City of Faith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
City of Faith Medical and Research Center was a massive hospital located at 81st Street and Lewis Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Built by Oral Roberts University, it was the tallest hospital in the world (as well as one of the largest) during its brief period of operation. The complex is now predominantly office space.
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[edit] History
City of Faith was built between 1979 and 1981, during which time Oral Roberts claimed to have seen a 900-foot tall Jesus who encouraged him to continue the project. The hospital accepted its first patient in November, 1981. Although many argued that Tulsa did not need another hospital, Tulsa's continued growth soon led to a shortage of hospital beds. However, financial difficulties forced City of Faith to close in late 1989, just eight years after it opened. Most of the complex was subsequently converted to office space and leased out under the name CityPlex Towers.
[edit] Building
The complex consists of three towers. The tallest of these is the 60-story CityPlex Tower, which at 648 feet (198 m) is the second tallest building in Oklahoma after One Williams Center. The main tower is flanked by the 30-story CityPlex West Tower and the 20-story CityPlex East Tower, which reach heights of 348 feet (106 m) and 248 ft (76 m), respectively. All three towers are triangular in plan. Two of the towers are currently non-medical while the Cancer Treatment Center continues to operate in CityPlex West.
CityPlex features a futurist style of architecture similar to the Oral Roberts University campus across the street.
[edit] Trivia
- CityPlex West, the only tower still in use as a hospital, currently ranks as the eighth tallest hospital in the world[citation needed]. If the main tower were still used as a hospital, it would easily be the tallest in the world.
- The rapper MC 900 Ft. Jesus takes his stage name from the 900-foot Jesus incident.
