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Houston Back In The Day - One Building's Perspective


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"The El Paso building was constructed in 1965 by the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company for its Houston headquarters. The glass and steel Bauhaus style building was the first modern skyscraper in the city and superseded the ornate 32-story Neils Esperson building as the tallest in the downtown landscape. The structure provided more than 1.1 million square feet of new office space and was awarded "Office of the Year" by Administrative Magazine. Not only was it highly acclaimed, it lead the way to what would be the development of the downtown cluster of structures known as the Houston 'downtown' today."

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Great pictures, thanks for posting.

The Tenneco Building, to use the original name, has always been one of my favorites downtown. The facade provides shade to the interior and has a lot more depth than in almost any skyscraper that came later. This would not look out of place if it were built today, which is quite a compliment.

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The glass and steel Bauhaus style building was the first modern skyscraper in the city and superseded the ornate 32-story Neils Esperson building as the tallest in the downtown landscape.
was this the first modern skyscraper? humbe/exxon would probably be in the run too
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Cool night pic.. From what I can tell the perspective is facing east from maybe the walk-bridge over allen parkway..

Anyone with some decent equipment able to re-create a modern view of the same? :)

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That was the original headquarters for Conoco. It is also interesting to see the Sheraton-Lincoln building under construction. You can see right through it.

I don't think I've ever seen a good photo of the Southwest Tower, Houston's shortest-lived skyscraper.

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Which building is the Southwest Tower? I've never heard of it before...

The building just north (ne) of the Tenneco/ElPaso building.

check out the 6.jpg file, it is just behind the Tenneco bldg.

it is now the surface lot where the new Bank of the Southwest Tower was to be built.

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Which building is the Southwest Tower? I've never heard of it before...

It was built in about 1964 and torn down 20 years later to make way for the larger Southwest Tower project that was never built. It occupied only a quarter of the surface lot and was connected to the Bank of the Southwest building by tunnel.

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Thanks for the pictures. I really enjoyed the link as well. The industrial buildings built in the 20's - 30's that are east of DT are awesome. I can picture many of them turning into lofts. I know there is one that already did. I did some work in it and it is beautiful. The developer kept many of the original things from the building. As you walk through the front door they have a huge solid steel scale that is built into the floor. I'll take a picture, it looks better then it sounds. This building has a plain facade covering the original facade. If I understand correctly many of the old buildings did this in the 50's and 60's to protect them from riots that would/may spur from protest and marches. The ugly flat facades should have protected the original ones from weather over the last 50 years. Some of these buildings would be a real gem if the right investor got involved.

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My Dad was the plumbing superintendent at Charles G. Heyne Co., the mechanical contractor on the Tennesse Gas Building. I got to visit he site several times while it was under construction and then later as a plumber myself doing remodels. The building is constructed like a fort with a Civil Defense Shelter still in place in the basement. I have crawled all over that building. All of the chases are solid red brick. The sewer piping is extra heavy cast iron with lead joints. The floor system is a metal engineered type with hollow conduits throughout. (The Humble Building has this type of floor system too). The Tenneco Building will stand the test of time.

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This brings back memories. My Dad's company moved in that building when it was completed. Before that, the company was headquartered on Main ST. over the Woolworth. A great place to watch parades, I should add.

From the Tenneco bldg. my dad would call Mom to let her know when it was about to rain on our house in the West HOuston area.

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I hope they preseve the fountain sculpture. I was one of the plumbers that hooked this thing up. The piping was pretty intricate, and was all below floor in the basement ceiling space. The sculpture was installed in the middle 80's in response to the Allied Bank Building openning, which had an immense water fall feature.

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I hope they preseve the fountain sculpture.

I can't say for certain but I strongly suspect that they won't touch the sculpture as I believe they see it as a big part of the bldg's curb appeal...I agree.

I was one of the plumbers that hooked this thing up.

Nice job.

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