1.
BMA Tower
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The BMA Tower in Kansas City, Missouri, also known as One Park Place, was built as a 19-story Modern style office building. Located on a prominent height 3 miles south of downtown Kansas City, the building was planned for the Business Mens Assurance Company of America, an insurance company, on the site of the former St. Josephs Orphanage. The building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with steel-frame construction and clad in a grid of deeply inset black glass. It was the first high-rise structure in Kansas City since the building of City Hall in 1936, in design it is closely related to the First City National Bank Building in Houston, designed by Gordon Bunshaft, another SOM partner. Even more than the windows, the ground floor is deeply inset. The structure encloses 384,000 square feet, the buildings original marble cladding was replaced after several panels fell from the building in 1985 and 1986. The problem was traced to the thinness of the panels (1.25 inches, as a result of extensive investigation, the panels were replaced with neoparium, a glass product that appeared indistinguishable from marble at more than 100 feet. This failure mode was not uncommon in buildings of this era that employed thin marble cladding, several buildings, most notably the Aon Center in Chicago were re-clad with materials other than marble. The BMA Building won an Architectural Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Steel Construction, the building was sold by the BMA in 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year. Renamed One Park Place, it was renovated, stripped of asbestos
2.
Downtown Houston
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Downtown Houston is Houstons central business district, containing the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is a network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to restaurants, shops and services. What is now Downtown made up almost all of the City of Houston until expansions of the city limits in the early 20th century, Downtown Houston was the original founding point of the city. After the Texas Revolution, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land from Thomas F. L, parrot and his wife, Elizabeth, for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, gail Borden, Jr. a city planner, laid out wide streets for the town. The city was granted incorporation by the Texas legislature on June 5,1837, Houston was the temporary capital of Texas. In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community, by 1906 what is now Downtown was divided among six wards. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are used to refer to certain areas. Houston became a choice, as only the most powerful storms were able to reach the city. The second came a year later with the 1901 discovery of oil at spindletop, shipping and oil industries began flocking to east Texas, many settling in Houston. From that point forward the area grew substantially, as many skyscrapers were constructed, in the 1980s, however, economic recession canceled some projects and caused others to be scaled back, such as the Bank of the Southwest Tower. Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Fox said that area was a neighborhood of Victorian-era homes. Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area began a downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station in 1974, the construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown. Beginning in the 1960s the development of the 610 Loop caused the focus of the Houston area to move away from Downtown Houston, in the mid-1980s, the bank savings and loan crisis forced many tenants in Downtown Houston buildings to retrench, and some tenants went out of business. Barna said that this development further caused Downtown Houston to decline, the Gulf Hotel fire occurred in 1943
3.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
4.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
6.
Discovery Green
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Discovery Green is a public urban park in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Opened in 2008, Discovery Green 11. 78-acre is located on Avenida de las Americas across from the George R. Brown Convention Center, the park includes a lake, bandstands and venues for public performances, two dog runs, a childrens area and multiple recreational areas. The park was designed by the landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Associates. The first event held at the park was Houston Mayor Bill Whites 2008 inauguration, the park officially opened to the public on April 13,2008. It is estimated that almost a quarter-million people visited the park between opening day and June 30,2008, the estimates were made by comparing the size of crowds with the Houston Police Departments estimate of 30,000 people who went to the park on opening day. The City of Houston acquired a portion of the land in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center in 2002, the Mayor agreed and became a strong advocate of a public-private partnership was developed for the $125 million project. Several other philanthropic foundations joined the effort, including the Wortham Foundation, with the guidance of Project for Public Spaces, the Conservancy mounted the large public meetings and smaller focus groups to solicit public feedback. This feedback became the basis for the park’s programming, Hargreaves Associates, an internationally renowned landscape architecture firm based in San Francisco, oversaw the design effort. Page designed the architecture and Larry Speck was their lead architect. Provided landscape and horticultural design services, artists Margo Sawyer and Doug Hollis were integral members of the design team and produced three works of art for the park. A large team of local and international engineers and specialists supported the design team. Elmore Public Relations was contracted for marketing and public relations, ever since the opening in 2008, the park has added upon. An estimate of $1 billion worth of buildings, offices, hotels, in 2009 the One Park Place opened. A high-end residential tower that houses 346 units, on 2011, the Hess Tower was built, a 29-story office building. On 2016, the Marriott Marquis convention hotel was built north of the park, a hotel that holds over 1,000 rooms. The park earned LEED certification in October 2009, the Kinder Foundation provided $10 million to help fund the $125 million project. Hargreaves Associates and their team of architects, engineers, and artists took thirteen months to design, notable challenges would be the dense intersection and the intricate design of implementing the garage with the surface park. The park is placed in the center of two juxtaposing cross axes, the linear plaza is lined by a multitude Mexican Sycamore trees and uniquely designed pavement
7.
Houston Press
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The Houston Press is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area, the paper is supported entirely by advertising revenue and is free to readers. The newspaper reports a readership of more than 200,000 print readers and 1.6 million online users. The Press can be found in restaurants, coffee houses, New weekly editions are distributed on Thursdays. The weekly Houston Press was founded in 1989, chris Hearne and Kirk Cypel conceived of this news and entertainment weekly after rejecting a business plan to relaunch Texas Business Magazine. Hearne was the papers first publisher and Cypel served as the organizations business advisor, although the paper faced early challenges, the landscape changed when Hearne and Cypel engineered a buyout of 713 Magazine, a key competitor. Once in control of 713, they stopped its publication and converted advertisers to the Houston Press, thereafter, the Houston Presss advertising and circulation grew dramatically. For the newspapers first five years, Niel Morgan served as the investor and it was bought out by New Times Media in 1993. In 2005, New Times acquired Village Voice Media, and changed its name to Village Voice Media, the headquarters of the Houston Press are located in Midtown Houston on LaBranch Street. Prior to 1998, the Houston Press was located in Suite 1900 of the 2000 West Loop South building in Uptown Houston, in 1998, it moved to a new location in Downtown Houston, which became the Houston Press building and was originally built in 1927. That building is in proximity to the ExxonMobil Building. Shelor Motor Company was the first occupant of the Downtown Houston building, beginning in the 1960s, it served as the Gillman Pontiac dealership building. In 1994 Suzanne Sellers painted a 50-foot by 240-foot trompe-lœil mural that is located two of the buildings sides. This mural is visible from Leeland, Milam, and Travis streets, in 2008 the Houston Press building received damage from Hurricane Ike since the hurricane caused water to go through the parking area on the buildings roof into the offices. In 2010 the Houston Press installed new energy efficient windows in place of the glass windows on the facilitys second. On the weekend after Friday October 25,2013 the Houston Press was scheduled to move to its new offices in Midtown, Houston Press Houston Press, Best of Houston issue
8.
Houston Heights
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Houston Heights is a community in northwest-central Houston, Texas, United States. The Heights is often referred to colloquially to describe a collection of neighborhoods next to. However, Houston Heights has its own history, distinct from Norhill, by 1891 millionaire Oscar Martin Carter and a group of investors established the Omaha and South Texas Land Company. The company purchased 1,756 acres of land and established infrastructure, including alleys, parks, schools, streets and utilities, when Houston Heights was founded, it was a streetcar suburb of Houston which attracted people who did not wish to live in the dense city. It had its own municipality until the City of Houston annexed the Heights in 1919, after World War II industrial interests moved into the Houston Heights. Marilyn Bardsley of Crime Library stated that the Houston Heights became decrepit, in the 1970s the Houston Heights was considered to be a low income area of the city. On December 13,1970 Dean Corll began luring and killing children from the Houston Heights as part of the Houston Child Murders, for most of the period of his crime spree, Corll lived in or close to Houston Heights as his two teenage accomplices resided there. Other teens from the area were targeted simply because the two teens knew many of them made it easier to entice them to Corlls various residences during the period. From the 1980 U. S. Census to the 1990 Census, the Houston Heights Association opened in 1973. Upscale boutiques and restaurants have opened in the area, giving the streetscape an appearance not too much unlike Bellaire, the 7, 000-square-foot former fire station at 12th Street at Yale Street was constructed as Houston Heights city hall and jail, and fire station in 1914. After annexation, it served as a city of Houston fire station from 1918 until 1995, the Houston Heights Association took a 30-year lease on the property from the city and refurbished the property. By December 2009 the former city hall was for sale, in 2013 CNN Money ranked the Houston Heights as no.4 in its Top 10 big city neighborhoods ranking. The Houston Heights, one of the earliest planned communities in Texas, is located 4 miles northwest of Downtown Houston. A National Geographic article says stroll the areas broad, tree-canopied esplanades and side streets dotted with homes dating from the early 1900s, john Nova Lomax said that the Heights, which he describes as Houstons own mini-Austin, had many low-key restaurants and beer gardens. According to a study of the University of Houston Institute of Regional Forecasting and Crawford Realty Advisors, from 2002 to 2003 prices of single family houses appreciated by 8.7 percent. Anjali Athavalley said eal estate agents say most houses there costing less than $200,000 need serious work and uying a single-family house in the Houston Heights, by 2000 Houston Heights community retained its prohibition of the sale of alcoholic beverages. Many restaurants in the zone got around the ordinance by forming private clubs that patrons may join so that the patrons can order alcoholic beverages, the Houston Fire Department operates Station 15 Heights in the Northside district, near the Houston Heights. It is a part of Fire District 6, Fire Station 15 moved to Houston Avenue and North Main in 1918 and North Main at Tabor in 1942
9.
Montrose, Houston
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Montrose is a primarily residential neighborhood located in the Neartown area of Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1911, the neighborhood is a diverse area with renovated mansions, bungalows with wide porches. Montrose has been called the Heart of Houston, the strangest neighborhood east of the Pecos, Montrose was originally envisioned as a planned community and streetcar suburb dating back to the early 20th century before the development of River Oaks. Developer J. W. Link and his Houston Land Corporation envisioned a great residential addition according to the original sales brochure. Links planning details for the area included four wide boulevards with the best curbing, Link built his own home in Montrose, known as the Link-Lee Mansion, which is now part of the University of St. Thomas campus. A streetcar, the Montrose Line, ran through the neighborhood, Link wrote, Houston has to grow. Montrose is going to lead the procession and it did, and the procession eventually continued far beyond the neighborhood. Montrose was first platted in 1911, in 1926, the Plaza Apartment Hotel, Houston’s first apartment hotel, opened on Montrose Boulevard. The hotel was home to many of Houston’s leaders, including Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett, modeled after the Ritz-Carlton in New York, the hotel cost over one million dollars to construct. The corner of Montrose and Westheimer was the site of demonstrations against the Vietnam War. And other underground newspapers throughout the area, kPFT’s transmitter was twice bombed by a local Ku Klux Klan group, making it the only radio station in the history of the United States to be blown off the air. The Bohemian flavor of the Montrose would spawn both the Westheimer Colony Art Festival in 1971 and the subsequent street fair in 1973, which would become known as the Westheimer Street Festival. Also starting around the 1970s the area known as the center for the gay. Folk music clubs like Anderson Fair and Sand Mountain catered to the scene in the neighborhood and other venues featured psychedelic rock. Later, punk and new wave clubs like The Paradise Rock Island, the Omni, Montrose has been a haven for Prohibition honkey-tonks, antique stores, wealthy socialites, motorcycle gangs, gays, harmless eccentrics and a broad array of exiles, writers, artists and musicians. It has been called a uniquely Houston kind of Bohemia, a mad mix made possible by the citys no-holds-barred, in 1991 Paul Broussard was murdered in the Montrose nightclub area. University of Houston professor Maria Gonzalez stated that With this murderpeople said, since the 1990s, Montrose has become increasingly gentrified with a trend towards remodeled and new homes, higher rents, upmarket boutiques and restaurants. On June 6,2006, a teenage MS-13 gang member named Gabriel Granillo was stabbed to death at Ervan Chew Park in the Montrose area, the 2011 novel The Knife and the Butterfly is based on this stabbing
10.
Whole Foods Market
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Whole Foods Market Inc. is an American supermarket chain exclusively featuring foods without artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated fats. It opened on September 20,1980, in Austin, Texas, as of September 2015, it has 91,000 employees and 431 supermarkets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, and has its main produce procurement office in Watsonville, California. As of 2015, founder John Mackey and Walter Robb were co-CEOs of the publicly traded company, in November 2016, the company announced that Walter Robb would be stepping down as co-CEO at the end of year and would remain with the company as a director. It became a Fortune 500 company in March 2005 and is the 30th largest retailer in the U. S. based on 2014 revenue. In 1978, Mackey and Renee Lawson borrowed $45,000 from family, when the two were evicted from their apartment for storing food products in it, they decided to live at the store. Because it was zoned for use, there was no shower stall. Two years later, John Mackey partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to merge SaferWay with the latters Clarksville Natural Grocery, resulting in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market. At 10,500 square feet and with a staff of 19, the following Memorial Day, on May 25,1981, the most damaging flood in 70 years devastated Austin. Whole Foods inventory was ruined, and most of the equipment was damaged, the loss was approximately $400,000 and Whole Foods Market had no insurance. Customers, neighbors, and staff pitched in to repair and clean up the damage, creditors, vendors, and investors assisted in helping the store recover, and the store reopened 28 days later. Beginning in 1984, Whole Foods Market expanded out of Austin, first to Houston and Dallas, in 1989, the company expanded to the West Coast with a store in Palo Alto, Calif. The companys 100th store was opened in Torrance, California, in 1999, the company started its third decade with additional acquisitions. The first was Natural Abilities in 2000, which did business as Food for Thought in Northern California and this led to the promotion of three new regional presidents and a new era for the company. David Lannon became president of the Northeast region, Anthony Gilmore became president of the Southwest region, Ron Megehan became president of the Northern California region, in 2001, Whole Foods also moved into Manhattan. Later that year Ken Meyer became president of the newly formed South region and Whole Foods Market acquired the assets of Harry’s Farmers Market, in 2002, the company continued its expansion in North America and opened its first store in Toronto, Ontario. Further continuing its expansion, Select Fish of Seattle was acquired in 2003, in 2005, Whole Foods opened its 80,000 sq ft flagship store in downtown Austin. The companys headquarters moved into offices above the store, Whole Foods Markets expansion has increased the need for products and processing plants. In response, the company added its 365 Everyday Value product line and it also began to acquire seafood processing plants in 2003
11.
Houston Independent School District
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The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas, and the seventh-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby, like most districts in Texas it is independent of the city of Houston and all other municipal and county jurisdictions. The district has its headquarters in the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center in Houston, in 2016, the school district was rated met standards by the Texas Education Agency. The Brunner Independent School District merged into Houston schools in 1913-1914, Houston ISD was established in the 1920s, after the Texas Legislature voted to separate school and municipal governments. Houston ISD replaced the Harrisburg School District, in the 1920s, at the time Edison Oberholtzer was superintendent, Hubert L. Mills, the business manager of the district, had immense political power in HISD. He had been in the employment of the district over one decade before Oberholtzer started, by the 1930s the two men were in a power struggle. The number of students in schools in Houston increased from 5,500 in 1888 to over 8,850 in 1927. There were 8,293 students in Houstons schools for students in the 1924-1925 school year. The original secondary school for blacks, was Colored High School, at the time all three secondary schools had junior high and senior high levels. There were 12,217 students in the schools in the 1929-1930 school year. William Henry Kellar, author of Make Haste Slowly, Moderates, Conservatives, Houston ISD absorbed portions of the White Oak Independent School District in 1937 and portions of the Addicks Independent School District after its dissolution. In the fall of 196012 black students were admitted to HISD schools previously reserved for whites, the racial integration efforts in HISD, beginning in 1960, were characterized by a lack of violence and turmoil as business leaders sought not to cause disruption. Prior to 1960 HISD was the largest racially segregated system in the United States. During the 1960s, HISDs school board instituted a phase-in with each subsequent grade being integrated, local African-American leaders believed the pace was too slow, and William Lawson, a youth minister, asked Wheatley students to boycott school. Five days afterwards 10% of Wheatley students attended classes, in 1970 a federal judge asked the district to speed the integration process. Simultaneously Mexican Americans were being discriminated against when they were being labeled as whites and this kept both Mexican Americans and African Americans away from Anglos while satisfying integration requirements set forth by the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education court case decision. Many Mexican Americans took their children out of the schools and put them in huelga. On August 31,1970 and organized by the Mexican-American Education Council and this action lasted approximately three weeks, during which up to 75% of the student bodies of some high schools participated in the boycotts
12.
Gregory-Lincoln Education Center
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Gregory-Lincoln Education Center is a K-8 school located at 1101 Taft in the Fourth Ward area of Houston, Texas, United States. Gregory-Lincoln is a part of the Houston Independent School District and has an arts magnet program that takes students in both the elementary and middle school levels. As of 2015 Nicole Ayen-Metoyer is the administrator of Gregory-Lincoln. A previous campus for Gregory Lincoln was built in 1966, the original campus was a three story brick building. In the schools history it received enrollment decreases, particularly when the population decreased from 900 students in the 2000-2001 period to about 700 students in the 2004-2005 period. In 1975, the school was known as Abraham Lincoln Junior & Senior High School, and also became the campus of Houston Community High School, an HISD magnet school. In 2000, the announced that the Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center would receive a new campus that would be on the site of the old campus. Initially HISD planned to locate the a new campus for the High School for the Performing, the development attracted controversy since it used eminent domain to seize property owned by existing residents, even though some residents expressed a reluctance to have their property seized. Betty L. Martin of the Houston Chronicle said that some of the properties were reputed to be of historical significance and these rumors of prevented any development for several years. In 2006 Houston ISD did not find any new grave sites, on Monday, December 31,2007, the two story current Gregory Lincoln building opened. As of January 2008 it has about 500 students, the demolition of the original campus was scheduled to begin in January 2008. The district planned to grade the land and place an athletic field for school students. The new school building includes digital ceiling-mounted projectors in the classrooms, as a result of the closing of J. Will Jones Elementary School, Gregory-Lincolns elementary boundary had an increase in territory in Midtown, as the result of the 2011 closing of E. O. Smith Education Center, Gregory-Lincolns middle school boundary had an increase in territory in Downtown Houston. As of 2008 it had 546 students, during the 2004-2005 school year, Gregory-Lincoln had 770 students. During the 2000-2001 school year the school had 906 students, gentrification of the areas within the elementary, during the 2004-2005 school year, school was mostly African-American, with 58% of its students being African-American. The school had a large Hispanic minority, which made up 39% of the student body, non-Hispanic White students and Asian American students each made up 1% of the student body. There were no Native American students enrolled at Gregory-Lincoln, 91% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch
13.
Northside High School (Houston)
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Northside High School, formerly Jefferson Davis High School, is a secondary school located at 1101 Quitman in the Near Northside neighborhood of Northside, Houston, Texas with a ZIP code of 77009. The mascot of Northside is the Panther, the school also has a Hotel and Restaurant Management magnet program. The HISD board voted to give the school its current name in 2016, in 1993, project GRAD was founded at Davis High. The program provides scholarships to students as incentive to complete high school, Northside High School serves Near Northside, Northside Village, Irvington, Lindale Park, a portion of the Fifth Ward, and most of Downtown Houston. The school also serves Irvington Place, a housing unit and Fulton Village. During the 2006-2007 school year,1,577 students were enrolled at Davis, about 85% of the students were Hispanic American, and 12% of the students were African American. Also, 2% of the students were White American, less than one percent of the students were Asian American. Less than one percent of the students was Native American, about 80% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. In 2015 the Mariachi Pantera had 28 students, the Pantera had issues with lack of interest in 2014 but had recovered the following year. Slater N. Martin - NBA Basketball player and Hall-of-Famer and he played for the Minneapolis Lakers, New York Knickerbockers, and the St. Louis Hawks. Kenny Rogers - country singer Jesse Valdez - Participant in the 1972 Olympic Games Campos, Wendy, Cecilia Cruz, Stephen Martin, Jefferson Davis High School, The Past and the Present. In the possession of Professor Guadalupe San Miguel of the University of Houston, San Miguel cited the paper in his book, Brown, Not White, School Integration and the Chicano Movement in Houston
14.
E. O. Smith Education Center
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Edward O. Smith Education Center was a combined primary and secondary school located at 1701 Bringhurst in the Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas, United States. Smith serves grades 1 through 8 and was a part of the Houston Independent School District, by Spring 2011 Atherton Elementary School and E. O. Smith were consolidated with a new K-5 campus in the Atherton site. E. O. Smith Education Center opened in the former Wheatley High School/McGowen Elementary School building in 1950, the school was named after Professor Ernest Ollington Smith, the first principal of Wheatley. During the beginning of the 1979–1980 school year, E. O. Smith moved into its final facility, carter Career Center opened in the McGowen/Wheatley/Smith former building. In 2010, the Houston Independent School District Board of Education voted in favor of creating an all-boys academy and it is located at the current site of E. O. Smith. The boys school was modeled on Urban Prep Academies of Chicago, students formerly zoned to E. O. Smith Elementary School were rezoned to Atherton, Bruce, Dogan, Nat Q. Students formerly zoned to E. O. Smith Middle School were rezoned to Fleming, Gregory-Lincoln, Jackson, by 2014 the boys school had moved to the former Crawford Elementary School. During the 2006–2007 school year Smiths elementary division had 203 students while its middle school division had 412 students, of the elementary school students, 70% were African-American 28% were Hispanic 1% was White American Less than 1% was Asian American No Native American students were enrolled. All of the qualified for free or reduced lunch. Of the middle school students, 64% were African-American 35% were Hispanic 1% was Asian-American Less than 1% was White American No Native American students were enrolled, 99% of the students qualified for free or reduced lunch. Smith served much of the Fifth Ward area, including portions of Frenchtown, the school served the Fifth Ward area, most of Downtown Houston, and a section of East Downtown for middle school. Two Houston public housing complexes, Clayton Homes and Kelly Village, were zoned to Smith for middle school, a Houston mixed-income housing complex, Kennedy Place, was zoned to Smith for middle school. Smith students were required to wear school uniforms, shirts were required to be green, blue, or white collared shirts. Bottoms must be khaki or navy blue, dwight Elmo Jones E. O. Smith Education Center at the Wayback Machine E. O. Smith Education Center at the Wayback Machine
15.
Houston Chronicle
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The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. As of April 2016, it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, with its 1995 buy-out of long-time rival the Houston Post, the Chronicle became Houstons primary newspaper. The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily paper owned and operated by the Hearst Corporation, the paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalists, editors, and photographers. The Chronicle has bureaus in Washington, D. C. and it reports that its web site averages 125 million page views per month. The publication serves as the newspaper of record of the Houston area, previously headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building at 801 Texas Avenue, Downtown Houston, the Houston Chronicle is now located at 4747 Southwest Freeway. From its inception, the practices and policies of the Houston Chronicle were shaped by strong-willed personalities who were the publishers, the history of the newspaper can be best understood when divided into the eras of these individuals. The Houston Chronicle was founded in 1901 by a reporter for the now-defunct Houston Post. The Chronicles first edition was published on October 14,1901, at the end of its first month in operation, the Chronicle had a circulation of 4,378 — roughly one tenth of the population of Houston at the time. Within the first year of operation, the paper purchased and consolidated the Daily Herald, in 1908, Foster asked Jesse H. Jones agreed, and the resulting Chronicle Building was one of the finest in the South. Under Foster, the circulation grew from about 7,000 in 1901 to 75,000 on weekdays and 85,000 on Sundays by 1926. Foster continued to write columns under the pen name Mefo, and he sold the rest of his interest to Jesse H. Jones on June 26,1926 and promptly retired. In 1911, City Editor George Kepple started Goodfellows, on a Christmas Eve in 1911, Kepple passed a hat among the Chronicles reporters to collect money to buy toys for a shoe-shine boy. Goodfellows continues today through donations made by the newspaper and its readers and it has grown into a city-wide program that provides needy children between the ages of two and ten with toys during the winter holidays. In 2003, Goodfellows distributed almost 250,000 toys to more than 100,000 needy children in the Greater Houston area, in 1926, Jesse H. Jones became the sole owner of the paper. He had approached Foster about selling, and Foster had answered and he replied, On real estate and everything about 200,000 dollars. I then said to him that I would give him 300,000 dollars in cash, having in mind that this would pay his debts, I considered the offer substantially more than the Chronicle was worth at the time. No sooner had I finished stating my proposition than he said, I will take it, in 1937, Jesse H. Jones transferred ownership of the paper to the newly established Houston Endowment Inc. Jones retained the title of publisher until his death in 1956. As such, it eschewed controversial political topics, such as integration or the impacts of economic growth on life in the city
16.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
17.
Houston Skyline District
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The Houston Skyline District is a geographic area encompassing severral blocks of downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The collection of skyscrapers in this district creates one of the largest skylines in the United States, most of Houstons major modern buildings can be found in this district, including the two tallest buildings in both Houston and Texas, the JPMorgan Chase Tower and Wells Fargo Bank Plaza. These buildings are home to the headquarters of various multinational businesses, most of the buildings in the Skyline District are connected by the Houston Downtown Tunnel System. Downtown Houston Architecture of Houston Houston Skyline District map
18.
Houston Theater District
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More than two million people visit the Houston Theater District annually. Houston is recognized as an important city for contemporary visual arts, the Houston Grand Opera is the only opera company in the U. S. to win a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy. In 2007, Da Camera of Houston was awarded the CMAcclaim Award from Chamber Music America, the Alley Theatre, founded in 1947, is Houstons oldest professional theatre company. The Alley is the theatre in Texas to win the Tony Award for best Regional Theatre. The Alley is the third oldest continually operating theatre in the United States, Alley Theatre Hubbard Stage Neuhaus Stage Hobby Center for the Performing Arts Sarofim Hall Zilkha Hall Jesse H. Early venues in the district were the Sam Houston Coliseum and the Houston Music Hall, the district is served by METRORail light rail service at Theater District Station. Houston Theater District Alley Theatre Da Camera of Houston Theatre Port
19.
Main Street Market Square Historic District
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Main Street Market Square Historic District is a historic district in Houston that includes the Market Square Park. It includes buildings nearby, as well as the square itself and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. The Main Street Market Square District has irregular boundaries, the district includes all of the blocks between Travis and Main from Texas Street to the northern boundary of University of Houstown-Downtown. From the southern edge of Market Square at Preston Street, it all of the blocks northward until Buffalo Bayou. It includes three and a half blocks between Main and Fannin Streets, running south from Franklin Street, a wedge-shaped, partial block at Milam falls within the district, as well as a partial block east of Main Street at the base of the viaduct. The University of Houston–Downtown is a state university, located within the Main Street Market Square Historic District. Founded in 1974, it is one of four separate and distinct institutions in the University of Houston System, UHD has an enrollment of 12,900 students—making it the 13th largest public university in Texas and the second-largest university in the Houston area. One of the anchors of the district is Market Square Park, so-named because this site previously hosted four Houston City Halls and City Markets. Adjacent to the park are three structures, the Fox-Kuhlman Building at 305-307 Travis, the Baker-Meyer Building at 315 Travis. Like the Kennedy Bakery Building, the property at 214 Travis had been owned by Irish-born baker and he started a building there in 1860. WL Foley Dry Goods commissioned Eugene Heiner to enlarge the structure in 1889, across the street at 201 Travis is the Houston National Bank, once owned by Ross S. Sterling. Houston Ice and Brewing Company built the Magnolia Brewery Building at 110 Milam, Eugene Heiner designed two other buildings in the district, the 1882 Henry Brashear Building at 910 Prairie, and the Sweeney and Coombs Building at 310 Main. National Register of Historic Places listings in Harris County, Texas
20.
Incarnate Word Academy (Houston)
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Incarnate Word Academy is a Roman Catholic secondary girls school located in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Incarnate Word Academy serves grades 9 through 12 and is owned and operated by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, gabriel Dillon and two other members of the religious order of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament arrived just 37 years later in 1873. At the time, Houston’s streets weren’t paved and most residents did not yet have electricity, in fact the entirety of the town encompassed what we now know as downtown Houston. While its population was only around 10,000 residents, its Catholic leaders were already seeing the need for a Catholic school to serve the youths in the region and these three Sisters arrived and began what is the oldest Catholic high school in Houston. Today, much like the city it calls home, Incarnate Word Academy has grown into an example of what can happen when people are willing to work hard. Regardless of the changes to the school and the community, the commitment to educate, Incarnate Word Academy provides young women with a Catholic college preparatory education, helping them grow in their relationship with Jesus, the Incarnate Word, and live according to His values. Its cornerstones are, Academics, Values and Spirituality. The Academy has a Strategic Plan in place to help pave the way for the generation of young women who will call the school “home. ”In addition to the Strategic Plan. New Advanced Placement courses and stimulating electives have been added to the curriculum, after 140 years, IWA understands that continually planning and adapting is the only way to be prepared for the future. IWA continues to offer its students a traditional Catholic education in a more modern world. The IWA Young Leaders Program is an innovative 4-year character and leadership development program and it provides each student the unique opportunity to develop in-demand leadership skills built upon a foundation of strong personal character. The program provides activities and curriculum for each grade classification, for incoming freshmen and sophomores, the focus is on character - challenging each student to be virtuous by doing the right things, the right way, and, thus, becoming a role model. The focus for the junior and senior years is leadership and our program and curriculum will inspire the student to prepare for a lifelong journey to becoming a better leader. This involves understanding the laws of leadership and how to apply them in service to others, additionally, the demands of the 21st century require that our students have something extra. When they identify and apply their personal strengths in creative ways, when our students go above and beyond, the community recognizes them as future good neighbors or students whom they would like to hire one day. This program, together with IWAs unique downtown location, creates a strong differentiator for our graduates, some schools talk about building leadership and character as an indirect outcome of the high school experience. Conversely, the IWA Young Leaders Program is built around specific courses and activities intended to achieve a positive outcome. It is available to all students, the activities required to stay active in the program will demand effort largely outside of the classroom
21.
South Texas College of Law
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South Texas College of Law - Houston, is a private American Bar Association accredited law school and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. US News consistently ranks the South Texas trial advocacy program in the top ten, in 2010, according to South Texas 2013 ABA-required disclosures,61. 2% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, JD-required employment nine months after graduation. South Texas offers a 3 and 3 program with Texas A&M University and this program makes it possible to obtain a Bachelors degree and a Juris Doctor in six years. The Consortium for Innovative Legal Education, combines resources designed to enhance and strengthen the educational mission of each school separately and this partnership provides access to educational programs on a national and international basis. Students at South Texas can study abroad in London, Ireland, Malta, the Czech Republic, France, in 2007, South Texas won the National White Collar Crime Invitational Mock Trial Competition hosted by Georgetown Law School. As of August 2011, South Texas has won 108 national titles, the schools most recent win was at the Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Tournament in 2011. As of 2016, South Texas College of Law Houstons rank is unpublished in the US News Rankings of Best Law Schools and it is currently not ranked on the U. S. News Report for Best Law Schools in the nation. According to South Texas official 2013 ABA-required disclosures,61. 2% of the Class of 2013 obtained full-time, long-term, the total cost of attendance at South Texas for the 2013-2014 academic year is $50,010. The Law School Transparency estimated debt-financed cost of attendance for three years is $186,530, the average Class of 2009 graduate had $104,862 of student loan debt. Since September 3,2011, the courts are now located in the 1911 Harris County courthouse, in 1998, Texas A&M University tried to merge with South Texas College of Law Houston under a public/private partnership. Under the proposal, the law school would have remained a private school, the deal went sour after a lengthy legal fight with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the governing body of the states public institutions. The courts ruled that the schools had failed to obtain the Boards approval before entering into the agreement, the University of Houston and other institutions voiced concern about the partnership. In 2013, Texas A&M University entered into an arrangement with the Texas Wesleyan School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas. Until mid-2016, the law school was called South Texas College of Law, the University of Houston System filed a lawsuit on June 27,2016, in U. S. Federal district court in Houston. On November 7,2016, the dean of the law school announced that the name would be changed to South Texas College of Law Houston, pat Lykos, former Harris County District Attorney David M. S. News and World Report, Americas Best Graduate Schools, Law Specialties, Trial Advocacy Official website Digital Collections at The Fred Parks Law Library
22.
Houston Community College
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Houston Community College, also known as Houston Community College System is a community college system that operates community colleges in Houston, Missouri City, Katy, and Stafford in Texas. It is notable for actively recruiting internationally and for the number of international students enrolled. Its open enrollment policies, which do not require proficiency in English, are backed by a full-time 18-month English proficiency program, in 1971, the district founded HCCS after HJCs and HCNs evolutions into the University of Houston and Texas Southern University respectively. In its early days, HCCS once used HISD school campuses for teaching facilities with classes during evenings, around 1997, HCCS began to transfer operations to community college district-operated campuses throughout the HCCS service area. Jim Murphy, a member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 133 in Houston, was a HCCD trustee for two terms from 1997 until 2006, HCC operates its own police department. They may make an arrest pursuant to a warrant anywhere in Texas, the HCC Police Department is divided into six divisions, Administrative, Criminal Investigations, Patrol, Bike Patrol, Training, Communications. HCCS operates Houston Community College Television, aired on Comcast Channel 19, TV Max Channel 97, Phonoscope Channel 77 and Cebridge Channel 20. Content is also streamed over the internet, the studio complex, which has one large studio unit, five editing suites, and a digital master control system, is located at the HCC District Campus. Houston Academy for International Studies of Houston ISD opened on HCCs Central Campus in Fall 2006, willie Lee Gay Hall Coleman College of Health Sciences Codwell Hall Campus Northline Campus The HCC Northline Campus is the site of HISDs North Houston Early College High School. Pinemont Campus Alief Campus The Alief Campus is the site of Alief ISDs Alief Early College High School, Alief Continuing Education Center Katy Campus Spring Branch Campus Southeast College is home to two separate campuses in different parts of the HCC Southeast service area. The Felix Fraga Academic Campus is located a mile and a quarter east of Downtown Houston at 301 N. Drennan St. Fraga served as an HISD trustee, today he is the Vice President of External Affairs for the Neighborhood Centers, Inc. The Felix Fraga Campus hosts classes to over 1,500 students every semester and its flagship offerings include Maritime Logistics, Pre-Engineering, and other STEM classes. Most core courses are also available, in partnership with HISD, the Felix Fraga Campus is also the host location of HISDs East Early College High School. The country of Qatar operates an area called Education City and its purpose is to bring U. S. universities to the Middle East. Houston Community College ran a satellite campus in Education City, however, as of March 2016, HCC “is massively scaling back operations, ” according to Gulf News Journal. Over a five-year period, Qatar’s government paid HCC approximately $30.5 million to subsidize the Education City campus, in a news interview, the HCC Board of Trustees Treasurer said he did not support continuing the campus. “We’re a community college to educate kids in our district, ” he said, when HCC first sent teachers to its Qatar campus, the Qatari government made some of them return back to the United States because they were Jewish. Kim Su Tran La, founder of the restaurant chain Kim Sơn, HCCS Homepage HCCS Libraries TSPR Houston Community College System - Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
23.
Midtown, Houston
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Midtown is a district southwest of Downtown Houston, bordered by Neartown, Interstate 69/U. S. Around 1906 what is now Midtown was divided between the Third Ward and Fourth Ward, before the 1950s what is now Midtown was a popular residential district. Increasingly, commercial development lead homeowners to leave for neighborhoods they considered less busy, the area became a group of small apartment complexes, low-rise commercial buildings, and older houses. According to a City of Houston report, the remaining churches, in the 1970s, Midtown became home to Little Saigon, a neighborhood of Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans, who pioneered the redevelopment of Midtown Houston. During the 1980s, Travis and Milam Streets were viewed as an image of 1970s era Saigon. The Vietnamese areas were established around Milam Street, Webster Street, Fannin Street, by 1991 this Little Saigon had Vietnamese restaurants, hair salons, car shops, and travel agencies. Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly stated in 1991 that Little Saigon is a place to begin easing into a new country, on June 24,1994 Isabella Court at 3909-3917 South Main Street received listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The City of Houston established the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone in 1995, the establishment of the TIRZ lead to the opening of upper income townhomes and apartment complexes in western Midtown and the area along Elizabeth Baldwin Park. Between 1990 and 2000 the area within the Midtown Superneighborhood saw the increase from 3,070 to 5,311. The increase by 2,241 people was 73% of the 1990 population, during that period about 2,200 multi-family units opened, particularly along Louisiana Street and West Gray Street. Since the total multi-family acreage remained at a number, the population increase also increased the density of the area. During the 1990s commercial uses increased, particularly along Main Street, in 1999 the 76th Texas Legislature created the Midtown Management District. In 2009 Houston City Council approved the expansion of the Midtown TIRZ by 8 acres, the new territory includes the Asia House, the Buffalo Soldiers Museum and the Museum of African-American culture. In 2014 the ranking website Niche stated that Midtown was the neighborhood for millennial people. In 2010 Denny Lee of The New York Times said that Midtown, by 2012 many new bars, retail operations, and restaurants had opened in Midtown. Ed Page, a broker, said in 2012 that Midtown has not yet seen any significant new retail. As of 2010 five flower shops are located along Fannin in a section of Midtown, one decade before 2010 there were over one dozen flower shops in that area. In 2003 the flower shop owners were mostly Asian, the shops, along four city blocks, were centered on Rosedale Street
24.
Houston Public Library
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Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the Houston Lyceum in 1854, the lyceum was preceded by a debating society, a special-interest mechanics lyceum, and a circulating library. The lyceums library eventually split into an institution at the end of the 19th century. In 1892, William Marsh Rice, a Houston businessman and philanthropist who later chartered Rice University, the facility opened in 1895 and obtained its own building in 1904 with financial assistance from Andrew Carnegie. Julia Ideson was named its first librarian, the building constructed as Houstons Central Library in 1926 was later named in her honor, the name was changed to Houston Public Library in 1921. The Colored Carnegie Library opened in 1913 and became a part of HPL in 1921, the library system racially desegregated in 1953. In June 1953, Mayor of Houston Roy Hofheinz told the HPL board that library facilities should no longer be segregated, on August 21,1953, library facilities for high school students and adults were desegregated – without public announcement to the black community. On July 31,1961, the Carnegie colored branch closed, the library facility required extensive repairs and it was in the path of the Clay Avenue extension project. The branch, auctioned in February 1962 and shortly afterward demolished except for the cornerstone, was replaced by the W. L. D. Johnson Library in Sunnyside, Central Library consists of the Julia Ideson Building and the Jesse H. Jones Building, constructed in 1976. The HPL administrative offices were moved out of the Jones Building, freeing 12,600 square feet of space. Lisa Gray, of the Houston Chronicle, said the renovation made the Jones Building less of a public space devoted to reading, the offices moved to the Marston Building. Additions in the 2000s include McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library, HPL Express Southwest, a new building for Looscan Neighborhood Library opened in 2007, replacing a 1956 structure. The Jones Building closed for renovations in 2006 and reopened in 2008 and that same year, the Houston Press heralded the project as Houstons best renovation in its annual awards. In 2010, due to a shortfall, the library system reduced its hours. During the same year the system put its decades-old city directories online, during the Jones Building remodeling the HPL administrative offices moved to the 22, 000-square-foot Marston Building in Neartown Houston. The City of Houston spent $1.3 million to renovate the Marston Building to accommodate HPL staff, prior to the remodeling, the HPL administrative offices were located in the Jones Building. This addition houses the Houston Metropolitan Research Center which is the center of the Houston Public Library System. The Marston Building was sold in 2012 by the City of Houston, in addition to the Central Library and Clayton Library, there are 35 neighborhood libraries, including four regional libraries, all located within the city of Houston
25.
Julia Ideson Building
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The Julia Ideson Building is a Houston Public Library facility in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is named for Julia Bedford Ideson, the first Head Librarian of the Houston Public Libraries, the building, with Spanish Renaissance architecture, is part of the Central Library, it houses the archives, manuscripts, and the Texas and Local History Department. The Houston Metropolitan Research Center is located in the building, in 1976 the Jesse H. Jones Building opened, and the Central Library moved to the new building. The building received listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the Ideson building reopened in 1979. Lana Berkowitz of the Houston Chronicle stated that there are legends of the Ideson Building being haunted by the ghost of Jacob Frank Cramer, a library caretaker, and Petey, his dog
26.
1200 Travis
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1200 Travis is a 28-story building in Downtown Houston, Texas that is currently occupied by the Houston Police Department as its current headquarters. At one time it was known as the Houston Natural Gas Building, the building houses HPDs administrative and investigative offices. The building, with 575,000 square feet of space, has a typical floor size of 16,500 square feet. The building, originally the Entex Building, was built in 1967, a renovation in 1988 involved the installation of a new central plant. In 1994 the City of Houston bought the building to house the headquarters of the Houston Police Department, in February 1995 the Houston City Council unanimously voted to retain the Hines company as the development manager for the renovation of 1200 Travis. In the 1990s Hercules Engineering and Testing Services received a contract to do testing in the renovated 1200 Travis building, in October 1997 the $21 million renovation was completed. In 2007 the Houston Police Department announced that it was opening a shop inside the building. The Museum, Gift Shop, and officers memorial opened on May 12, in 2008 Harold Hurtt, the head of HPD, proposed a plan which would have involved the City of Houston selling 1200 Travis. In regards to a new police headquarters, Hurtt said It is not a building like 1200 Travis. In 2011 Mayor of Houston Annise Parker said that the city is considering selling the 1200 Travis facility so that the city will not have to lay off 273 jailers, as of 2012 the facility is for sale. List of tallest buildings in Texas Architecture of Houston Houston Police Department Headquarters at Emporis HPD Home Page
27.
1500 Louisiana Street
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1500 Louisiana Street, formerly Enron Center South, is a 600 ft tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 2002 and has 40 floors and a building area of 1,284. It is the 17th tallest building in the city and the tallest completed in the 2000s, Enron, a Houston-based company, had the building constructed to serve as its US headquarters. Due to a scandal in late 2001 the company collapsed and filed for bankruptcy that same year, intell Management and Investment Co. paid $102 million for the tower, which came equipped with technology that was, in 2003, the latest for energy firms. Charlie Giammalva of Lincoln Property Co. the leasing company of 1500 Louisiana, Giammalva said that the management of the building had contacted several firms, such as ExxonMobil, about the possibility of leasing space in the building. By July 2003 none of the firms contacted the management, chevronTexaco bought the building in 2004 for $340 million. By 2005 the firm announced that it would move out of the former Chevron Tower in Houston Center, in 20064,000 employees worked in 1500 Louisiana. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage Houston Architecture
28.
Allen Center
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The Allen Center is a skyscraper complex in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It consists of five buildings, One Allen Center, the Devon Energy Tower or Two Allen Center, Three Allen Center, Allen Center Clay Street, the complex has about 3,000,000 square feet of space. The area that became the Allen Center was originally considered to be a portion of the Fourth Ward. The opening of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated the portion from the rest of the Fourth Ward. TrizecHahn Properties acquired the Allen Center in 1996, Trizec defeated 16 other real estate companies so it could purchase the center for an amount reported by Tanya Rutledge of the Houston Business Journal as $270 million. When Trizec acquired the Allen Center in November 1996, the complex had a 76 percent occupancy rate, by 1997, Trizec had convinced several tenants of the Cullen Center, also owned by Trizec, to relocate to the Allen Center. Paul Layne, a president of the office division of Trizec. In 2001, when Enron collapsed, it vacated 800,000 square feet of space in the Allen Center, in 2010 Devon Energy was trying to sublease about 125,000 square feet of space that it occupies in the Allen Center complex. Hess Corporation will vacate around 500,000 square feet of space in the complex when a new tower in the east side of Downtown Houston opens. One Allen Center is a 452 ft tall skyscraper and it was completed in 1972 and has 34 floors. It is the 31st tallest building in the city, One Allen Center employs a composite stub-girder steel frame floor system, originally developed in part by Joseph Colaco then of Ellisor Engineers Inc. currently of CBM Engineers, Inc. Macquarie Bank houses its Houston representative office in Suite 3100 of the building, the Devon Energy Tower was known as Two Allen Center and previously the Citicorp Building. Three Allen Center is a 685-foot tall skyscraper completed in 1983 with 50 floors and it is the 12th-tallest building in the city. Macquarie Capital Inc. has an office in Suite 4200, oil States International has an office in Suite 4620. 1400 Smith Street was known as Four Allen Center, the building was the former headquarters of Enron, one of Americas largest commodities trading companies during the 1990s and later infamous for its financial scandal in 2001. Enron occupied the building after relocating to Dallas in 1985, before Enrons collapse, the energy giant constructed a second, similar building across the street, connected to 1400 Smith Street by a circular skywalk. In 2006 Brookfield Properties acquired the 1,200, 000-square-foot Four Allen Center for $120 million, at the same time Brookfield announced that Chevron USA signed a lease for the entire building. Brookfield held 4 Allen Center in a joint partnership with the private equity group The Blackstone Group, as of 2006 the joint venture has 7,400,000 square feet of office space in Downtown Houston, making it the largest office owner in the central business district
29.
Devon Energy Tower (Houston)
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Two Allen Center, also known as Devon Energy Tower, is a 521 ft tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 1978 and has 36 floors and it is the 24th tallest building in the city. The tower houses offices for Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corporation, the building has travertine flooring and is Energy Star labelled. It is owned by Brookfield Properties and it was known as the Citicorp Building in 1989. During that year Exxon had office space there, greater Houston Partnership has its offices in Suite 700, on the seventh floor. Devon Energy had its Houston office there, in October 2012 Devon Energy announced that it was closing its office there, affecting 500 jobs. Two Allen Center also hosts the headquarters of Houston-based national tax law firm Chamberlain Hrdlicka, previously Trizec Properties had its Houston offices in Suite 1100. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage
30.
1400 Smith Street
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1400 Smith Street is a 691 ft tall skyscraper located in downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building has 50 floors and is the 11th tallest building in the city, designed by architectural firm Lloyd Jones Brewer and Associates, the building was completed in 1983. The 1,200, 000-square-foot office tower is situated on Houstons six-mile pedestrian and it was formerly Four Allen Center, a part of the Allen Center complex. The building was the headquarters of Enron, one of Americas largest commodities trading companies during the 1990s. 1400 Smith Street was originally known as Four Allen Center prior to Enron relocating to Houston in 1985, before Enrons collapse, the energy giant constructed a second, similar building across the street, connected to 1400 Smith Street by a circular skywalk. In 2006, Brookfield Properties acquired the 1,200, 000-square-foot Four Allen Center for $120 million, at the same time, Brookfield announced that Chevron USA signed a lease for the entire building. Brookfield held 4 Allen Center in a joint partnership with the private equity group The Blackstone Group, as of 2006, the joint venture has 7,400,000 square feet of office space in Downtown Houston, making it the largest office owner in the central business district. Beginning in 2006, Chevron leased the entirety of the building, earlier in 2011 Brookfield Properties, the owner of the building, searched for a prospective buyer. In June 2011, Chevron bought the building from Brookfield for $340 million, Brookfield confirmed the purchase on June 24,2011. If Chevron had not fully occupied the building, Brookfield would have put the building on the market, architecture of Houston List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas Enron Emporis Skyscraperpage 1400 Smith Street website
31.
Bank of America Center (Houston)
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The Bank of America Center is a highrise representing one of the first significant examples of postmodern architecture construction in downtown Houston, Texas. 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. The banking center is housed in a building, due to construction problems. There are 32 passenger elevators each finished with wood panels that include Birdseye Maple, Macassar Ebony, Italian Willow, Tamo, the building contains an art gallery in the lobby and plans to host curated exhibitions. At 56 stories the Bank of America Center is the 55th tallest building in the United States and is the seventh tallest building in Texas, the northeast corner of the structure houses a building within a building. On June 9,2001, the building was the site of an accident that took place during Tropical Storm Allison. Building security warned individuals that the below grade parking levels were in danger of flooding and instructed persons working late in the building to move vehicles to upper levels of the garage. Kristie Tautenhahn, an employee of the law firm Mayer, Brown & Platt and she drowned in an elevator car when it filled with water as it descended to the lower floor of the garage. Mayer Brown has its Houston office in Suite 3400
32.
Bayou Place
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Bayou Place is a 130,000 square foot entertainment complex that houses multiple theaters, bars, and restaurants located in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The complex was the former Albert Thomas convention center located in the Houston Theater District at 500 Texas Street, the convention center was made obsolete with the opening in 1987 of the much larger George R. Brown Convention Center on the eastern edge of downtown. After years of discussion, Maryland-based developer David Cordish entered into an agreement with the city of Houston in 1991 to redevelop the site. After a few years of discussions, delays, and construction. At one time the complex had a completion date in the year 1996. Cordish Company has had a 50-year lease to manage Bayou Place since 1997, the following are located within the complex, The Hard Rock Cafe is a popular global chain that offers meals with an atmosphere surrounded by plenty of Rock and Roll memorabilia. A four-tiered riser system on the main floor creates an intimate cabaret/dinner theater feel, the permanent 56 x 40 stage is equipped with ample sound and light. Two 8 x 10 video screens are suspended above the stage, check the Website for upcoming concert schedules. Sundance Cinemas Houston opened in Bayou Place in early November 2011, the theater features specialized film programming and also present features from film festivals and from general release. In March 2011, Cordish signed a 10-year lease with Sundance, the 36,000 square feet space will receive a $2.25 million remodeling. It will open to the public on November 23,2011, the theater closed after being open for 13 years. Angelika left the space and closed on Sunday, August 29,2010 due to a dispute with the landlord
33.
BG Group Place
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BG Group Place is a 630 ft tall skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas. It was completed in February 2011 and has 46 floors, when it was completed, BG Group Place became the 15th tallest building in Houston and features a skygarden on the 39th floor. It is the tallest building built in Houston in 23 years, the naming was done when BG Group Plc became an anchor tenant and leased 164, 000sq ft of space. The primary monument & all core signage for the facility was built by Ad Display Sign Systems, water that condenses in the buildings air-conditioning system is used to irrigate the plants. Glass fins that act as sunshades reduce the buildings need for air-conditioning, the 10-foot ceilings allow in more sunlight, cutting the need for electric lights. Each floor is on average 27,000 square feet and can hold up to 8 full corner offices, Basement Floor 2, Parking Basement Floor 1, Parking, access to Downtown Houston tunnel system, and a small area for retail space. 1st Floor, Lobby,1 large and 1 small retail space area, access to the Downtown Houston tunnel system will also be available via an escalator to Basement Floor 1. The 30-foot high ceilings will extend through Floor 2 and half of Floor 3
34.
Calpine Center
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The Calpine Center is a 453 ft tall postmodern skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas. The building has 33 floors of Class A office space and it is the 30th tallest building in the city. The building has the headquarters of Calpine Corporation. Hines and Prime Asset Management jointly developed the building, the Houston office of HOK designed the building, and Turner Construction acted as the general contractor. It is connected to the tunnel system. Mark Russell of Studley, a real estate firm, said that the Calpine Center is more efficient than many of the office buildings built in Houston in the early 1980s. Originally Calpine intended to lease 300,000 square feet of space, by February 2003 Calpine announced that it would sublease some of the space to other firms. The Calpine Center was scheduled for completion at the end of 2003, in July 2003 the space was 82% booked for occupation. Calpine and Burlington Resources, another company, leased space in the building. In addition Jones Day agreed to lease over 50,000 square feet, the building opened on Monday November 10,2003. Other tenants that had occupied the building by its opening included Cheniere Energy Inc. in 2004 Avalon Advisors LP agreed to lease 9,385 square feet of space in the building, bringing its occupancy level to 86%. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage
35.
CenterPoint Energy Plaza
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CenterPoint Energy Plaza is a 741 feet tall building in downtown Houston. The original building, finished in 1974, stood at 651 feet, designed by Richard Keating, this renovation dramatically changed the building, the Houston Skyline and the downtown. Keating was also the designer of the nearby Wells Fargo Tower and it has the headquarters of CenterPoint Energy. Historically the building housed the headquarters of Houston Industries and subsidiary Houston Lighting & Power, in 1999 Houston Industries changed its name to Reliant Energy. When Reliant Energy moved out of the building and moved into the new Reliant Energy Plaza in 2003, around 1995 the building owners added a circle-shaped canopy that is five stories tall. Clifford Pugh of the Houston Chronicle wrote that It was meant to resemble a lantern, List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in the United States DMJM H&N Architects website
36.
Club Quarters Hotel (Houston)
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The Club Quarters Hotel is a 16-story,61.6 m Beaux-Arts high-rise at 710 Fannin Street in downtown Houston, Texas, USA. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places under its former name, originally planned for the 1928 Democratic National Convention, but due to construction and finance difficulties, was not completed until 1929. At one point in the 1980s, The University of Texas owned the property and a hotel-management group ran the hotel and it was left unused until Fannin & Rusk, LP took over the property for redevelopment. The renovation of the Texas State Hotel won the 2006 Good Brick Awards, given by the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance to honor exceptional preservation projects, since it has opened, it has featured a restaurant, Table 7 Bistro, on the bottom floor. The hotel building includes several residences, which have the same amenities as the regular guests The residences are zoned to the Houston Independent School District, residents are zoned to Bruce Elementary School, E. O. Smith Education Center, and Davis High School. Club Quarters Houston Residences Atop Club Quarters
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Cullen Center
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For the building in Chicago, Illinois formerly named Continental Center II, see CNA Center. Cullen Center is a complex in Downtown Houston, Texas. The complex is now managed by Brookfield Properties, previously Trizec Properties owned all four office buildings. The complex includes the headquarters of the Houston Fire Department and KBR, the buildings include 1600 Smith,600 Jefferson, KBR Tower, and 500 Jefferson Street. In 1959 the family of Hugh Roy Cullen, an oil businessperson, to the surprise of everyone the family planned for the 12 acres, 5½ city block site to accommodate several sites. The first two buildings were to be a 500 room, 15-18 story hotel and a 25 story office building, next, a 40-45 story office building was to be completed. Other buildings were planned to be added at later times, work for clearing the land was scheduled to begin in December 1959. During the year, the plans also included another 25 story office building. Welton Beckett and Associates master planned the first two buildings, the 21 story, $12 million 500 Jefferson and the 12-story, $6 million Hotel America, gerald E. Veltmann, the president of Cullen Center, Inc. In other words, the building separated the pedestrian and vehicular traffic from one another. The first levels were to have open plazas, the developer planned to establish air-conditioned bridges connecting the buildings at their second levels. Continental Center II opened in 1974, the KBR Tower was built in 1973 and renovated in 1991. Continental Center I was completed in 1984, by 1987 the Canadian company Trizec Corporation bought debentures carrying an option to buy portions of the Cullen Center, including 1600 Smith Street. By 1997 Trizec had convinced several Cullen Center tenants to move to the nearby Allen Center, during that year Continental Airlines announced that it was moving its headquarters to the Cullen Center. Paul Layne, a president of the TrizecHahn Office division. Tim Reylea, the president of Cushman Realty Corp. said that the Continental move is probably the largest corporate relocation in the central business district of Houston ever. Bob Lanier, Mayor of Houston, said that he was tickled to death by the move to relocate to Downtown Houston. In 2001, when Enron collapsed, it vacated 800,000 square feet of space in the Allen Center, in 2008 Continental signed five year lease renewals for its Downtown Houston office space
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1600 Smith Street
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1600 Smith Street, is a 51-story, 732-foot office tower in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The building houses offices of United Airlines, and it was Continentals headquarters prior to its merger with United Airlines, at one point it also served as the headquarters of ExpressJet Airlines. It is a part of the Cullen Center complex, the 51 story building has about 1,098,399 square feet of rentable Class A office space. The design architect was Morris Architects, the contractor was Linbeck Construction Company. Naman, and the engineer was CBM Engineers. The building was completed in 1984, the tower stands as a postmodern-style building. It is currently the 8th-tallest building in Houston, bruce Nichols of The Dallas Morning News said that in early 19841600 Smith Street was so vacant it became a symbol for overexpansion in Houston. By 1987 the Canadian company Trizec Group bought debentures carrying an option to buy portions of the Cullen Center, in 1997 subcommittees of the University of Houston System Board of Regents held meetings at 1600 Smith Street. In September 1997 Continental Airlines announced that it would consolidate its Houston headquarters in what would become Continental Center I, the airline scheduled to move around 3,200 employees in stages beginning in July 1998 and ending in January 1999. The airline consolidated the operation at the America Tower in Neartown. Continental anticipated taking 15 floors at Continental Center I, in addition it planned to add a company store, a credit union, and an employee service center in the street-level lobby of Continental Center I. The airline agreed to lease 600,000 square feet of space in the Cullen Center for 11 years initially and 20 years if it takes renewal options. To make room for the airline and to increase the complexs overall tenancy, the unit of Shell Oil Company agreed to reduce its 320,000 square feet square feet of space in Continental Center I to 170,000 square feet to make room for Continental. Shell had planned to downsize, so it renewed its lease for a amount of space. In addition Houston Industries, Inc. paid TrizecHahn so it could break its lease on 100,000 square feet of space and this made additional room for Continental Airlines. Tim Reylea, the president of Cushman Realty Corp. said that the Continental move is probably the largest corporate relocation in the central business district of Houston ever. Bob Lanier, Mayor of Houston, said that he was tickled to death by the move to relocate to Downtown Houston. In September 2000 an electrical component burned out at Continental Center I, as a result of the temporary power outage, delays of between 300 and 400 Continental Airlines flights occurred worldwide
39.
KBR Tower
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KBR Tower is a 550 ft tall skyscraper in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States, it is a part of the Cullen Center complex. The KBR Tower has the headquarters of KBR, the 40 story building has about 1,047,748 square feet of rentable office space. The building was completed in 1973, by 1991, Dresser Industries and its subsidiary, M. W. Kellogg, switched office buildings. Kellogg took over 400,000 square feet of space on 16 floors of the Houston skyscraper formerly occupied by its parent firm, the skyscraper was renamed the M. W. Kellogg Tower. In exchange Dresser took over space at 3 Greenway Plaza, which had renamed to the Dresser Tower. The building swap satisfied Kelloggs need for more space, in 1998, Exxon announced that it was forming a new subsidiary, Exxon Upstream Development Co. The company planned to house the company in the Kellogg Tower before moving it to the Greenspoint business district. By 2001, Halliburton owned the tower in a joint venture with TrizecHahn, in August of that year, Halliburton announced that it would consolidate 8,000 local employees to office space in Westchase. Halliburton planned to vacate about 650,000 square feet of Class B office space in the Kellogg Tower, in December 2001 Halliburton canceled its plans to relocate employees to Westchase. Nancy Sarnoff of the Houston Business Journal said that it made sense for the company to lease existing space instead of constructing new office space in times of economic downturns. In 2004, Jeanneret & Associates renewed its lease of 9,806 square feet space in the KBR Tower for 10 years, in 2010, KBR signed a 20-year lease for 1,200,000 square feet at the KBR Tower and 500 Jefferson. In 2011 Brookfield Properties Corp. offered a 50% interest in the KBR Tower for sale, paul Layne, Suresh Brookfields Houston area executive vice president, said that the KBR lease made the building a major candidate for the sale of its interest. KBR owns the other 50% interest, Layne did not state whether KBR had the right of first refusal on Brookfields interest. Layne said that confidentiality concerns were why he did not reveal the information, in 2012 an affiliate of W. P. List of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage Brookfield Properties
40.
El Paso Energy Building
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The Kinder Morgan Building is a 502-foot tall skyscraper in Houston, Texas. It was completed in 1963 and has 33 floors and it was originally known as the Tenneco Building. It is the 28th tallest building in the city, because of downtown Houstons diagonal street grid, all four sides of the building are exposed to the sun. The windows are recessed from the frame to control heat and glare from the sun, the footprint of the building is an exact square. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, the architects of the building, were recognized with an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1969. An elevator or an escalator were required to get to the lobby of the building because it was raised above the street level. The first 5 floors of the building opened to make a huge glass-enclosed space, a number of drive-through bank kiosks along Louisiana Street were replaced with fountains in 1984. In 2001 the fountains were refurbished, a very long stock ticker was installed to deliver messages and add to the visual appeal. In 1996 when the El Paso Corporation bought Tenneco for 4 billion dollars, when Tenneco owned the building the letters T-E-N-N-E-C-O outlined the top of the building on each of the four sides. In 2008 Gilbain Construction started a remodel of the building completed in 2012. The main lobby is now located on Level 1 with entrances on Louisiana Street, Levels 3 through 29 are office space and Levels 30,31 and 32 are the Executive offices. The Exec offices boast a three story grand stairway, boardroom, many rooms and spacious offices and meeting areas. Kinder Morgan purchased the building with its acquisition of El Paso Corporation in 2012, Kinder Morgan moved its headquarters to this building. EP Energy leases floors 18-27 from Kinder Morgan, list of tallest buildings in Houston Emporis Skyscraperpage Houston Architecture
41.
Enterprise Plaza
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Enterprise Plaza is a 55-story,230 m skyscraper at 1100 Louisiana Street in downtown Houston, Texas The headquarters of Enterprise Products is located in the Enterprise Plaza. Enbridges Houston offices are in Enterprise, Enterprise Plaza was completed in 1980 by Hines. Hines Real Estate bought the tower in January 2000, Enterprise Plaza is an office building located in the heart of Houstons energy and financial corridor. It stands at 756 ft tall with 55 stories and it was the tallest building in Texas from 1980 until 1982 when it was surpassed by the JPMorgan Chase Tower
42.
Esperson Buildings
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The Niels and Mellie Esperson Buildings are a building complex in downtown Houston, Texas. Mary Ann Azevedo of the Houston Business Journal said that they were among the most recognizable buildings in Downtown, the Niels Esperson Building is the only complete example of Italian Renaissance architecture in Downtown Houston. Designed by theater architect John Eberson, the Esperson buildings were built in 1927 and 1941, respectively. They are elaborately detailed with columns, great urns, terraces. Mellie Esperson had the first of the two buildings constructed for her husband, Niels, an estate and oil tycoon. His name is carved on the side of the building, above the entrance, the name Mellie Esperson is carved on the accompanying structure, known as the Mellie Esperson building, although that structure is only a nineteen-story annex to the original Esperson building. Sherry Thomas of USA Today said that rumors of the buildings being haunted existed, the ghost of Mellie Esperson is said to have haunted the building. In 2007 Cameron Management Inc. sold the Esperson buildings to Seligman Western Enterprises Ltd, the Bollywood film Sirf Tum had scenes filmed at the top of the Niels Esperson tower, notably for the song Dilbar. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in the United States
43.
ExxonMobil Building
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The ExxonMobil Building was built in 1963 in Houston. At that time it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River at 606 ft and it remained the tallest building west of the Mississippi only until 1965, when Elm Place was built in Dallas. As of 2011 ExxonMobil is the owner of the building, one of the most distinctive features of the building is the cantilevered seven-foot-wide shades on each floor that protrude from the side of the building to provide shade from the daytime sun. Currently, the JPMorgan Chase Tower, completed in 1982 is Houstons tallest building, the building is two blocks east of 1500 Louisiana Street, a parking lot is between the two buildings. The architect of the International style structure was Welton Becket and Associates, in 2011 the company announced that all employees in the ExxonMobil building are moving to the new ExxonMobil office in Spring. ExxonMobil did not state what it plans to do with the building after the employees leave, in January 2013, Shorenstein Properties announced it had closed on the property for an undisclosed amount. ExxonMobil immediately leased back the building into 2015. Shorenstien Properties plans to undertake significant improvements following ExxonMobils departure, in 2015 Mayor of Houston Annise Parker proposed moving municipal court and Houston Police Department operations into the ExxonMobil building. In September 2015 Parkers administration announced that the plan would not move due to concerns over costs. The top two floors were formerly dining space for the Petroleum Club of Houston, which had moved to the ExxonMobil Building in 1963, the club was accessible through elevators on Bell Street. Because of the sale and scheduled renovation of the ExxonMobil Building, in late January 2015 it was scheduled to move to Total Plaza. ThePetroleum Club of Houston official website
44.
First City Tower
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First City Tower is a skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. The building rises 662 feet in height and it contains 49 floors, and was completed in 1981. 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. 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 building, with Class A office space, has 1,300,000 square feet of office space. The building is noted for its distinctive staircase cuts on the north and south facades, First City Tower was constructed in a diagonal rotation away from Houstons main north-south street grid, which gives the impression that the structure has a larger footprint than it actually does. Morris Architects designed First City Tower, which opened in 1981, JMB Realty owned one third of First City Tower since the late 1980s. In 2003, JMB Realty bought the First City Tower and a 10-story parking garage, in 2002 Waste Management, Inc. and Vinson & Elkins, and Ocean Energy Inc. were the major tenants and Insignia/ESG, the managing agent, was also a tenant. As of 2003, the largest tenant is Vinson & Elkins, by 2004, Ocean Energy, after being acquired by Devon Energy, vacated 250,000 square feet of space in the First City Tower. In 2004, renovations to the tower began, FC Tower Property Partners, the owner and a limited partnership operated by an affiliate of JMB Realty, selected Morris Architects to design the public spaces in the tower. CB Richard Ellis, the property manager, oversaw the construction management, granite pavers and landscaped planters were placed in the north and south plazas. The entrance columns were re-clad in stainless steel, a limestone monument, displaying the address and tenants of the First City Tower, was erected at the intersection of Fannin and Lamar. A private garden, used by tenants to host performances and receptions, was added, in November 2010 SSY Chemicals leased space in the building. By January 2011, Black Stone Minerals renewed its lease for its headquarters in the First City Tower and expanded its space by 13,119 square feet, list of tallest buildings in Texas Architecture of Houston Official site Image of First City Tower on Emporis
45.
GreenStreet
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GreenStreet, formerly known as Houston Pavilions, is a commercial development in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was scheduled to begin in Spring 2006, with the first developments opening in the quarter of 2007. The project covers three 1. 4-acre city blocks, as of November 16,2006, 50% of the retail space had been leased. 200,000 square feet of office space will be available on the mid-block between Fannin and San Jacinto Streets. Office parking will be provided in the Houston Pavilions 1,675 garage located on the corner of Main, the project is being developed by Texas Real Estate Trust, Inc. and Entertainment Development Group, who also developed the Denver Pavilions in Denver, Colorado. Geoffrey Jones and William Denton served as the co-developers of the project, the designers were Laguarda. Low Architects from Dallas. The Houston Chronicle reported that the Pavilions will provide around 1,800 to 2,000 full-, the Houston Pavilions office tower, which is 11 stories tall, is named the NRG Tower, after its main tenant. The construction of Houston Pavilions ended in October 2008, the office building originally had no tenants. On June 30,2009, Reliant Energy announced that it will take 10 floors in the Houston Pavilions tower, NRG Energy, which had acquired the retail operations of Reliant Energy, announced that it would take 234,000 square feet of space in a 10-year lease. Houston Pavilions redesigned its space to make room for NRG, prior to January 2011 rumors stated that the 23, 000-square-foot Books-A-Million location was closing. In January 2011 the management of Houston Pavilions finalized an extension of the lease with Books-A-Million, david Knox, an NRG spokesperson, said NRG employees and contractors had been moving into the 1201 Fannin St. from other locations since January 2011. Two weeks before March 17,2011, the employees of NRG finished moved into 1201 Fannin St, around March 17 the office building was renamed the NRG Tower. In December 2011 Mark Fowler, a receiver for Transwestern, took control of the development, in 2012 NBC Sports and Comcast Sports created a studio in the center. Later that year, Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds and Houston-based Midway Cos. acquired the Houston Pavilions, in December 2012 the Books-a-Million closed. In 2013 the new developers, Midway and Canyon-Johnson, announced plans to add outdoor landscaping, the developers planned to add other amenities and to schedule events. Additionally, the complex was renamed to GreenStreet, the linear urban park will span all three blocks and include mid-block crossings on Fannin and San Jacinto between Dallas and Polk. A central courtyard in the block between Fannin and San Jacinto, outdoor patios. In the office space, as of 20111,300 NRG Energy employees work in 263,000 square feet of office space, to accommodate additional workers, Houston Pavilions converted some of its empty retail space into office space
46.
Heritage Plaza
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Heritage Plaza is a postmodern skyscraper located in the Skyline District of downtown Houston, Texas. Standing at 762 feet, the tower is the 5th tallest building in Houston, the 8th tallest in Texas, the building, designed by Houston-based M. Nasr & Partners P. C. was completed in 1987, and has 53 floors. Heritage Plaza completed construction in early 1987 and it was the last major office building completed in downtown Houston in the midst of the collapse of the Texas real estate, banking, and oil industries in the 1980s. The building stood as the most recently completed skyscraper in Houston for nearly 15 years. The building has 1,150,000 square feet of leaseable space, the building went on to serve as the US headquarters of Texaco for 12 years. In 2001, Heritage Plaza became the US headquarters of the ChevronTexaco corporation, in 2005, Goddard Investment Group acquired the building. During that year, over 700,000 square feet in the building was unoccupied, in 2006, EOG Resources announced that it will move from 3 Allen Center to Heritage Plaza. The firm had signed a 15-year lease for 200,000 square feet, the firm, scheduled to move in early 2007, became the largest tenant in the building at the time. In early 2007, Deloitte & Touche USA L. L. P, executed a lease to occupy 300,000 square feet as part of a 12-year, 10-floor lease with options to increase that space, if needed. The new lease consolidated staff from three Houston sites to one location, making Deloitte the largest tenant in Heritage Plaza. This feature was inspired by the visit to the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula. The crown of the building is said to resemble an image of a bald eagle spreading its wings. The interior lobby of Heritage Plaza was also designed with Mexican influences, the lower levels of the building, which contain a large food court, contain a distinctive multi-level marble waterfall that falls from the lobby. Heritage Plaza is one of the few skyscrapers in downtown Houston that is not directly connected to the extensive Houston tunnel network and it is, however, connected to the DoubleTree Hotel Houston-Allen Center through a skyway. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings in Texas List of tallest buildings in the United States Official site
47.
Hess Tower
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Hess Tower is a 29-story building located adjacent to Discovery Green park in downtown Houston, Texas. It was formerly called Discovery Tower until Hess Corporation leased the entire tower in January 2009, the global architectural firm Gensler designed the building. The building was a project of Trammell Crow Company, a real estate development and investment firm, the building was originally designed to house a number of wind turbines, but the turbines were removed in December 2010
48.
Houston Center
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Houston Center is a retail and office complex in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is owned and operated by subsidiaries of Crescent Real Estate Equities Co, the three towers in Houston Center have almost 3,400,000 square feet of Class A office space. Four Seasons Hotel Houston Texas Eastern Corporation bought 32 blocks of land in Downtown Houston for $50 million, Texas Eastern razed the existing buildings and proposed building Houston Center, a large office space development. Texas Eastern planned to build elevated walkways, people movers, Panhandle Eastern Corporation acquired Houston Center when Texas Eastern was sold to Panhandle for $2.5 billion in stock in June 1989. Later that year Panhandle sold Houston Center to JMB Realty for $400 million, Panhandle planned to use the money from the sale to reduce its debt, which it accumulated from the merger. Panhandle planned to move in increments over a period after 1989. In 1989 Houston Center consisted of three buildings and one hotel. Its occupancy rate in December 1989 was about 90%, Crescent purchased Houston Center in 1997 for $328 million. In 2000 Crescent sold the Four Seasons Hotel Houston, a hotel that is a part of Houston Center, to Maritz, Wolff & Co. a hotel investment group, in October 2002 Houston Center was 95% leased. In 2004 Crescent attempted to sell a 50% equity position in both Greenway Plaza and Houston Center, during that year the Class A office space in the entire complex was 94% leased. In addition, in 2004 many of the 32 blocks that were scheduled to be a part of the Houston Center development remained undeveloped. Borghese, LLC, Bennett G. Fisher, and Third Planet Windpower, together they held 6,758 square feet of space. Opened in 1978, this building, originally called 1 Houston Center, has 46 floors with Class A office space and is located at 1200 block of McKinney Street, the building is 678 feet tall. It was designed by Caudill Rowlett Scott and built by W. S, LyondellBasell has its Houston offices in 1 Houston Center. When Lyondell was an independent company, its headquarters were in 1 Houston Center, as of January 2012, the Lyondell/LyondellBasell operation has been at 1 Houston Center for 25 years. In 1999 Merrill Lynch Capital Markets expanded its lease to 23,520 square feet, in 2000 Ernst & Young occupied 140,000 square feet of space on five floors in 1 Houston Center. When 5 Houston Center opened in 2003, Ernst & Young pulled its operations from 1 Houston Center and moved them into 5 Houston Center, two of the five floors that Ernst & Young left behind were leased to other firms by July 2003. Cozen OConnor opened an office in 1 Houston Center in 2004, on November 22,2005, Alain Robert, a French rock and urban climber nicknamed Spider-Man, was arrested attempting to climb the building
49.
Four Seasons Hotel Houston
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Four Seasons Hotel Houston is a part of the Toronto-based Four Seasons chain of luxury hotels and resorts. Four Seasons Hotel Houston, the only AAA Five Diamond hotel in downtown Houston, also has an Italian restaurant, Four Seasons Hotel Houston is located in Downtown Houston. The hotel includes Four Seasons Place, a group of 64 apartment units and it is a part of the Houston Center complex. Four Seasons Hotel Houston opened in 1982 and it became the city’s first AAA Five-Diamond hotel in 1996 and still holds that distinction today. In 2000 Crescent Real Estate Equities, the owner of Houston Center, sold the Four Seasons Hotel Houston to Maritz, Wolff & Co. a hotel investment group, in 2006, Institutional Investor ranked Four Seasons Hotel Houston the 87th Best Hotel in the World. The hotel currently houses 404 guest rooms, including 12 suites, in 2013, Maritz, Wolff & Co. sold the property to Cascade Investment. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, owned jointly by Cascade, Kingdom Holding Company and Triples Holdings, as with most Four Seasons properties, Four Seasons Hotel Houston is known for its services and amenities. Four Seasons Hotel Houston has one of the city’s premiere restaurants, Quattro, the Mobil Four Star restaurant offers four dining experiences, breakfast, lunch, dinner and an antipasto bar. The Houston Center Club, located within walking distance and offering racquetball courts, basketball courts, indoor jogging track, some other amenities include spa services, pool, and fitness facilities. The Four Seasons Place apartments are zoned to Houston Independent School District schools, residents are zoned to Bruce Elementary School, Gregory Lincoln Education Center, and Davis High School. By Spring 2011, Atherton Elementary School and E. O. Smith Education Center were consolidated with a new K-5 campus in the Atherton site, as a result, the building was rezoned from Smith to Gregory Lincoln for the middle school level. As part of rezoning for the 2014-2015 school year, this tower will be rezoned from Bruce to Gregory-Lincoln K-8 for elementary school
