ARCO Building: Tulsa’s River of Marble

On a cold January morning in 1950, steam curled from manhole covers along East 6th Street in downtown Tulsa. Law students in wool coats and carrying scuffed briefcases hurried past men in felt fedoras, their cigarette smoke curling into the winter air. Both groups stepped through the same green-framed doorway at the corner of 6th Street and Cincinnati Avenue, entering a brand-new building that symbolized the city’s post-war optimism. Above the entrance, a custom metal grille caught the morning light, its angular pattern recalling stylized waves. This was the Service Pipe Line Company Building, later known as the ARCO Building, a rare structure where oil executives and law students shared the same elevators.

Newly repurposed ARCO Building with 72 apartments

Post–World War II Tulsa was entering a new era. The oil industry was expanding rapidly, and the University of Tulsa College of Law had outgrown its facilities. A unique partnership between the Stanolind/Service Pipe Line Company and TU created a six-story headquarters that housed pipeline engineers on one floor and law classrooms on another. It was a handshake between industry and academia that reflected the city’s confidence in both economic growth and higher education.

Architect Leon B. Senter, Oklahoma’s first licensed architect, designed the building in a Streamline Moderne style blended with late Art Deco details. The exterior featured buff brick over a granite base, accented with green terra cotta inspired by the nearby Arkansas River. The entrance grille resembled flowing water, while inside, elevator lobbies were lined with marble from around the world. Decorative elements such as the bronze mail chute reflected Senter’s attention to craftsmanship.

Marble coated ground floor lobby of the ARCO building

In its early years, the building had a unique rhythm. On the engineering floors, draftsmen traced crude oil routes on wall maps while telegraph machines tapped out updates from the field. A few stories above, law students pored over tort cases under humming fluorescent lights. The sounds of typewriters from the pipeline office often drifted into Contracts lectures, creating a soundscape unique to mid-century Tulsa.

By the mid-1970s, the Service Pipe Line name had faded and Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) became a major tenant. New signage went up, and the building entered a second life as a corporate hub for oil production and pipeline operations. Williams Brothers Engineering, the company that would grow into The Williams Companies, also had offices here during the 1960s, further cementing the building’s place in Tulsa’s business history.

The 1980s oil bust brought silence. Falling oil prices and corporate downsizing left the ARCO Building nearly empty. Pigeons roosted behind the decorative grille, and rumors of demolition circulated. Preservation advocates raised concerns, pointing to the building’s significance as a bridge between the exuberant Art Deco towers of the 1920s and the modernist forms of the post-war period.

In 2010, the building was listed as a contributing resource within the Oil Capital Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, protecting it from immediate threat. Tours began including the ARCO Building as a stop, highlighting the Arkansas River motif in the terra cotta and sharing stories from its dual life as an oil company headquarters and a downtown law school.

Main entrance grille symbolizing the Arkansas River flowing through Tulsa.

In 2020, Price Family Properties acquired the long-vacant structure and began a full restoration. Over the next two years, crews cleaned the buff brick, repaired the green terra cotta, and polished the marble walls. The central light well, originally a functional ventilation space, was transformed into an open-air courtyard. In 2023, the building reopened as the ARCO Apartments, with 72 residential units and ground-floor spaces for retail or cafés. Where filing cabinets once clanged, espresso machines now hum, and residents check their mail under the same marble ceilings that once oversaw oil deals and law lectures.

Common space lobby in newly renovated ARCO Apartments featuring original walls and terrazzo floors.

Today, the ARCO Building stands as a living artifact of Tulsa’s resilience. Its design, inspired by the flow of the Arkansas River, still catches the light at sunset just as it did in 1950. It remains a symbol of the city’s ability to honor its history while adapting for the future, making it an essential stop for anyone exploring Tulsa’s Art Deco architecture and historic downtown.