About this property
The JPMorgan Chase Building, formerly the Gulf Building, is a 37-story 130 m (430 ft) Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. Completed in 1929, it remained the tallest building in Houston until 1963, when the Exxon Building surpassed it in height. The building is the Houston headquarters of JPMorgan Chase Bank, and was formerly the headquarters of Texas Commerce Bank. Jesse H. Jones, a leader in the development of steel-framed skyscrapers in the 1910s in Houston, commissioned the construction of Gulf's first building in Houston in 1916. The first Gulf Building stood at ten stories and was renamed the Rusk Building after the oil company's departure. In 1927, Jones started developing an art deco skyscraper for Gulf at the northwest corner of Rusk Avenue and Main Street in Houston, the former site of the Charlotte Baldwin Allen homestead. While Jones usually hired Alfred C. Finn for his major projects, for the design of the Gulf Building, he brought in Kenneth Franzheim, and J. E. R. Carpenter to collaborate. The architects created and considered several designs before choosing one inspired by Eliel Saarinen's second-place-but-acclaimed entry in the Chicago Tribune Tower competition. When Houston hosted the 1928 Democratic National Convention, the superstructure of the Gulf Building was in plain view. When the Gulf Building was completed in 1929, the 36-story building stood at about 450-feet, making it the tallest skyscraper in Houston, a distinction it enjoyed through 1963. The building was opened for mixed-use. Though most of its space was dedicated to leases for office space, the ground floor was leased for retail, including numerous small shops and the Sakowitz Department Store as its anchor retail tenant. In total, the 25-year-Sakowitz lease of more than 65,000 square feet covered five of the bottom floors. Gulf signed a twenty-year lease for floors seven through nineteen. National Bank of Commerce occupied a vaulted lobby with access from Main and Travis streets, as well as a large space in the basement. Many smaller tenants signed three-to-five year leases. The facing of the upper floors of the Gulf Building was constructed of "buff tapestry brick," with limestone cladding on the base made of six floors. The Rusk Avenue side of the building was constructed eight bays wide and seven bays wide on its Main Street side. Built in the Manhattan-style of setbacks, the six-story base supported a thirty story tower, with setbacks at the 25th, 28th, and 32nd floors. Ornamentation was an eclectic mix of art deco and Gothic styles. Jesse H. Jones arranged to have the Gulf Building constructed; it was built in 1929.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was Gulf Building listed on the National Register?
Gulf Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 1983.
What type of historic resource is Gulf Building?
Gulf Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Gulf Building?
The period of significance for Gulf Building is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Gulf Building?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Gulf Building will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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