The Scandal Behind Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midwestern Skyscraper

According to Architectural Digest, the building was designed to resemble a large tree, with its concrete base making up the trunk, and green copper panels, sun louvers, and exposed elevator shafts mimicking the leaves. H.C. Price used the tower as their main office headquarters and company apartments until their closure in 1981. Since then, the building’s fate has been met with a slew of mishandlings.

Used as a storage facility for several years by the Phillips Petroleum Company, it was eventually donated to the specialized non-profit Price Tower Arts Center in 2000. It underwent renovations in the early millennia, and a museum dedicated to Wright, a boutique hotel, and a bar and restaurant were established within the Tower. By 2007, it had become a National Historic Landmark. Though office spaces were rented out, the non-profit struggled with the upkeep and fell into a debt of around $600,000. 

This is when Anthem and Cynthia Blanchard, founders of Copper Tree, Inc., came into the picture. Despite community concerns over private investors buying the structure in March of 2023, the couple promised to pay off the debt racked up by Price Tower Arts Center and invest an additional $10 million into renovations. Their terms of purchase practically guaranteed it, seeing as they were able to finalize the building's sale for a mere $10 (plus the debt payment), but these promises never panned out. 

In fact, strange measures were taken by the property owners. Despite Cynthia Blanchard’s expectation that Bartlesville would experience a tech renaissance she called “Silicon Ranch,” her husband’s cryptocurrency company, HeraSoft, would soon eat the brunt of the couple’s financial mismanagement. 

Months after the building’s purchase, Copper Tree, Inc. claimed in court that HeraSoft had insufficient funds to pay their staff. Three employees have since revealed they were pressured into swapping their paychecks for equity in Price Tower and had evidence that HeraSoft owed them a combined amount of $200,000.

Unfortunately, this isn't even the tip of the iceberg. More trouble came when the duo behind Copper Tree, Inc. began selling protected building furnishings designed by Wright to third parties. Due to the Tower’s status as a heritage site, the artifacts found within the Price Tower technically belong to The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. 

The Conservancy filed UCC Financing Statements against Cynthia Blanchard, Copper Tree, Inc., and Green Copper Holdings on August 8th after a rolling directory board, copper relief panels, tables, stools, and an armchair arrived at a mid-century design dealer in Dallas, Texas. 

Barbara Gordon, the Conservancy’s executive director, stated, “This collection of items cannot be sold. Frank Lloyd Wright designed in a holistic environment. He considered not just the building, but the items inside it. It’s important to keep the items together to understand the design.”

As of right now, the Price Tower will go to auction in early October of 2024 for an estimated $4 million asking price. The Tower will be closed until then. All commercial businesses have been asked to find new accommodations by the end of August, and all building employees have been laid off by Copper Tree, Inc.