Although New York may scoff, this building’s 13 stories qualified it for skyscraper status in early-day Oklahoma City. Commissioned by Charles F. Colcord, the Colcord owes its strength to his noting that only those San Francisco structures of reinforced concrete survived that city’s devastating earthquake and fire of 1906.

Thus, the Colcord was Oklahoma’s first steel reinforced concrete building, a relatively new technique at the turn of the century. Its architectural style comes from t...