone has demonstrated that they’re a serious buyer, then they have access to documents about the building,” listing broker for Price Tower Scott Schlotfelt said. “They sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and are able to review all of those prior to the auction starting.”
Buyers are vetted by Ten-X to make sure they can afford to buy Price Tower. Ten-X makes the auction an opportunity for real estate moguls worldwide.
“They have a global platform,” Schlotfelt said. “Because this property is so unique then that way it’s getting eyes from South Korea or the Middle East. I mean, it could be anywhere around the world because that site is so large.”
A potential buyer still has the concern of another lawsuit related to the alleged sale of the building this year.
The owners of Tulsa’s Mayo Hotel, John Snyder and his daughter Macy Snyder-Amatucci, sued Blanchard and Copper Tree Inc. over a terminated purchase agreement. They allege the tower was sold to them by Blanchard for $1.4 million.
