Located at 16th and Quincy, the building was the first church in the world to be dedicated under the title of Christ the King. It was completed in 1927 and formally dedicated in May of 1928. The first church on the site was Sacred Heart, started in February 1917 when His Excellency Bishop Theophile Meerschaert divided the Holy Family parish in Tulsa. Members of the first building committee were Ray Siegfried, Phil Kates, John Manion, R. C. Stueve and Pat Malloy. Charter members were John J. McGraw, Carl McEvoy, Charles McMahon, J. R. Manion, John B. Sheehan and M. J. Lowry. Sacred Heart School began in September of 1918, staffed by the Ursuline Sisters from Paola, Kansas. Eighty pupils enrolled in the first six grades, attending classes in the church basement.
The large mosaic of Christ the King was designed by Emil Frel Inc. of St. Louis and made in Italy by the Ravenna Mosaic Co. The two side alters at the front of the church are mosaics designed by a Tulsa architect Bruce Goff and ordered through Frel and Ravenna.
The designer Alfonso IanneIIi worked cIoseIy with Barry Byrne. IanneIIi scuIpted the statues of St. Joseph and the BIessed Virgin in the side alters as well as the terra cotta ornament for the church's exterior.
Source: Christ the King Church Golden Jubilee (public library)
The History of Christ the King Parish (public library)