Archive for the ‘Houston Architecture’ Category
Houston Architecture - Heritage Plaza Building
February 13th, 2008 categories: Houston Architecture
Definitely one of the most impressive buildings you’ll see in Houston or anywhere for that matter.
The Heritage Plaza building is a solid, sheer structure with a Mayan-style design at the top inspired by the architect, Mohammed Nasr’s holiday to the Yucatan.
It is the 5th-tallest building in Houston, the 8th-tallest in Texas, the 59th-tallest in the United States, and the 183rd-tallest in the world. Going by looks alone, it comes in at number 1 for me compared to the other tall buildings in Houston Texas!
Heritage Plaza completed construction in early 1987. It was the last major office building completed in downtown Houston prior to the collapse of the Texas real estate, banking, and oil industries in the 1980s. The building stood as the most recently completed major skyscraper in Houston for over 10 years, until the completion of 1500 Louisiana Street in 2002.
The building has 1.15 million square feet of lease-able space, of which a vast majority sat vacant until Texaco leased 550,000 square feet in 1989. The building went on to serve as the world headqaurters of Texaco for 12 years. In 2001, Heritage Plaza became the world headquarters of the ChevronTexaco corporation. However, in 2004, ChevronTexaco moved out of the building when its lease expired.
Heritage Plaza is well known because of its central location in the central business district skyline, and for the stepped granite feature located on the top of the building that resembles a Mayan pyramid. The crown of the building is also said to resemble an image of a Bald Eagle spreading its wings.
The interior lobby of Heritage Plaza was also designed with Mexican influences. The lower levels of the building, which contain a large food court, contain a distinctive multi-level marble waterfall that falls from the lobby.
See more photos of the Heritage Plaza here.
Story sourced from Wikipedia.
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Houston Architecture - The JP Morgan Chase Tower
January 21st, 2008 categories: Houston Architecture
Houston has a fairly impressive skyline and the JP Morgan Chase Tower is not the most exciting design around but it is the tallest in Houston and in all of Texas!!
The 75-story, 305.4 m (1,002 ft) tall JPMorgan Chase Tower of Houston, Texas, formerly the Texas Commerce Tower, is the tallest building in Texas, the tallest five-sided building in the world, and one of the world’s tallest structures.
The tower was built in Downtown Houston at 600 Travis Street in 1981 as the Texas Commerce Tower. It was designed by noted architects I.M. Pei & Partners. The local architect and architect of record is 3D/International. In some early plans, the building reached up to 80 stories; however, the FAA expressed concern that additional height was a risk for aircraft going into and out of nearby William P. Hobby Airport.
Upon its completion, the building surpassed Aon Center in Los Angeles to become the tallest building in the United States west of the Mississippi River, a title it held until Los Angeles’ Library Tower, now known as the U.S. Bank Tower, was built in 1990.
JPMorgan Chase Tower is also connected to the Houston Downtown Tunnel System. This system forms a network of subterranean, climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that link twenty-five full city blocks. The lobby of JPMorgan Chase Tower has been designed to harmonize not only with the height of the structure, but also with the portico of Jones Hall. For that reason, a five story glass wall supported by a stainless steel space frame spans the entire 85 foot width of the front entrance, making the lobby area light and airy, and opening up the space to the plaza outside.
The sky lobby, aka “observation deck”, of this building is located on the 60th floor. The sky lobby acts as a transfer point for persons traveli
ng to the upper (61-75) floors, but also as an observation deck for the public during the working hours of 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday. One can take the express elevator, providing a panoramic view of the city of Houston thanks to the use of wide glass spans and thirteen-foot ceilings. At the entrance of the building is a multi-colored sculpture designed by Joan Miró.
While still called the Texas Commerce Tower from time to time, the tower’s major tenant is J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., which gives the tower its name. JPMC has moved many of its financial businesses from New York City to Houston. The tower is managed by Hines (its original owner) and owned by Prime Asset Management. The adjacent J.P. Morgan Center & Garage is still owned by Hines.
History of the JP Morgan Chase Tower provided by Wikipedia.
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