Tower Petroleum Building

Last updated
Tower Petroleum Building
Tower Petroleum Building01.JPG
Tower Petroleum Building in 2009
General information
StatusComplete
TypeOffice
Architectural styleZig-Zag Moderne
Address1907 Elm St., Dallas, Texas
CountryUnited States
Coordinates 32°46′51″N96°47′49″W / 32.780843°N 96.796808°W / 32.780843; -96.796808 Coordinates: 32°46′51″N96°47′49″W / 32.780843°N 96.796808°W / 32.780843; -96.796808
Opening1931 (1931)
Height
Roof315 ft (96 m)
Technical details
Floor count23
Design and construction
Architect Mark Lemmon
Tower Petroleum Building
Part of Dallas Downtown Historic District (#04000894 [1] )
DLMKHD # H/48 (Harwood HD)
Significant dates
Designated CPAugust 11, 2006
Designated DLMKHDFebruary 28, 1990 [2]

The Tower Petroleum Building (also known as The Tower Building) is a historic Art Deco Skyscraper located at 1907 Elm Street in the City Center District of Downtown Dallas. The tower, a contributing property in the Dallas Downtown Historic District and the Harwood Street Historic District, features Zig-zag Moderne styling and was designed by architect Mark Lemmon.

Art Deco Influential visual arts design style which first appeared in France during the 1920s

Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes held in Paris in 1925. It combined modern styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.

Skyscraper tall building

A skyscraper is a continuously habitable high-rise building that has over 40 floors and is taller than approximately 150 m (492 ft). Historically, the term first referred to buildings with 10 to 20 floors in the 1880s. The definition shifted with advancing construction technology during the 20th century. Skyscrapers may host offices, residential spaces, and retail spaces. For buildings above a height of 300 m (984 ft), the term supertall skyscrapers can be used, while skyscrapers reaching beyond 600 m (1,969 ft) are classified as megatall skyscrapers.

Downtown Dallas Place in Texas, United States

Downtown Dallas is the Central Business District (CBD) of Dallas, Texas USA, located in the geographic center of the city. The area termed "Downtown" has traditionally been defined as bounded by the downtown freeway loop: bounded on the east by I-345 (although known and signed as the northern terminus of I-45 and the southern terminus of US 75, on the west by I-35E, on the south by I-30, and on the north by Spur 366. The square miles, population and density figures in the adjacent table represent the data for this traditional definition.

Contents

Design

The Tower Petroleum Building features Zig-zag Moderne motifs, one of the few buildings left in Downtown Dallas which features such designs. The building's facade is clad in limestone and has green spandrels panels between the windows. [3] The upper floors of the building are set back twice from the shaft of the building starting with a three-story set back from the 19th floor. At the 22nd floor, the top sets back again and this section is 2 stories in height. These setbacks occur on three sides of the building. [3]

Limestone Sedimentary rocks made of calcium carbonate

Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A closely related rock is dolomite, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. In old USGS publications, dolomite was referred to as magnesian limestone, a term now reserved for magnesium-deficient dolomites or magnesium-rich limestones.

History

Corrigan Tower United States historic place

Corrigan Tower, also known as 1900 Pacific or 1900 Pacific Residences, is a high rise located at 1900 Pacific Avenue in the City Center District of Dallas, Texas. The building contains 20 floors, now made up of apartments but originally office space, and is of modernist design. It is situated on the high-traffic corner of St. Paul Street and Pacific Avenue, across from Aston Park and the future Pacific Plaza Park. It lies within the Harwood Historic District, but is not a contributing structure.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Governmental agency belonging to the United States Department of Justice

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI is also a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U.S. counter-terrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes.

Adaptive reuse

In June 2007, the Dallas City Council approved a $15 million plan by a local developer to renovate and convert the Tower Petroleum Building into a luxury high rise hotel. [5]

See also

Eliel Saarinens Tribune Tower design

Eliel Saarinen's Tribune Tower design or the Saarinen tower are terms used to describe the unnamed and unbuilt design for a modernist skyscraper, created by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and submitted in 1922 for the Chicago Tribune's architectural competition for a new headquarters. The winning entry, the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower, was built in 1925. Saarinen's entry came in second place yet became influential in the design of a number of future buildings.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Dallas County, Texas Wikimedia list article

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Dallas County, Texas.

Related Research Articles

Chase Tower (Dallas) skyscraper in Dallas, Texas

Chase Tower is a 225 m (738 ft), 55-story postmodern skyscraper at 2200 Ross Avenue in the City Center District of downtown Dallas, Texas. Although it is the fourth tallest skyscraper in the city, if one were to exclude antennas and spires, it would be the third. It is also the 12th tallest building in Texas. The building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and was completed in 1987. The building also houses the Dallas Petroleum Club, a business and social club located on the 39th and 40th floors.

T&P Station United States historic place

Texas and Pacific Station, commonly known as T&P Station, is a terminal Trinity Railway Express and TEXRail commuter railroad station is located at 1600 Throckmorton Street in Fort Worth, Texas, on the south side of downtown. It is the current western terminus of the TRE commuter line, serving the Fort Worth Convention Center, the Fort Worth Water Gardens, Sundance Square and Tarrant County government facilities. T&P Station features free parking which can be accessed from West Vickery Boulevard.

Magnolia Hotel (Dallas, Texas) United States historic place

The Magnolia Hotel is a 29-story, Beaux-Arts style, upscale hotel in the Main Street District of downtown Dallas, Texas, that for many years was the tallest building in the state after surpassing the Adolphus Hotel. The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre United States historic place

The Pellissier Building and adjoining Wiltern Theatre is a 12-story, 155-foot (47 m) Art Deco landmark at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The entire complex is commonly referred to as the Wiltern Center. Clad in a blue-green glazed architectural terra-cotta tile and situated diagonal to the street corner, the complex is considered one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the United States. The Wiltern building is owned privately, and the Wiltern Theatre is operated by Live Nation's Los Angeles division.

Dal-Tex Building United States historic place

The Dal-Tex Building is a seven-story office building located at 501 Elm Street in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, Texas. The building is located on the northeast corner of Elm and North Houston Streets, across the street from the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, the scene of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. The Dal-Tex Building, sometimes called the Dallas-Textiles Building, the Dal-Tex Market Building, or the Dal-Tex Mart Building, was a center of the textile business in Dallas.

Mercantile National Bank Building United States historic place

The Mercantile National Bank Building is a 31-story, 159.4 m (523 ft) skyscraper at 1700 Main Street in the Main Street district of downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the former home of the Mercantile National Bank, which later became MCorp Bank. The design of the skyscraper features Moderne styling from the Art Deco era and was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager. The building has a series of setbacks that is crowned by an ornamental four-sided clock along with a decorative weather spire. The Merc was the main element of a four-building complex that eventually spanned a full city block.

The Albert (Detroit) United States historic place

The Albert, formerly the Griswold Building, named after architect Albert Kahn, located at 1214 Griswold Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and is part of the Capitol Park Historic District.

Titche–Goettinger Building United States historic place

The Titche–Goettinger Building is one of Dallas' original broad-front department stores located along St. Paul Street between Main and Elm Street in downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The structure currently houses apartments, retail space, and the Universities Center at Dallas. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places both individually and as a contributing property in the Dallas Downtown Historic District and is a Dallas Landmark as part of the Harwood Street Historic District. It is also located across the street from Main Street Garden Park.

The Drever United States historic place

First National Bank Tower, is a 52-story, 191 m (627 ft) skyscraper in the Main Street district of downtown Dallas, Texas, adjacent to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Akard Station. It is the tenth tallest building in the city. In January 2010 the building was closed due to low occupancy rates. It is currently undergoing the most costly building conversion in Dallas' history. When completed in 2019, the building will contain a luxury hotel from the Thompson Hotels brand as well as 324 apartments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

The Joule Hotel United States historic place

The Joule Hotel is a five-star, 164-room hotel developed by Headington Hotels, owned by Timothy Headington. Located at 1530 Main Street, between Akard Street and Ervay Street, the building was constructed in 1927 as the Dallas National Bank Building, and was known later as the SPG Building. At the end of Stone Street Plaza, it is in the Main Street District of downtown Dallas, Texas, and with the Kirby Building, one of two Gothic high-rises in the city.

Mosaic Dallas United States historic place

Mosaic Dallas, formerly Fidelity Union Life Insurance Building, is a residential development in the City Center District of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA), adjacent to Thanks-giving Square. The complex is located at 300 North Akard Street, across the street from DART's Akard Station, which serves its Blue, Red and Green light rail lines.

Majestic Theatre (Dallas) United States historic place

The Majestic Theatre is a performing arts theater in the City Center District of Downtown Dallas. It is the last remnant of Theater Row, the city's historic entertainment center on Elm Street, and is a contributing property in the Harwood Street Historic District. The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Dallas Hilton United States historic place

The Dallas Hilton, also known as Hilton Hotel and today operating as the Dallas Hotel Indigo, is a historic structure located at the corner of Main Street and S. Harwood Street in downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The hotel is a contributing property in the Harwood Street Historic District and Main Street District. It is also located across the street from Main Street Garden Park.

Mercantile Continental Building United States historic place

The Mercantile Continental Building is located at 1810 Commerce Street in downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). It is a contributing structure at the edge of the Government District and adjacent to Main Street Garden Park. The building was built and owned by Mercantile National Bank and connected to their complex by an underground walkway.

Milton Odem House United States historic place

The Milton Odem House is a small bungalow home located in Redmond, Oregon. The house was built in 1937 by Ole K. Olson for Milton Odem, a local theater owner. It is one of the best examples of residential Streamline Moderne architecture in Oregon. The Milton Odem House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

Hollywood Theater (Minneapolis) United States historic place

The Hollywood Theater is a historic theater building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, which is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Art Deco theater building opened on October 26, 1935, and the marquee proclaimed it the "Incomparable Showcase of the Northwest". The theater, designed by architects Jack Liebenberg and Seeman Kaplan, had a generous budget that allowed for elaborate decoration in the Streamline Deco style of design; its facade and structure made a "powerful statement of geometric mass punctuated by the entrance, exits, and three small windows that served the projection booth." Liebenberg and Kaplan went on to design the Riverview Theatre in Minneapolis and the Terrace Theatre in Robbinsdale. The building featured a tall vertical sign, a patterned terrazzo floor, gilded pillars, and acoustical tiles in geometric patterns. It had a seating capacity of just under 1000. Much of the interior features are influenced by the Zig-Zag Moderne and Streamline Moderne styles. The exterior is built of smooth Kasota limestone with vertical lines that transition to horizontal.

Dallas High School (Texas) United States historic place

Dallas High School is a former public secondary school in Dallas, Texas. It is the alma mater of several notable Americans, including former U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark. Built in 1907, the 3.5-story classical revival structure is located in the downtown City Center District next to the Pearl/Arts District DART light rail station.

Great Southwest Building

The Great Southwest Building, formerly the Petroleum Building, is a skyscraper located at 1314 Texas Avenue in Downtown Houston, Texas in the United States.

Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters United States historic place

The Des Moines Fire Department Headquarters' Fire Station No. 1 and Shop Building are historic buildings located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1937, the facility provided a unified campus for the fire department's administration, citywide dispatch, training, maintenance, as well as the increased need for fire protective services in the commercial and warehouse districts in which the complex is located. It was designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Rawson, Brooks and Borg, and built by local contractor F.B. Dickinson & Co. The project provided jobs for local residents during the Great Depression, and 45% of its funding was provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The City of Des Moines provided the rest of the funds. The radio tower, which shares the historic designation with the building, was used to dispatch fire personnel from 1958 to 1978. The buildings were used by the local fire department from 1937 to 2013. It was replaced by two different facilities. The old fire station and shop building was acquired by the Des Moines Social Club, a nonprofit arts organization.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. 2013-11-02.
  2. Larry E. Casto (March 31, 2018). "Ordinance No. 30812" (PDF). City of Dallas. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Tower Petroleum Building - Dallas Architecture
  4. http://dallas.fbi.gov/history2.htm
  5. Dallas Council approves downtown condominium project, Tower Petroleum Building renovation - Pegasus News wire