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Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
Photograph © Wayne Lorentz/Artefaqs Corporation
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Formerly: Transco Tower
Formerly: 2800 Post Oak
Built:
1983
Designed by: Johnson/Burgee Architects and Morris Aubry Architects
Type: Skyscraper
Stories: 64
Location: 2800 Post Oak Boulevard
City: Houston
State: Texas
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A
rchitecturally familiar, but culturally significant to the people of Houston. The Williams Tower rises 64 stories over the Galleria Area and has become an icon of the city. Had it been cast in stone, rather than glass it would be easily mistaken for any of the skyscrapers that went up before the Great Depression. Now it is a memorial to those buildings that went before it, and still in-line with the other glass blocks that share its zip code.
The Williams Tower is actually constructed as two 32-story buildings stacked on top of each other. The first floor lobby services the Williams Corporation and its offices on floors three through 32. The second floor lobby services a number of other companies on floors 33-64.
Tenants boast that this is the tallest office building outside an urban core in America.
Unlike most buildings in the Bayou City, the Williams Tower is impressive at night. Even though it has the same light-dimming skyline-ruining glass that the other towers in the city do, the Williams Tower makes up for it by having a rotating beacon on top. It's similar to an aircraft beacon, but much more visible. It is said that its rotation was at one time synchronized with a similar beacon on the Palmolive Building in Chicago, but there is little proof.
There is a sky lobby that also serves as an observation deck on the 51st floor.. Unfortunately, it faces out over dull suburbia, rather than towards downtown, or any of Houston's other six skylines. You may not be able to go there, anyway. It was closed after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the public hasn't been welcome since.
**Architect: Philip Johnson
**Developer: Gerald Hines
**The building was designed to be 64 stories tall, matching the highest stock price that Transco had reached at the time.
**Similarly, the nearby waterwall is 64 feet tall.
**The building was inspired by a number of other structures including the Nebraska state capitol, Chartres Cathedral in France, and 1920's art deco skyscrapers.
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