Please join us for a TFA Membership Appreciation Reception celebrating National Preservation Month at the Gartner House, designed in 1926 by noted Tulsa architect Donald McCormick, FAIA.
For those not familiar with Donald McCormick, he is responsible for a large number of iconic Tulsa buildings and residences. From the traditional (Grace Lutheran Church, Southern Hills Country Club, Cascia Hall) to the modern (the Page Belcher Federal Building, the Flint Steel Building, and the demolished Dowell/Helmerich & Payne Building), McCormick’s work in Tulsa spanned six decades and included over 200 residences, with the J.L. Gartner Residence being his first commission.
Originally from Pennsylvania, McCormick was in Tulsa supervising the construction of the First Methodist Church, which McCormick’s employer, the architectural firm of Charles W. Bolton, designed. McCormick decided to stay in Tulsa and establish his own architectural practice after Mr. & Mrs. J.L. Gartner commissioned him to design their home on East 21st Place in 1926. One of the interesting things about the design of the house is its unique and unusual floor plan that is still extremely functional.
Because the McCormick Collection is one of our major collections in the archives, we have all the original drawings for the Gartner House. Here are a couple images of the home’s unique floor plan.
