12 Cite Spring 198S This does not purport to be the definitive, Sally Walsh exemplifies the ideal of the delayed indefinitely and she went on to Leaving the Commerce Tower, I'm all-encompassing tour of the heart of "self-made" woman. With more energy other dtsign projects, eventually becoming catty-comet across Travis from my office . Rather, it is a walk about the than tnrniat training, she became a part of a partner in charge of design at S. I. Mor- in the original Gulf Building, now environs I inhabit, and i will point out Knoll Associates. New York. Nearly JO ns Associates. Walsh now has her own renamed Texas Commerce Hank Building some reasons why I enjoy the city as I do. yean ago, she Came to Houston to open a design firm, and her enthusiasm for (3). Entering the doors under the Flags, Because of the content of any given busi- Knoll showroom. When Hans Knoll died Houston's assets and poi tibititu • I'm in the magnificent lobby of the Texas ness day, I most often see the northern shortly thereafter, the showroom was continues to grow. Commerce Bank This vaulted space, and sector on cine day, the southern on the original 36-Story tower, completed in another. 1929. were designed for Jesse Jones by Kenneth Franzheim, J. E. R. Carpenter, Each day I park in the Texas Commerce and Alfred C. Finn. Center garage < I). This polished, grey- granite structure, designed by I. M. Pei & I take different routes around this ground- Partners (1982), is unique for its quality All Around level floor to enjoy the superb Benedict and for its light-filled spaciousness. The nickle work in the doors, the gates, the elevators were perhaps best summed by check-writing stands, the mailbox in the two West Texas gentlemen I rode with \4rh-floor elevator section, and the tower recently. One of them looked up and down Downtown: bank of elevator cabs. I note the Siena and all around, then said to his compan- travertine walls and the light fixtures in ion, "Joe are you teeing this* We're in a the banking lobby and in the Main Street garage and just look at this cab!" Joe elevator lobby area. nodded, pointed to the star on the control A Personal Tour panel, grinned broadly, and drawled, "I guess we know we're in the city!" The Sally Walsh 1 sensitive panellation of the lacquered walls and the quality of the lacquer work; the bi-retract, polished stainless-steel doors, which result in elegant, slim control panels; the welcoming curve of the back wall, with its strongly proportioned, curved protection rod; the wide, polished Preston stainless bordering at the base and head with its precision mitering, all combine to »»•*«»•»«••• Prairie start and end my working days in pleasing surroundings. From the concrete garage floors to the highly polished stainless • Texas steel, everything is spotless. Cleaning ! IF crews are visible all day, every day, inside and outside the structure. The granite : : Capitol sidewalk paving is wet-mopped every - i i 1 morning. The presence of the cleaning •••••• i * • • • _ ft//I " staff has the added advantage of safety m without guards • • Walker View of the interior, Gulf Building mow Texas Commerce Bank Building). 1929, A.C. Finn, Kenneth Franzheim. and J.F.R. • Mc Kinney Carpenter, architects (Photo by Paul Hester/

• • Lamar While I'm waiting for an elevator 1 study the eight fresco murals high in the lobby's vaulted space illustrating the history of ....; ; Daltaj Texas. The subjects are: Aboriginal Indi am, circa 1500: Landing of LtSalte, Mate gorda Bay. /6K5,- Spanish Domination, 177(1: Mexican Ascendency. Is?!: Thl Rill of the Alamo, 1836: Capture of Santa Ana, Lobby. Texas Commerce Tower in Untied • ••,,• p * • • ^ \*fiij 1836: Houston, Capital of the Republic of Energy Plaza, 1982, I.M. Pei & Parttw Texas. 1837: and Modern Homtmi circa and iD: International, architects lPhoto 1929). The portrait in the main lobby is <to by Pent sloping site for the structure, with the Hi tier gentle sweep of level steps. At lunch time the plaza is full of activity, with many of the people coming to meet friends near the sculpture Personage and Birds by Joan Miro This major piece of sculpture calls to mind a contemporary family composed of a mother, a father, and their child who has broken his chair. The pieces and parts Modern Houston, Vincent Maragliatti, have been flung into the air. Without painter, 1929 (Courtesy Houston question, this is the most pleasure-giving I Metropolitan Research Center, Houston outdoor space in the heart of Houston. It Public Library> welcomes use by people, for which we should bless the corporate hearts who Leaving by the doors at the corner of Tra- sponsored its creation. vis and Rusk, I immediately cross Travis, and walk south to McKinney. I cross the The Texas Commerce Tower is a structure street here because the west side is which rivals a piece by Faberge in the per- cleaner, there are fewer concentrations of fection of detailing. I feel like I have people, and, as I cross Rusk Street, I like arrived in a special place as i walk through to look up at the facade of the corner the glass and polished-steel revolving structure, the Niels Esperson Building (4; doors. I find myself lingering to study the 1927, John Eberson, architect), and study surfaces in the elevator lobby, the perfect the cattle skulls carved in the stone. Upon joining of materials on up into its volume, reaching McKinney, 1 turn east, and cross- and the understated, yet effective, gra- ing Main Street, I arrive at First City phics. It's great to ride in an empty eleva- National Bank Building (5, 1961). This is tor to experience the luxurious size of the an elegant, fine contemporary structure cab, and enjoy the texture of the natural, » designed by Gordon Bunshaft, then black horsehair-clad wall panels. Time partner in charge of design at the New permitting, when I'm leaving the building, York office of Skidmore, Owings and Mer- I walk around to the banking lobby on the rill. The proportions of the structure and Travis Street side to see the tapestry Six the detailing throughout are perfect. Flags Over Texas by Helena Hernmarck. When I view an object or a building and Since monumental tapestries are most my heart sings, I label it "perfect." effective from a distance, I stand as far back as possible to view the work, and I The lovely glass pavilion which houses the am stirred by the history these flags recall. banking lobby has been hidden for years When business takes me into the bank's by draperies. Recently, in consultation office areas, I enjoy seeing the extensive Personage and Birds, 1982, Joan Miro with Bunshaft, the draperies have been and fine collection of 19th-century tradi- \culpture in United Energy Plaza {Photo replaced by blinds and this glittering jewel tional oil paintings. by Paul Hester) has emerged for all of us to enjoy. In this Cite Spring 1985 13 great room, terrazzo forms the entire Walking one block south to Lamar, rhen block on which one walks. Artisan crafts- turning west and walking three blocks to men came from Italy to pour and polish Milam, the Tenneco Building, (8; 1963, this surface. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, architects) occupies the block on the right. It is Inside the First City National Bank Build- Inside the revolving doors there is an ambiance another example of fine detailing from ing, note the magnificent large cuts of as thrilling as you'll experience in any building SOM (this time Charles Bassett of the San vtrde marble that clad the elevator core Francisco office). The scale is less perfect walls. Three superb paintings, Blue North in this city. Rising on the escalators, the feeling to my eye, but that is only apparent from by Helen Frankcnthaler. Delta Eftilon by a distance. At the corner of Louisiana and Morris Loots, arii.1 IjradeJ ExpOSHM by of exhiliration is impossible to describe. Lamar one will see a fountain along the Kenneth Noland, are suspended in front west side of the building, which was added of the marblt on the Lamar Street side At in 1984 by the SOM Houston office, and a the tunnel entrance to the bank building, glimpse of Monument to the Phantom (9) the perfect stainless-wire grid in the glass by Jean Dubuffet to the left. To the right doors is well worth a moment - this wire (just across Louisiana) there is the rather glass is .in English product we rarely see imposing portico of polished granite at here and is wonderful in its pristine, crisp the entance to the Allied Bank Plaza (10; simplicity. 1983, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Houston and San Francisco, with Lloyd Exiting from the eastern-most doors on Jones Brewer & Associates, architects). All the (south i Lamai Srreer side, 1 look are enjoyable from across the street, all across to the plaza of the First City Tower worth closer scrutiny. (6, 1981. Morns*Aubry Architects; -mil enjoy my first glimpse of The family oj At the Allied Bank Plaza, there are steps Man bronze sculptures, the work of Dame leading down to a plaza on the lower Barbara Hepworth. 1 find the sculptures level. One granite wall is sluiced with unusually satisfying since I am meeting water, lending a peaceful, uxiling note to forms close in stale to my own. Their summers endless hear. I pause to enjoy splendid strength and simplicity is itnme- the sight and sound. diateij apparent. 1 crossed from the parage * -.«-|T v- •-- one early. j morning and .is 1 Turning south, the great, boldly outlined drew. \i-ry dose, these forms, one .it J forms of a coastal town, sculpted by Jean time, materialized ix-fore me. It was a Dubuttet, have the pale, rosy glow of the haunting, breathtaking experience to hc InterFirst Plaza building (11; 1979, Skid- alone there, in dense fog. with the family more. Owings and Merrill, San Francisco, and 3D,'International, architects) as a Inside the town on the south side of the backdrop One might be seeing the sil- ground flooi. there is a superb Henry houette of the town against a lovely MOOH sculpture of a reclining woman summer sunset. See the ship's loading i side and behold a crane, the chimney whirling smoke into stunning pit-Lc i ^> uipturc by Claes the air, the dog, the hedge, the tree? Just a Oldenburg. He calls it Inverted Q Pt typical small coastal town full of the bustle I call it one of the mosr sensuous of industry on an ordinary day. And, oh forms I've ever txlield. i never come yes, Dubuffet titled it Monument Au Fan- across it without wishing I could embrace firm, hut I haven t spotted a phantom yet. il Look up, up above Hie openings to the This is a wonderful, cheerful piece to place elevator embrasures, and there ftn'U find in the heart of the city. a Frank Stella painting echoing the figure with its SenSUOUS glorious colors The T^ Turning west on Dallas and walking down sculpture and the painting share the span to the complex (12; master in great harmony of spirit. Inside the plan by Lloyd Jones Brewer &. Associates, small accommodation banking space is a architects, for Cenrury Development Cor- particularly telling Ellsworth Kelly It is poration, 1976; SWA Group, landscape unusual to find great art. which is peri- architects), the Meridien Hotel (1980, shable, as paintings are. in public areas. Lloyd Jones Brewer St Associates, archi- First City National Bank is most generous tects) is the last structure on Dallas before in sharing these works. Bagby. It's very pleasant to walk between the flanking rows of crepe myrtle trees Immediately across McKinney Street from that line the front of the hotel. South on First City Tower is Two Bagby and about half way down the block (7; 1974), the first structure built in the is the calm, well-ordered garden area that Texas Eastern 32-block complex. This centers this block. Kenneth Schnitzer pro- building was designed by William Pereira vides lovely landscaped spaces on his and Associates, who also designed the properties, which are one of this city's master plan for the complex. Inside its positive joys. Here at Allen Center, the revolving doors (corner of McKinney and land has been made to roll gently, pools Fannin) there is an ambiance as thrilling L L. |WA< t*t U — are lined with blue tile, large pors over- as you'll experience in any building in this flow with seasonal blooming plants, and city. Rising on the escalators, the feeling one is invited to pause and sit while enjoy- of exhiliration and. yes, grandeur, is ing a quiet moment. impossible to describe. I've been there under brooding, rain-laden darkling skies and still found it awesome and spirit- lifting to rise in that vast, glass-enclosed Upper left: Blue North, 196H. Helen space. The granite-clad elevator core walls Irankenthaler, painter, in the lobby of suggest great strength with simplicity, as First City Ndttonal Bank Building. Left: do the graphics which are sand-blasted View of hucrania. Niels Esperson into the surface of the granite. There are Building, 1927, John Eberson, architect lovely views to the east from the loggia. IPhotos by Paul Hester)

t Above: Tenneco Building, 1963. Skidmore. Owings and Merrill, architects. Right: Detail of The Family of Man. 1970. Barbara Hepworth sculpture, in the plaza of First City Tower (Photos by Paul Hester) 14 Cite Spring 1985

'If J

111 !!' • » 1 1 , '

M >*"A*r*j i

View of lower-level plaza. Allied Bank Plaza. 1983. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and Lloyd Jones Brewer & Associates, architects (Photo by Paul Hester)

Walking on through the garden and emerging on Brazos, one is just two-and- a-half blocks (across Clay on Smith) from another major piece of sculpture, Louise Nevelson's Frozen Lacesl (13). It soars skyward, so strong, yet so delicate. Nevel- son once said, "True Strength is delicate. . . A whisper can have more strength than loud shouting."

The block to the west of the Allied Bank Plaza houses the (14; 1926, Cram & Ferguson and Watkin & Glover, architects). For many years this was Houston's central library. Now it is the repository of the city's research L volumes. There is a great deal of charm to this restored historic structure (1978, S. I. Morris Associates, architects). The reading tables with wrought-iron bases and the lamps with glass shades call to mind an earlier era. The high ceilings create a sense of gracious spaciousness. The new building (15; 1975, S. I. Morris Associates, architects), designed by Eugene Aubry, occupies the block immediately west of the Ideson Building. Sitting on the plaza between the two library buildings is Claes Oldenburg's Geometric Mouse: Scale X. A friend of mine told me of taking his young daughter to see the library when it was first built. At the corner of Walker near Louisiana, I Circling these blocks one finds spectacular Upper left: Portal, RepublicBank Center, He stopped when he saw the 18-foot, red- walk half way down the block and look vistas. Among my favorites are the painted steel sculpture, and said "What on 1984, Johnson/Burgee Architects and south. From this parking lot, one gets a northwest corner of Milam and Rusk, Kendall/Heaton/Associates, architects. earth is that}" She skipped away toward wonderful view of multiple towers rising. where there is a fine, if incomplete, view it, laughing, and called back, "Oh Daddy Top: Geometric Mouse: Scale X, 1965, Not ail great architecture? Perhaps, but of the Texas Commerce Bank Building; Claes Oldenburg sculpture in plaza of can't you see? It's the most wonderful taken as a group, in juxtaposition, well and the southeast corner of Rusk and mouse!" Central Library. Above: View of interior. worth a long look. Milam - down Rusk about a quarter block RepublicBank Center. Below: View from is a grand view of , and past the 60th-floor observatory, Texas There is a welcoming spirit prevalent Further north on Louisiana is the Repub- it the top edge of RepublicBank. Pivot Commerce Tower in United Energy Plaza inside the library. 1 remember when the licBank Center (18; 1984, Johnson/Burgee 180° for a glimpse of the Texas Commerce (Photos by Paul Hester) building was in the planning stage, one of Architects and Kendall/Heaton/Asso- Bank Building. the librarians questioned security. David ciates, architects). I'm vastly amused and Hennington, library director, spoke up, cheered by this addition, with its Gothic Once the reconstruction of the Texas "They who wish to own and read a book spires, to the heart of our city. From sev- Commerce Bank Building is complete, so badly they will steal it are welcome." eral aspects it gives me great pleasure, possibly by April, I'll be back in my office The views from the quiet corner reading pleasure inherent in the contrast of the on the 34th floor. Looking out the narrow areas, overlooking old (even if it was completed yesterday) window embrasures over the tree tops to (16), are particularly tranquil and with the new. In its grand contradictions, the north and east, the city comes into pleasant. it buoy's one's spirits. Philip Johnson, who perspective with its environment. I often designed it, was right: his Pennzoil Place stand for a few minutes, looking out to the Across McKinney from the library is the twin towers (19; 1976, Johnson/Burgee horizon, to savor some facet of the city's Hermann Square reflecting pool in front Architects and S. I. Morris Associates, treasures.! of (17; 1939, Joseph architects) longed for a worthy and vener- Finger, architect). It seems to me, as the able neighbor, Given the opportunity, he city burgeons around it, that this could provided a close approximation. (As the become our city commons. If only Harry building forms emerged, 1 called a close Bertoia or Carl Milles were still alive, one friend, who serves on the bank's board, to of their sculptures would be so wonderful remind him that Christ threw the money in the pool. A scattering of Bertoia's lenders out of the temple. "Where will chairs would be just right for busy pedes- you put the bank?" Being a good-natured trians to sit and enjoy some good captain of industry, he just growled refreshment while viewng the park. softly.) The ground rules under which any You're worried about encouraging dere- architect undertakes the design of a licts? No other major city seems to be. promoter-built building are crippling, at Just keep the grounds spotless and it will best. That Johnson undertakes them, then be used by everyone. transcends the rigid requirements to pro- vide us fleeting moments of intense plea- As I stand or sit near the reflecting pool sure, mingled with some laughter, is a and look across at Oldenburg's Geometric measure of his genius. Mouse, I think Alexander Calder's The Crab would be very happy on this lawn, If the bank is open, go in and enjoy the and 1 wonder if The Museum of Fine Arts, vast volume of space. If given permission, Houston would like to place it here. Why go up to the third level and walk out not spread some of the largesse where across the bridge. Half way across, looking downtown workers and visitors may enjoy east, is a breathtaking view of the Pen- it in the normal course of business or nzoil twin towers: the narrow space pleasure, in the heart of town? Tradition- between these twin black buildings is ally, museums have displayed acquisitions framed perfectly by the grand arched por- on their own premises (when not on loan tal of the bank. The skylight-covered lobby to another museum with impeccable cre- area created by the void between the twin dentials), but is this the only possible towers is another wonderful space to placement of great art? experience.