Portrait of David B. Runnells taken by Life Magazine in 1950
David Benton Runnells, Architect 1913-1973
Architect, David B. Runnells traveled extensively in Europe after graduating from the University of Illinois. He was heavily influenced by the work of Alvar Aalto while traveling through, Finland and Sweden on a scholarship to the University of Stockholm.
Runnells was a student of Eliel and Eero Saarinen, studying city planning at Cranbrook, a hotbed of modern design education. Other students attending at that time were Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, Benjamin Baldwin, Harry Weese and Jack Lenor Larsen. Runnells worked in the Saarinen offices during part of World War II and did competitions with co-worker and Case Study House Architect, Ralph Rapson.
Runnells eventually settled in Kansas City sometime around 1941 as head of the industrial design department of the Kansas City Art Institute. He was a director of planning with the Kansas City Planning Department from 1943-46. He became an architect in 1946 and partnered in Runnells Clark Waugh and Matsumoto Architects. Together, they did one of his best known projects, the new Art School building for the Kansas City Art Institute. The only other project known to have come from that partnership is the James I. Clark Residence.
After the partnership dissolved, with Waugh and Matsumoto leaving to teach, Runnells went on to do merchant home builder designs and custom homes, many of which were built by modern builder, Don Drummond. The Revere Homes are his best known merchant builder design. The Reed Residence is the best surviving example of his large custom residential work. The two custom personal residences that he designed for himself and for Don Drummond have both been demolished. His 1966 design for the Alpha Kappa Lambda Fraternity in Lawrence, Kansas has also been demolished.
This photo was taken shortly after completion in 1964 by our friend, architect Robert Bowlby and featured in the Friends of Kebyar -Bruce Goff in Oklahoma Guide( if your doing a Bruce Goff Tour in Oklahoma you need this guidebook!)...note the bright colors and pendants(colorful aluminum bubbles) on steel tension cables.
I took these photos in August 2009. You can see the rust and neglect but you can also see that this structure needs maintenance to be a sculpture and perhaps an engineer's report on it's structural integrity with repairs to be a playground "toy" as originally conceived. My wife played on this as a kid and said it was an exhilarating experience.
We wanted to bring attention to a seriously cool landmark in Sooner Park, Bartlesville, Oklahoma and to salute those that have made noise and created a discussion by calling attention to the importance of this civic design by Bruce Goff as a gift to the city by the H.C. Price family. The child's toy; fun to look at, fun to be in was welded shut years ago...in the 1990's it seemed all but forgotten; not painted, not accessible and definately not a "fun" place that Mothers would be comfortable with their children playing on. There has been a lot of "chatter" regarding this treasure but no concrete group has stepped up as far as I know other than the Friends of Kebyar (http://www.kebyar.com/). I would encourage anyone that supports saving this rare landmark to contact them and the Price Tower(http://www.pricetower.com/) to encourage preservation voices be heard on the importance of this work.
Not much is known about this 
Name: Revere Home
