On your right, look for the tall, bright white tower with tight vertical stripes and a red “BOK” logo perched near the roofline, rising like a clean-edged ruler between older buildings.
This is BOK Tower, and it’s got a little bit of New York swagger baked into its bones. When it went up in 1976, it wasn’t just another office building for downtown Tulsa-it was a statement piece: 52 stories, about 667 feet tall, and for decades the tallest building in Oklahoma, until Oklahoma City’s Devon Tower finally nudged it out in 2011.
The real plot twist is the architect. The tower was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the same man behind the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. Tulsa businessman John Williams loved that design so much he basically ordered a “make it like that… but Tulsa-sized.” Early plans called for two shorter, 30-story buildings. Then Williams pushed for something more dramatic-legend says he stacked one model on top of another to make his point. Result: one single tower that feels like a half-scale cousin of the New York original. Executives even joked the plans were just “cut in half,” which is the kind of joke you make when you’re staring at the rent roll.
Inside, the lobby leaned into that same vibe: marble walls and hanging accents reminiscent of the Twin Towers. The building holds about 1.1 million square feet of office space, and it filled fast-around 80 percent occupied within four months.
Then, in 2005, trouble hit: a water main break flooded the basement and took electrical gear with it. The fix in 2006 cost about $16 million at the time-roughly $25 million today-covering flood repairs plus upgrades like new windows, fitness centers, and spruced-up pedestrian bridges.
When you’re ready, Tulsa parks and recreation is a 2-minute walk heading northeast.
