Oak Tower
Encyclopedia
Oak Tower, also called the Bell Telephone Building, is a 28-story skyscraper
in Downtown Kansas City
, Missouri
.
Hoit, Price & Barnes, a local firm that conceived many of Kansas City's landmark structures, designed the building in association with I.R. Timlin
as the headquarters of the Bell Telephone Co.
's newly consolidated Southwestern System
.
Ground was broken at Eleventh and Oak Streets in 1917, but due to shortages of manpower and materials during the First World War
, construction was delayed and was not completed until 1920. The new building served as Southwestern Bell's general headquarters for only a year before the company moved its main office to St. Louis. Thereafter the tower served as the headquarters of Southwestern Bell's operations in Missouri.
The tower was originally 14 stories (185 feet), without any set-backs, but the fast-growing telephone company soon required more space. An addition completed in 1929 doubled the tower's height and made it the tallest building in Missouri until the Kansas City Power & Light Building surpassed it in 1931.
Oak Tower's top half was built with Haydite, the first modern structural lightweight concrete, which had recently been invented and patented in Kansas City by Stephen J. Hayde. The tower's 1929 expansion was the first major project to use the new building material, and it allowed the addition of fourteen new stories, six more than would have been possible using conventional concrete.
The building's contractor, Swenson Construction Co., also built several other landmark Kansas City buildings including the Kansas City Power & Light Building, 909 Walnut
, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City City Hall
, Kansas City Live Stock Exchange
and the Western Auto Building
.
Oak Tower's original terra-cotta facade was covered in white stucco
when it was sold in 1974.
Today Oak Tower is one of the key fiber transit buildings for Kansas City and houses a 9000 square feet (836.1 m²) Tier II data center.
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
in Downtown Kansas City
Downtown Kansas City
Downtown Kansas City is the central business district of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. It is located between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line east to Troost Avenue as defined by officials of the...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
.
Hoit, Price & Barnes, a local firm that conceived many of Kansas City's landmark structures, designed the building in association with I.R. Timlin
I.R. Timlin
Irving Ray Timlin was an American architect. He spent his entire career with the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, where he was chief architect during the company's rapid expansion in the first half of the twentieth century...
as the headquarters of the Bell Telephone Co.
Bell Telephone Company
The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts on July 9, 1877 by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company — the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company...
's newly consolidated Southwestern System
Southwestern Bell
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T. It does business as AT&T Southwest and other d/b/a names in its operating region.The company is currently headquartered in Dallas, Texas at One AT&T Plaza.-History:...
.
Ground was broken at Eleventh and Oak Streets in 1917, but due to shortages of manpower and materials during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, construction was delayed and was not completed until 1920. The new building served as Southwestern Bell's general headquarters for only a year before the company moved its main office to St. Louis. Thereafter the tower served as the headquarters of Southwestern Bell's operations in Missouri.
The tower was originally 14 stories (185 feet), without any set-backs, but the fast-growing telephone company soon required more space. An addition completed in 1929 doubled the tower's height and made it the tallest building in Missouri until the Kansas City Power & Light Building surpassed it in 1931.
Oak Tower's top half was built with Haydite, the first modern structural lightweight concrete, which had recently been invented and patented in Kansas City by Stephen J. Hayde. The tower's 1929 expansion was the first major project to use the new building material, and it allowed the addition of fourteen new stories, six more than would have been possible using conventional concrete.
The building's contractor, Swenson Construction Co., also built several other landmark Kansas City buildings including the Kansas City Power & Light Building, 909 Walnut
909 Walnut
909 Walnut is a twin-spire, 32-story, converted structure in Kansas City that is Missouri's tallest apartment building and 10th tallest habitable building in Missouri...
, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City City Hall
Kansas City City Hall
The City Hall of Kansas City, Missouri, is the official seat of government for the city of Kansas City, Missouri. It is a 29-story skyscraper located in downtown Kansas City, and has an observation deck on the top of it...
, Kansas City Live Stock Exchange
Kansas City Live Stock Exchange
The Kansas City Live Stock Exchange at 1600 Gennesse in Kansas City, Missouri in the West Bottoms was the headquarters of the Kansas City Stockyards...
and the Western Auto Building
Coca-Cola Building (Kansas City, Missouri)
The Western Auto Building, also known as the Coca-Cola Building or the Candler Building, is located at 2107 Grand Boulevard, in the Crossroads neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri....
.
Oak Tower's original terra-cotta facade was covered in white stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
when it was sold in 1974.
Today Oak Tower is one of the key fiber transit buildings for Kansas City and houses a 9000 square feet (836.1 m²) Tier II data center.