BOK Tower - Wikipedia

Skyscraper in Tulsa, Oklahoma, US For other uses, see Bok Tower (disambiguation).

BOK Tower
Interactive map of the BOK Tower area
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Office
Location	Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Coordinates	36°09′18″N 95°59′25″W / 36.1550°N 95.9903°W / 36.1550; -95.9903
Completed	1976
Height
Roof	667 ft (203 m)
Technical details
Floor count	52
Floor area	1,140,673 sq ft (105,972.0 m2)
Design and construction
Architect	Yamasaki & Associates
References
[1]

BOK Tower (named for the Bank of Oklahoma; formerly known as One Williams Center) is a skyscraper in Downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. At 667 feet (203 m)[2] in height, the 52-story tower was the tallest building in Oklahoma until it was surpassed by Devon Tower in 2011.[3] It was built in 1976 and designed by Minoru Yamasaki & Associates, the same architect who designed the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York City. This structure is based closely on Tower 1; former CEO John Williams liked the design of the WTC so much he hired the same architect to build him a 1/2 scale model of Tower 1.[4]

Design and history

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BOK Tower's lobby has marble walls and wall hangings similar to those in the former World Trade Center's Twin Towers in New York.[4] BOK Tower was built for the Williams Companies, whose CEO at the time, John Williams, decided to choose Minaru Yamasaki, the architect of the Twin Towers in New York, as the office building's designer. Originally, Yamasaki designed two 30-story replicas for the project in Tulsa. However, prior to construction, Williams wanted a more 'dramatic' design. According to Williams, he presented this idea by stacking a tower model on top of the other.[5] As a result, the plan for a quarter scale replica was changed to a single 52-story tower, double the height of the two planned towers. The similarities to the World Trade Center led executives to joke that the architects just halved the plans for a World Trade Center tower.[6]

BOK Tower, as completed, was the tallest building in Oklahoma and contained 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m2) of office space.[7] Within four months of its completion, BOK Tower was 80 percent occupied.[8]

In December 2005, a water main broke and flooded electrical equipment in the basement.[9] In 2006, BOK Tower underwent $16 million in repairs and renovations. $6 million was spent on renovated pedestrian bridges, granite coating for the base, new fitness centers, and windows. The remaining $10 million was used to fix damage from the 2005 flood.[10]

See also

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• List of tallest buildings by U.S. state
• List of tallest buildings in Oklahoma
• List of tallest buildings in Tulsa

References

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1. ^ "BOK Tower". SkyscraperPage.
2. ^ GmbH, Emporis. "BOK Tower, Tulsa | 122939 | EMPORIS". Emporis. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
3. ^ Cameron, Alex (February 11, 2012). "Touring Devon Tower: Oklahoma's Tallest Building". News9.com. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
4. ^ a b "1/4 World Trade Center: Tulsa's Half-Sized, Untwinned Tower - WebUrbanist". 2016-05-10. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
5. ^ Evatt, Robert (October 29, 2006). "Towering above Oklahoma: Williams Center turns 30 Wednesday". Tulsa World. Retrieved November 7, 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
6. ^ Sulzberger, A. G. (August 27, 2011). "An Oklahoma Office Tower's Unbreakable Link to 9/11". The New York Times.
7. ^ "Williams Center 'The Talk of Tulsa'". The Daily Oklahoman. March 28, 1976. pp. 31, 32. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
8. ^ Morgan, Neil (October 28, 1977). "Tulsa: A City That Met The Challenge". The Lawton Constitution. p. 31. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
9. ^ "Workers expected back today". The Daily Oklahoman. December 8, 2005. p. 24. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
10. ^ Evatt, Robert (August 19, 2006). "Signature Skyline". Tulsa World. Archived from the original on March 22, 2009. Retrieved July 4, 2013.

v t e Skyscrapers in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Current	Arvest Tower BOK Tower Cityplex Tower First Place Tower Mid-Continent Tower 320 South Boston Building 110 West 7th Building University Club Tower Cityplex West Tower Philtower Building Liberty Towers Boulder Towers West Tower Boulder Towers East Tower Mayo Hotel First National Bank Building Cityplex East Tower Thompson Building
See also	List of tallest buildings in Tulsa Buildings of Tulsa

v t e Minoru Yamasaki
Skyscrapers	One Woodward Avenue (1963) IBM Building (1963) Fairmont Century Plaza (1966) M&T Bank Center, Buffalo (1967) World Trade Center (1970–1971) 1 WTC 2 WTC 4 WTC 5 WTC 6 WTC Montgomery Ward Corporate Headquarters Tower (1972) Century Plaza Towers (1975) Bank of Oklahoma (1977) Rainier Bank Tower (1977) Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (1978) 100 Washington Square (1981) Torre Picasso (1988) Columbia Center (1989–2000)
Airports	St. Louis Lambert International Airport main terminal (1956) Dhahran International Airport terminal (1961) Eastern Airlines terminal at Logan Airport (1969) King Fahd International Airport master plan (1977)
Houses of worship	North Shore Congregation Israel (1964) Temple Beth El (1974) Shinji Shumeikai Founder's Hall (1982)
Other buildings	Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Detroit Branch Building annex (1951) Pruitt–Igoe housing project (1954) Grosse Pointe University School (1954) Military Personnel Records Center (1955) McGregor Memorial Conference Center (1957) Prentis Building and DeRoy Auditorium Complex (1959) Pacific Science Center (1962) Irwin Library at Butler University (1963) Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1963) Northwestern National Life Building (1965) Robertson Hall at Princeton University (1965) Quo Vadis Entertainment Center (1966) Dr. John Archer Library (1967) Japan Center (1968) Yamasaki House (1972) Tulsa Performing Arts Center (1976) Istanbul Cevahir (1987)
Landscape architecture	Wascana Centre and University of Regina - Regina Campus (1961–1967)
List of works by Minoru Yamasaki • Yamasaki & Associates

Preceded byFirst Place Tower

Tallest Building in Tulsa 1976—Present203m

Succeeded byNone