CRYSTAL CLEARING
Art Deco building to be redeveloped along downtown OKC’s Film Row
The International Crystal buildings along Film Row are under a sale contract and the buyer is wasting no time starting redevelopment plans.
The series of storefronts along the 700 block of W Sheridan Avenue and an adjoining building at 10 N Lee Ave. were built in the heyday of Film Row and included the local branch of MGM Studio. International Crystal Manufacturing, which operated along Film Row for 66 years, called the block its home for the past few decades before shutting down in May.
The buyer, Eric Fleske, submitted plans for approval by the Downtown Design Review Committee. Those designs by William Sullens and Phase One Design include replacing storefronts filled in years ago with black covering and creating a series of entries and large windows that could accommodate retail and restaurants.
The 10 N Lee building, meanwhile, would be detached from the Sheridan Avenue storefronts with demolition
of a connecting corridor. The 10 N Lee building is slated to be restored and retained as office space. Fabric awnings would be replaced with metal canopies.
All of the buildings would undergo repair of damaged brick and windows.
“Given the nature and significance of what these buildings and properties were to the film industry starting in the 1930s until the sale of the buildings to a local technology company in the early 1980s, the new owners want to maintain the historic looks of the buildings while updating the windows and storefront glazing systems,” Sullens explained in his application.
Sullens said Friday much of the buildings’ original Art Deco character remains intact. The property spans 19,350 square feet.
“The current owner kept the historic value of the buildings quite well,” Sullens said.
Film Row resurgence
The planned redevelopment marks a turning point for the district.
For about a half century, the stretch of Sheridan Avenue between Walker and Western avenues (historically known as Grand Avenue) — west of the central business district — was home to a regional outpost for studios including Paramount, Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures and Fox. It was here, during the era before jet travel, that trains brought reels of films to be distributed throughout the region.
During the heyday of downtown movie palaces, theater owners screened movies and bought supplies and equipment in the Film Exchange district, centered at Sheridan and Lee. That era ended as film exchanges were no longer needed and films were transported by plane and then digitally.
International Crystal Manufacturing was one of the last surviving business along Film Row as the district’s fortunes fell in the 1970s through the 1990s and became known as skid row. Redevelopment into a collection of shops, restaurants and creative firms started about a dozen years ago.
“If you go back and research how that area impacted Oklahoma City, to me at least, it’s very interesting and to still have that today and know what that was about is very useful for our future generations,” Sullens said. “The aesthetics on that building is something you don’t see anymore. From an architectural standpoint, the more we can retain, the better off we are.”