Fairgrounds Pavilion

Tulsa's Fairgrounds Pavilion is yet another example of lovely Art Deco architecture.  I particularly like the arched entryway...but it's easy to see that the terra cotta frescoes around the top of the building are irresistible!  Who wouldn't like seeing those horses, steer and rams' heads decoratively placed among the flower details?

The clear, bright morning I took the photos really made the blond bricks glow. I strove to capture that bright, sunny feeling as I felt it well portrayed how one might feel on the occasions to visit such a place.  After all, who doesn't like to go to the fair?  The painting was done with heavy body acrylics on 8 x 10" prepped mdf panel.

Designed by Tulsa architect Leland I. Shumway, the Pavilion was built in 1932.  According to Tulsa Foundation for Architecture, Mr. Shumway was known as a "School Architect" having designed "Barnard Elementary School, 2324 East 17th Street (1925) Lanier Elementary School, 1727 South Harvard Avenue (1925) Roosevelt Elementary School, 1202 West Easton Street (1926) Wilson Junior High School, 1127 South Columbia Avenue (1926) Franklin Elementary School, 1135 South Yale Avenue (1927)".  However, he designed some fantastic houses in Tulsa's Riverside addition.  Read more about this architect and his contributions to Tulsa architecture here.