According to Architectural Digest, the building was designed to resemble a large tree, with its concrete base making up the trunk, and green copper panels, sun louvers, and exposed elevator shafts mimicking the leaves. H.C. Price used the tower as their main office headquarters and company apartments until their closure in 1981. Since then, the building’s fate has been met with a slew of mishandlings.
Used as a storage facility for several years by the Phillips Petroleum Company, it was eventually donated to the specialized non-profit Price Tower Arts Center in 2000. It underwent renovations in the early millennia, and a museum dedicated to Wright, a boutique hotel, and a bar and restaurant were established within the Tower. By 2007, it had become a National Historic Landmark. Though office spaces were rented out, the non-profit struggled with the upkeep and fell into a debt of around $600,000.
This is when Anthem and Cynthia Blanchard, founders of Copper Tree, Inc., came into the picture. Despite community concerns over private investors buying the structure in March of 2023, the couple promised to pay off the debt racked up by Price Tower Arts Center and invest an additional $10 million into renovations. Their terms of purchase practically guaranteed it, seeing as they were able to finalize the building's sale for a mere $10 (plus the debt payment), but these promises never panned out.