Pei Plan Maps

• 

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Preparations for the Pei Plan took months. Pei himself toured downtown and visited with merchants and property owners. His New York City firm then opened and staffed a temporary downtown Oklahoma City office which was tasked with developing detailed maps, plans and proposals for an extensive makeover that for good or bad kicked off a half-century transformation that continues today. The following maps reveal much about Pei’s vision of what downtown Oklahoma City would look like in 1989.

Map No. 1: Pei’s community facilities plan shows existing and planned park areas, garages, schools, convention facilities and other public uses. Note Pei’s suggestion that an underground parking garage topped with a plaza be built immediately east of City Hall.

Map No. 2: Pei’s land use map proposes how each section of downtown might be developed. Note how the Pei Plan excludes Bricktown, Deep Deuce, MidTown and the area now known as “Core to Shore.”

Map No. 3: Pei’s general location map shows themed uses of land, but doesn’t create themed districts as are common today (the Arts District, the Central Business District, Bricktown, Deep Deuce and Film Row). Instead the plan shows an intense development of housing approximately where Sycamore Square and Legacy at Arts Quarter were later built, and small pockets of housing popping up in the central business district. The map also appears to visualize a planned central expressway (now known as Interstate 235) generally following along the route of Lincoln Boulevard with fly ramps crossing over what is now the site of the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. This highway connection is a rare example of Pei considering future possible development east of the future E.K. Gaylord Boulevard – a thoroughfare conceived by Pei.

Map No. 4: Pei’s zoning plan never excluded industrial use in downtown Oklahoma City, even though efforts were already underway in other cities to do just that. The plan also shows the area now known as Bricktown remaining an industrial hub, even though the area was already fading with companies moving their operations to NW 36 and Santa Fe.

Map No. 5: Pei’s illustrative site map shows the architect and urban planner initially called for the Biltmore and Huckins hotels to be preserved and kept intact. It also called for closing Colcord and Couch around City Hall and creating a civic complex and plaza similar to how Tulsa’s civic center was structured until its City Hall moved last year.

Map No. 6: This 1954 map shows downtown Oklahoma City when it was still the heart of the city – before the advent of Urban Renewal. If you’ve ever wondered where John A. Brown Department Store was located, or whether downtown was once home to Sears or J.C. Penney’s, this map makes everything clear.

1	2
Open in New Window	Open in New Window
3	4
Open in New Window	Open in New Window
5	6
Open in New Window	Open in New Window