Pennzoil Place

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]

Pennzoil Place
Pennzoil Place in Houston, Texas
General information
StatusCompleted
LocationDowntown Houston, United States
Coordinates29.7603°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)

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

References
  1. "Pennzoil Place | Energy Star".
  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. "Pennzoil Place - Johnson/Burgee - Great Buildings Online". Retrieved 2008-04-05.
  9. "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.
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