Twenty stories of luxury condominiums just north of NW Expressway, west of May Avenue. Originally built as an office building, the 10-sided circular design caused office space to be pie shaped and only usable for small, low rent businesses. In 2006, after it changed owners a number of times, it was renovated to condominiums. It was originally built with a revolving restaurant on the top floor, but the restaurant no longer revolves. It has 63 condominiums: four each on floors 3 through 17, one that takes up the entire 18th floor, and two penthouses on the 19th.
from Wikipedia
Founders Tower (formerly known as the United Founders Life Tower and The 360 at Founders Plaza) is a Googie-style residential skyscraper located northwest of downtown Oklahoma City. The tower is one of the most well-known landmarks in the city skyline. It has a height of 275 feet (84 m) and 20 stories, with a restaurant called 360 featuring 360-degree panoramic views of Oklahoma City on its top floor.
Founders Tower was the second building in the nation to have a revolving restaurant—the first being at the Space Needle, though the restaurant no longer revolves. The building was originally finished in 1964 as an office building but was redeveloped into upscale residences. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
Design
Founders Tower consists of a 275-foot (84 m), cylindrical tower. From the ground floor to the 19th floor, the building has a diameter of 92 feet (28 m), which expands to 108 feet (33 m) at the 20th. Small, cantilever balconies are located at the vertices of each of the buildings ten faces from the 3rd floor to the 14th; wider balconies protrude from each face from the 15th to the 19th floor. Founders Tower contains a total of 63 condominiums: four each on floors 3 through 17, one that takes up the entire 18th floor, and two penthouses on the 19th. Unusual for a skyscraper is its "folded plate" concrete roof, rather thin-shell concrete. In addition to creating the distinctive zigzag pattern of the building's crown, it enabled the 20th floor to be free of load-bearing columns. The 20th floor includes the tower's restaurant space, which houses The George Prime Steakhouse as of 2013. The restaurant no longer revolves.
The design of Founders Tower is representative of the Googie, also called "Populuxe", architectural style prevalent at a time when much of the United States was enamored with spaceflight. It was, also, largely influenced by the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Price Tower in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington. Because the available offices in Founders Tower "were small, awkward—and shaped like slices of pie" as a consequence of its circular design, it could have only been used for "small, low-rent" offices. That layout and the presence of balconies, something that was irrelevant in an office setting, made it suitable, however, as a residential building.