| Leon B. Senter | |
| Birth Name: | Leon Bishop Senter |
| Birth Place: | Kansas, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Leon Senter, Sr. |
| Occupation: | Architect |
| Years Active: | 1912 - 1965 |
Leon Bishop Senter (March 5, 1889 – September 16, 1965) was an American architect who worked primarily in Oklahoma. Although not formally educated in architecture, he became Oklahoma's first licensed architect in 1925 and designed several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.
Senter was born in Johnson County, Kansas to James and Emma Senter, received his primary education Topeka and graduated from Manual High School in Kansas City, a vocational school. He then enrolled in International Correspondence School (ICS), a correspondence school to study architectural engineering, including basic drafting and building design. He also gained experience under local draftsmen and architects.
He worked as a steel superintendent in 1910 for a Kansas City, Missouri construction company the Oak Cliff Viaduct, a 6562adj=midNaNadj=mid viaduct being built between Dallas and Oak Cliff, TexasBy 1912, he had secured a position with the Smith, Rae, and Lovitt architectural firm in Kansas City, Missouri as a draftsman and specification writer. When the partners decided to open a new office in Okmulgee, Oklahoma in 1915, Senter was named branch manager there while the other partners remained in Kansas City between. In 1918, he was made a full partner in the firm (renamed Smith, Rea, Lovitt & Senter) and remained in Okmulgee.
After Frank Rea died in 1920, the partnership was dissolved. In 1924, it was reformed as Smith & Senter, headquartered in Okmulgee. Senter became the first architect in Oklahoma to become a Registered Architect in 1925, after the state enacted a law requiring registration of architects. He carried License Number 1 for the rest of his career.
In 1928, Senter opened an office in Tulsa at the request of millionaire Waite Phillips, whom Senter met earlier in Okmulgee when Philips was in the oil business and they were neighbors. Phillips hired Senter to design the Philcade Building, a nine-story annex to the Philtower Building. The Tulsa office of Smith & Senter was the first tenant of the Philtower Building. By 1933, Senter was working independently and renamed the firm Senter and Associates. He son, Leon B. Senter, Jr., who had also become an architect, joined the firm. Senter remained active there until his death in 1965.
Senter designed of several significant buildings during his time in Okmulgee. These include:
The Tulsa Coliseum was a major commission for the firm in Tulsa, a multi-purpose, indoor arena built by Walter Whiteside, a Minnesota millionaire who wanted to introduce ice hockey to the southwest. The building had a terazzo floor for regular events such as circuses and musical performances. The floor was flooded and frozen by refrigerant circulated in pipes cast into the concrete beneath to make the ice rink. The system had an elaborate design to prevent cracking during the freeze-thaw cycles, made of layers of concrete, asphalt, cork board, sand, concrete with steel aggregate, and finally the terazzo. The building also had a unique acoustic ceiling made with tons of crushed sugar cane fibers (bagasse). According to a newspaper article covering the grand opening, the ceiling, designed by "expert acoustical engineers on the staff of Smith and Senter ... makes the coliseum's acoustics perfect for conventions, theatrical attractions and musical entertainments." The building was the first indoor ice rink south of the Mason–Dixon line and home of the Tulsa Oilers from 1929 until it was destroyed by fire in 1952.
The Tulsa Foundation for Architecture compiled the following list of projects completed by Leon Senter after he moved his office to Tulsa:
Although Senter was sometime labeled primarily a designer of Art Deco, over his long career he working in many styles as leading trends changed. Some of his early works were in Spanish Baroque Revival, Beaux-Arts, Georgian Revival and Renaissance Revival. Coincident with moving to Tulsa at the end of the 1920s and the rising popularity of Art Deco in the United States, his best-known early works in Tulsa were of that style. Post-World War II works reflected the post-Art Deco styles that were then in vogue, including Streamline/Art Moderne, and International style.
Senter was elected as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1957. He was also a former president and founding member of the Oklahoma chapter. He served as a member of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, as a member of the licensing board for Oklahoma architects (State Board of Governors of Licensed Architects in Oklahoma), and as a member of the board of design for the Tulsa Civic Center, the American Society of Planning Officials, Tulsa City Planning Commission for 13 years, the Oklahoma State Planning Commission, and a State Director of the Historical American Building Survey. He was made a Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters (Geneva, Switzerland) in 1962. In 1963, he was recognized by the City of Tulsa for "his many contributions to the city" with a Bronze Key. He had served on the City Planning Board for 19 years.
On November 2, 1910, he married Murriel Houghton a native of Streator, Illinois, with whom he had three children, including Leon B. Senter, Junior, who also became an architect.