The Sweeney,
Coombs & Frederick building was built in 1889 and is located on the corner of Main Street
and Congress Street at 301 Main Street. Sweeney is a jewelry firm which is still in business. It is one of the
very very few Victorian structures in the Bayou City. Some people believe this building wasn't entirely built by George Dickey. They
believe parts of the W.A. Van Alstyne Building still live in the current structure, even though it was supposed to be demolished
in 1861.
The Gulf Building, now called the JPMorgan Chase building, is one of the preeminent Art Deco skyscrapers in the southern United
States. Completed in 1929, it remained the tallest
building in Houston until 1963, when the Exxon Building surpassed it in height.
The Esperson
Buildings, 'Neils' built in 1927 and 'Mellie' in 1942, were modeled with Italian architecture.
The Houston
City Hall was started in 1938 and completed in 1939. The original building is an excellent example of the Art Deco Era. In front of City Hall is the George
Hermann Square.
One Shell
Plaza was, at its completion in 1971, the tallest building in Houston.
It stands 715 feet tall, and when the antenna tower on its top is included, the height of One Shell Plaza
is 1000 feet.
Houston
Public Library's Central Library, consists of two separate buildings: the Julia Ideson Building (1926) and the Jesse H.
Jones Building (1976).
The Houston
Industries Building, formerly known simply as the 1100 Milam
Building, was built in 1973. It went through major renovatedions in 1996.
Pennzoil
Place, designed by Philip
Johnson,built in 1976, is Houston
most award winning skyscraper known for its innovative design. Johnson's forward thinking brought about a new era in skyscraper
design.
The First City
Tower was built in 1981.
The JPMorgan
Chase Tower, designed by I.M. Pei built in 1981 and formerly the
Texas Commerce
Tower, is the tallest in Houston and the second tallest in the United States west of the Mississippi River.
The Chevron
Tower, formerly the Gulf
Tower, was built in 1982.
The Bank of
America Center, formerly the RepublicBank
Center and the
NationsBank center, designed by Philip
Johnson was built in 1983.
The Enron Center
North, also the Four
Allen Center, was also built
in 1983.
The Wells Fargo
Bank Plaza, formerly the Allied Bank Plaza and First Interstate Center,
also built in 1983 is the second tallest building in the Houston Area.
The Heritage
Plaza was completed in 1987.
The Enron Center
South, also the Enron II, designed by Cesar Pelli was completed in 2002. (Note: Enron went bankrupt before the building's completion and was sold soon after it
was completed for about half of its $200 million construction cost).
The Hobby Center
for the Performing Arts was started in 2000 and completed in 2002.
The Lyric Centre is filled with lawyers, but is named for its adjacency to the many performing
arts venues in Houston's Theater District.
