919 Milam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids 919 Milam |
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|---|---|
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Office |
| Location | 919 Milam Street or 910 Travis, Houston, Texas |
| Coordinates | 29°45′30″N 95°21′58″W / 29.7582°N 95.3661°W |
| Completed | 1956 |
| Owner | M-M Properties of Fort Worth |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 24 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Kenneth Franzheim |
919 Milam is a tall office building in Downtown Houston, Texas. It was finished in 1956. This building has had a few different names over the years. It was once called 909 Travis, Bank One Center, and the Bank of the Southwest Building. The building takes up a whole city block in downtown Houston.
Contents
Building History
Designing a Downtown Landmark
The Bank of the Southwest decided to build a new headquarters. They hired a famous architect named Kenneth Franzheim to design it. Construction started in 1953 and finished in 1956. This building was special because it was the first in Houston to have an "all-aluminum curtain-wall" on its outside. This means the building's outer walls were made mostly of aluminum.
It was also one of the first buildings in Downtown Houston to connect to a special system of underground tunnels for people to walk through. Inside, the bank asked Florence Knoll to design the main lobby. The lobby also featured a large painting called America by Rufino Tamayo. This painting was very big, about 13 by 45 feet! The Bank of the Southwest Building was quite large, covering about 735,000-square-foot (68,300 m2) of space.
Changes in Ownership and Updates
Over the years, the 919 Milam building has been bought and sold many times. In 1994, Aetna Insurance sold the building. Later, in 1998, a company called Transworld sold it to a partnership that included Goldman Sachs. At that time, the building was called Bank One Center. Many businesses had offices there, including Bank One and the United States District Attorney's office.
Around 2007, another company, Hines, owned the building for a short time. They spent about $11 million to make the lobby look new and added a parking garage inside the lower floors. This made the building a bit smaller for offices, changing it from 735,000 square feet to 542,000 square feet.
In 2009, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas moved its offices into the building.
Modern Improvements and Green Building
In 2010, a company called M-M Properties bought 919 Milam for $56 million. They became the owners and continued to improve the building. M-M Properties spent $3.2 million to update the main lobby and the elevator areas. They also made the restrooms easier for people with disabilities to use and replaced the roof. Other owners before them had already invested about $16 million in the building since 2006.
Thanks to these updates, the building earned a Silver certification from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). This means the building is designed and operated in a way that is good for the environment and saves energy.
