Abundant Life Building
16th and Boulder

Originally build in 1957 by and for Oral Roberts ministries. When they moved south to 71st and Lewis, Southwestern Bell converted and used it for a central office. It was abandoned sometime in the mid-'80s and has been empty since. This building has also been covered by Abandoned Tulsa, including a great postcard photo of how it once looked during the day and night. At night, it was surrounded by lights displaying the unique diamond pattern covering the upper portion of the building. It also had a large spire forming a cross across the front. I have been reading some older guestbook entries at Tulsa TV Memories and saw some things I hadn't heard about it such as:

Jim Hartz said "I remember the Abundant Life building on South Boulder very well. In its day, the early 60s, there was nothing else like it in the southwest. Oral Roberts had a network-quality video and audio studio in the basement. There was a set that matched his tent stage. He used this to film the open and close to each of his weekly shows, plus his pitches for money. It was an exact match for film that had been shot in his road campaigns. He did this at least four times a year in Tulsa. He brought in NYC cameramen and a network directors. It was all filmed on 35mm cameras. There was probably no production like it in Tulsa before or since."

John Hillis did a deep memory purge and said "Thought the Diamond Towers was where the envelopes for Oral were opened. Since most contained contributions, and many contained cash, the windowless building was part of security. I also heard that employees who opened the envelopes were forced to wear smocks that were pocketless and that there was a hi-tech (then) system that vacuumed the cash into the vaults within seconds of the envelopes being opened, but all that may be aprocryphal."


All these comments led me to a link for David Horton Ministries, where they say
"DHM is currently restoring Oral Roberts former headquarter building in downtown Tulsa as an evangelistic world headquarters. The seven-story tower will serve as the base of opportunities for all DHM outreaches worldwide."

Hmmm...now, the discussions and the DHM info came out in 2003, so I'm not sure if they've made any progress since then. I'll try to make a point to check it out soon. In the meantime, here's the pics I took a couple of years ago, when I had no idea what it was.

Update: David Horton Ministries bought the building from George Nerhan, a struggling property manager. According to the Hutchinson News website article,

"In 1997, Nerhan bought the Diamond Tower in Tulsa, Okla., a windowless, seven-story office building that served as the headquarters for evangelist Oral Roberts in the 1950s and '60s.

A few months after purchasing it, he sold the building to a group run by the Rev. David Horton, which wanted to turn the building, once called the Abundant Life Building, into a center for Horton's evangelical ministries.

But Nerhan said he never was paid for the building and the land it sits on, which now are valued at $1.6 million. He said he is allowing Horton, whose organization is tax exempt, to keep the building - and possibly try to sell it - so Nerhan won't have to pay property taxes on it."

So, it sounds to me like nothing has happened with the building. DHM isn't paying for it, but Nerhan doesn't want to pay taxes on it, so he's willing to let DHM just sit on it.