Pennzoil Place

Last updated
Pennzoil Place
Pennzoil Place in Houston.JPG
Pennzoil Place in Houston, Texas
Pennzoil Place
General information
StatusCompleted
Location Downtown Houston, United States
Coordinates 29°45′37″N95°21′57″W / 29.7603°N 95.3657°W / 29.7603; -95.3657
Completed1976
Height
Roof523 ft (159 m)
Technical details
Floor count36
Floor area1,597,385 sq ft (148,401.9 m2) [1]
Design and construction
Architect(s) Philip Johnson/John Burgee Architects (concept and design by Eli Attia, an architect with the firm)

Pennzoil Place is a set of two 36-story towers in Downtown Houston, United States. [2] designed by Philip Johnson/John Burgee Architects from a concept by Eli Attia, a staff architect with the firm. Completed in 1976, it is Houston's most award-winning skyscraper and is widely known for its innovative design. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

History

In May 1976 Deutsche Bank and other partners in a West German investment group bought a 90 percent interest in the Pennzoil Place building for $100 million. [6]

As of 2002 Arthur Andersen was vacating about 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of space in Pennzoil Place. [7]

Development and style

Pennzoil Place, developed and managed by Gerald D. Hines Interests, consists of two 495 ft (151 m) trapezoidal towers placed ten feet apart and sheathed in dark bronze glass and aluminum. The buildings are mirror images of each other. [8] The entire street-level plaza joining the two structures is enclosed in a 115-foot (35 m) glass pyramid-shaped atrium. [2] Deliberately designed as an optical illusion, Pennzoil Place's appearance will vary depending on the different locations from where it is viewed. Pennzoil Place is considered significant in architectural circles for breaking the modernist glass box design made popular by followers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and for introducing the era of postmodernism. [9] The buildings combined contain 1,400,000 square feet (130,000 m2) of leasable space. [8]

The interior offices were designed by M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, the San Francisco-based interior architecture firm. [10]

Architect Philip Johnson was awarded the 1978 AIA Gold Medal and became the first laureate of the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 1979 for his work on Pennzoil Place. [11] Pennzoil Place was named "Building of the Decade" in 1975 by The New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable because of the dramatic silhouette it added to the Houston skyline. [9] [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Burgee</span> American architect

John Burgee is an American architect noted for his contributions to Postmodern architecture. He was a partner of Philip Johnson from 1967 to 1991, creating together the partnership firm Johnson/Burgee Architects. Their landmark collaborations included Pennzoil Place in Houston and the AT&T World Headquarters in New York. Burgee eased Johnson out of the firm in 1991, and when it subsequently went bankrupt, Burgee's design career was essentially over. Burgee is retired, and resides in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Johnson</span> American architect (1906–2005)

Philip Cortelyou Johnson was an American architect who designed modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the postmodern 550 Madison Avenue in New York City, designed for AT&T; 190 South La Salle Street in Chicago; the Sculpture Garden of New York City's Museum of Modern Art; and the Pre-Columbian Pavilion at Dumbarton Oaks. His January 2005 obituary in The New York Times described his works as being "widely considered among the architectural masterpieces of the 20th century".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JPMorgan Chase Tower (Houston)</span> Skyscraper at 600 Travis Street in downtown Houston, Texas

The JPMorgan Chase Tower, formerly Texas Commerce Tower, is a 305.4-meter (1,002-foot), 2,243,013-square-foot (208,382.7 m2), 75-story skyscraper at 600 Travis Street in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is currently the tallest building in Texas and the South Central region of the United States, the tallest five-sided building in the world, the 29th-tallest building in the United States, and the 107th-tallest building in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Atlantic Center</span> Skyscraper in Atlanta, Georgia

One Atlantic Center, also known as IBM Tower, is a skyscraper located in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. It is the third tallest building in Atlanta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">191 Peachtree Tower</span> Skyscraper in Atlanta

One Ninety One Peachtree Tower is a 235 m (771 ft) 50-story skyscraper in Atlanta, Georgia. Designed by Johnson/Burgee Architects and Kendall/Heaton Associates Inc, the building was completed in 1990 and is the fourth tallest in the city, winning the BOMA Building of the Year Awards the next year, repeating in 1998 and 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comerica Bank Tower</span> Headquarters of Comerica bank and skyscraper in Dallas, Texas

Comerica Bank Tower is a 60-story postmodern skyscraper located at 1717 Main Street in the Main Street District in downtown Dallas, Texas. Standing at a structural height of 787 feet (240 m), it is the third tallest skyscraper in the city of Dallas. It is also the sixth tallest building in Texas and the 61st tallest building in the United States. The building was designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, and was completed in 1987. The structure has 1,500,000 square feet (100,000 m2) of office space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williams Tower</span> Skyscraper located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas

The Williams Tower is a 64-story, 1.4 million square feet (130,000 m2) class A postmodern office tower located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas. The building was designed by New York–based John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson in association with Houston-based Morris-Aubry Architects. Construction began in August 1981, and the building was opened in 1983. The tower is among Houston's most visible buildings as the 4th-tallest in Texas, and the 44th-tallest in the United States. The Williams Tower is the tallest building in Houston outside of Downtown Houston, and is the tallest skyscraper in the United States outside of a city's central business district. It has been referred to as the "Empire State Building of the south".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TC Energy Center</span> Skyscraper in Houston, Texas

The TC Energy Center is a highrise that represents one of the first significant examples of postmodern architecture construction in downtown Houston, Texas. The building has been formerly known as the RepublicBank Center, the NCNB Center, the NationsBank Center, and the Bank of America Center. The building was completed in October 1983 and designed by award-winning architect Johnson/Burgee Architects, and is reminiscent of the Dutch Gothic architecture of canal houses in The Netherlands. It has three segmented tower setbacks, each with "a steeply pitched gabled roofline that is topped off with spires". The tower was developed by Hines Interests and is owned by a joint venture of M-M Properties and an affiliate of the General Electric Pension Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renaissance Center</span> Skyscraper group in Detroit, Michigan, US

The Renaissance Center, commonly known as the RenCen, is a complex of seven connected skyscrapers in downtown Detroit, Michigan, United States. The Renaissance Center complex is on the Detroit International Riverfront and is owned and used by General Motors as its world headquarters. The central tower has been the tallest building in Michigan since its completion in 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PPG Place</span> Building complex in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

PPG Place is a complex in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, consisting of six buildings within three city blocks and five and a half acres. PPG Place was designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ally Detroit Center</span> Skyscraper in Detroit

Ally Detroit Center, formerly One Detroit Center, is a skyscraper and class-A office building located in Downtown Detroit, overlooking the Detroit Financial District. Rising 619 feet (189 m), the 43-story tower is the tallest office building in Michigan and the second tallest building overall in the state behind the central hotel tower of the Renaissance Center, located a few blocks away. Although the Penobscot Building has more floors above ground (45), those of Ally Detroit Center are taller, with its roof sitting roughly 60 feet (18 m) taller than that of the Penobscot. It has a floor area of 1,674,708 sq ft (155,585.5 m2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park</span>

The Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, formerly the Williams Waterwall and the Transco Waterwall, is a multi-story sculptural fountain that sits opposite the south face of Williams Tower in the Uptown District of Houston. The fountain and its surrounding park were built as an architectural amenity to the adjacent tower. Both the fountain and tower were designed by John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson. Originally privately owned in common with the office tower, the waterwall and the surrounding land were purchased by the Uptown Houston Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, a non-profit local government corporation, in 2008 to ensure the long-term preservation of the waterwall and park. The fountain currently operates between 10 am and 9 pm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1180 Peachtree</span> Mixed Use in Atlanta, Georgia

1180 Peachtree, commonly known as the Symphony Tower, is a 41-story skyscraper located at 1180 Peachtree Street in the Midtown district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Rising to a height of approximately 657 feet (200 m), the building includes office and retail space in its 624,996 sq ft (58,064 m2) of floor area as well as a 1,200 space parking deck. Construction was completed in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Architecture of Houston</span>

The architecture of Houston includes a wide variety of award-winning and historic examples located in various areas of the city of Houston, Texas. From early in its history to current times, the city inspired innovative and challenging building design and construction, as it quickly grew into an internationally recognized commercial and industrial hub of Texas and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald D. Hines</span> American businessman (1925–2020)

Gerald Douglas Hines was an American real estate developer based in Houston. He was the founder and chairman of Hines, a privately held real estate firm with its headquarters in that city. At the time of his death, the company had assets in 25 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Shell Plaza</span> 50-story skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas

One Shell Plaza (OSP) is a 50-story, 218 m (715 ft) skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. Perched atop the building is an antenna that brings the pinnacle height of the building to 304.8 m (1,000 ft). At its completion in 1971, the tower was the tallest in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First City Tower</span> Skyscraper located in downtown Houston Texas

First City Tower, located at 1001 Fannin, is a skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. The building rises 662 feet (202 m) in height. Completed in 1981, it contains 49 floors. First City Tower currently stands as the 14th-tallest building in the city. The architectural firm who designed the building was Morris-Aubry, and was built by W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation. The structure is an example of late-modernist architecture. The tower, which formerly housed the headquarters of the now-defunct First City National Bank, now serves as the global headquarters of Waste Management, Inc, and the headquarters of Vinson & Elkins. It also houses the U.S. headquarters of Campus Living Villages.

The architecture of the U.S. state of Texas comes from a wide variety of sources. Many of the state's buildings reflect Texas' Spanish and Mexican roots; in addition, there is considerable influence from mostly the American South as well as the Southwest. Rapid economic growth since the mid twentieth century has led to a wide variety of contemporary architectural buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">609 Main at Texas</span> Office tower in Houston, Texas

609 Main at Texas is a skyscraper in Houston, Texas.

References

  1. "Pennzoil Place | Energy Star".
  2. 1 2 "Architecture of Pennzoil Place - Houston, Texas, United States of America" . Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  3. Mark Lamster, The Man in the Glass House (2018), p.372: "As Attia would have it, he and not Johnson — and certainly not Burgee — had been responsible for the firm's aesthetic vision during his ten years at the firm. More than a decade after his departure, this became a matter of contention when Attia claimed credit for a series of the firm's designs, among them Pennzoil Place. Johnson responded with an open letter claiming that while Attia was an 'important member' of the design team, his claim of credit was, 'to put it mildly a gross exaggeration.' Attia complained and Johnson recanted, writing a second letter, composed in consultation with Attia, stating that 'the buildings he lists in his brochure are his main achievements' and that his decade-long tenure was 'wonderful.'"
  4. See Eli Attia's notes on his design of Pennzoil Place, at www.eliattiaarchitect.com.
  5. "Pennzoil Place". www.greatbuildings.com. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
  6. "Houston a Magnet for Foreigners and Their Money." The New York Times at The Palm Beach Post . Sunday May 21, 1978. F19. Retrieved from Google Books (138 of 191) on April 5, 2010.
  7. Bivins, Ralph. "Halliburton headquarters moving here / 5 Houston Center lease brings firm from Dallas." Houston Chronicle . Tuesday July 16, 2002. Business 1. Retrieved on January 23, 2010.
  8. 1 2 "Pennzoil Place - Johnson/Burgee - Great Buildings Online" . Retrieved 2008-04-05.
  9. 1 2 "Pennzoil Place, Houston, TX : Hines Interests". Archived from the original on 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
  10. Henshaw, Barbara. "Design powerhouse has put its stamp on Houston's skyline". DowntownHouston.org. Houston Downtown Management District. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  11. "Pennzoil Place, Houston". Archived from the original on February 11, 2007. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  12. "Pennzoil Place : ENERGY STAR" . Retrieved 2008-04-06.