| JPMorgan Chase Tower | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Interactive map of the JPMorgan Chase Tower area | |
| Former names | Texas Commerce Tower in United Energy Plaza Texas Commerce Tower |
| Alternative names | Chase Tower |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Commercial offices |
| Location | 600 Travis Street Houston,Texas, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 29°45′38″N95°21′50″W / 29.760556°N 95.363889°W /29.760556; -95.363889 |
| Construction started | 1978 |
| Completed | 1982 |
| Cost | U.S. $2 billion |
| Owner | Cerberus Capital Management and Hines Interests Limited Partnership |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 305.4 m (1,002 ft) |
| Roof | 305.4 m (1,002 ft) |
| Top floor | 296.8 m (974 ft) |
| Observatory | 268 m (879 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 75 |
| Floor area | 2,243,013 sq ft (208,382.7 m2) |
| Lifts/elevators | 52 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architects | I. M. Pei & Partners Ziegler Cooper Architects |
| Developer | Hines Interests Limited Partnership |
| Structural engineer | CBM Engineers |
| Main contractor | Turner Construction |
| Website | |
| www | |
| References | |
| [1][2] | |
TheJPMorgan Chase Tower, formerlyTexas Commerce Tower, is a 305.4-meter (1,002-foot), 2,243,013-square-foot (208,382.7 m2),[3] 75-story skyscraper at 600 Travis Street inDowntown Houston, Texas, United States. It is the secondtallest building in Texas, the tallest five-sided building in the world, the29th-tallest building in the United States, and the107th-tallest building in the world.
Originally completed in 1981 asTexas Commerce Tower and commissioned by Texas Commerce Bancshares, the skyscraper attains a height of 1002 feet with 75 floors. Overlooking United Energy Plaza located on Capitol Avenue and Milam Street, it features the Joan Miro sculpture,Personage and Birds. A terrace on the plaza includes a water garden.[4]Khalid bin Mahfouz was a co-developer of the building,[5] part of which occupied the former Uptown Theatre, demolished in 1965.[6]
Upon its completion, the building surpassedAon Center inLos Angeles to become the tallest building in the United States west of theMississippi River,[7][8] a title it held until Los Angeles's Library Tower, now known as theU.S. Bank Tower, was built in 1989.[9][10]
The JPMorgan Chase Tower held the record for "Tallest Building in Texas" longer than any other building in history. It was the tallest building in the state from its topping out in 1981 all the way until Waterline Austin's top out in 2025, making JPMorgan the tallest in the state for 44 years.
JPMorgan Chase Tower is connected to theHouston Downtown Tunnel System.[11] This system forms a network of subterranean, climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that link ninety-five city blocks.[12] The lobby of JPMorgan Chase Tower has been designed to harmonize not only with the height of the structure but also with the portico ofJones Hall, home of theHouston Symphony Orchestra, and which occupies the city block immediately to the west.[13] For that reason, a five-story glass wall supported by a stainless steel space frame spans the entire 85-foot width of the front entrance, making the lobby area light and airy, and opening up the space to the plaza outside.[14] The Tower also includes 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) of retail space.[15]
While the tower's name reflects the bankJPMorgan Chase, the only space designated to Chase was a single branch office on the bottom floor until 2021. The tower is owned by Cerberus Capital Management andHines Interests.[16]
On September 13, 2008, many of the tower's windows were blown out asHurricane Ike struck the city, leaving desks exposed, metal blinds hanging in twisted heaps, and smoky black glass covering the streets below. Police were forced to cordon off the area due to the amount of debris in the streets.[17]
At first, it was speculated that the glass came off the building due to impact from debris or due to high-speed winds in the confined spaces. However, flying glass debris must be entirely governed by drag and lift forces that overcome gravity for a considerable time period. Also, the high-wind-speed-in-confined-spaces theory is not entirely justified since the height of damage seen in the tower exceeded too significantly the height of the Chase Center parking garage next to the tower. This theory was proposed because an increase in wind speed produces a drop in external pressure. This drop in pressure at the side and leeward walls, combined with the normal, higher pressure inside the building would result in a force that could possibly overcome design pressures causing the window to separate. Other theories included those of ABS Consulting Engineers, who suggested that glazing damage may have been produced by "organized" vortices produced by the upwind Calpine Center and steady vortices between the Tower and the Chase Center parking garage.[18]
The NatHaz Modeling Laboratory at theUniversity of Notre Dame conducted an investigation of the flow field around the structure, modeling the tower and the immediate area surrounding it usingcomputational fluid dynamics (CFD).[19] A 2009 report by the laboratory's researchers suggests that the localized damage is the result of a combination of factors: the arrangement of nearby buildings, critical wind directionality, and the possible entrapment of debris within evolving airflow patterns.[20]
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| Records | ||
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| Preceded by | Tallest building in the United States west of Mississippi River 1982–1989 | Succeeded by |
