The Coliseum

Coliseum Apartments

The Coliseum Apartments were built in 1925 to provide workforce housing in downtown Tulsa during the oil boom. The building offered 36 compact but comfortable, one-bedroom and studio apartments flanking double-loaded corridors on three floors.

By 2014, the building had fallen into extreme disrepair. There was spalling brick, roof leaks, rotted windows, decaying plaster, moldering carpet over heaved wood floors, no functional mechanical/electrical/plumbing systems and squatters.

The owners approached the $2.5 million rehab with the goal of creating affordable market-rate apartments – new workforce housing – in downtown Tulsa. Rosin Preservation worked closely with the developer and the design team to make sure the program met the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, paying extra attention to document the deteriorated windows and to ensure the selection of an appropriate replacement. The building skin was made weather-tight with a new roof, sensitive brick and terracotta repair and new windows that replicated the deteriorated historic windows. The historic apartment configuration was maintained on the interior while new hardwood floors, fresh walls and ceilings and contemporary kitchen and bathroom fixtures and finishes that recalled the building’s heritage were installed.

The building leased quickly and has been heralded as a preservation success in downtown Tulsa.