HOUSTON | Bank of the Southwest Tower | 1,404 FT / 428 M | 82 FLOORS | NEVER BUILT

Trae · #1 Posted: **Apr 6, 2008, 8:29 PM**

Bank of the Southwest Tower

This was actually a serious proposal until about 1990. Didn't go through because of the oil bust. Sad.

Height concerns:

It was going to be an all-office tower. I think the basic design is being used for a tower going up in Dubai.

ethereal_reality · #2 Posted: **Apr 6, 2008, 8:35 PM**

...was this the tower designed by Helmut Jahn?

Ayreonaut · #3 Posted: **Apr 6, 2008, 9:20 PM**

It's a nice tower, but I don't have to say that it looks like several others.

Patrick · #4 Posted: **Apr 6, 2008, 10:05 PM**

What a loss!

MiamiSpartan · #5 Posted: **Apr 6, 2008, 10:51 PM**

This is my favorite building that was never built. It would have looked amazing in downtown Houston!

JManc · #6 Posted: **Apr 6, 2008, 11:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ayreonaut

It's a nice tower, but I don't have to say that it looks like several others.

actually, the 'several others' were based on this proposal.

Wattleigh · #7 Posted: **Apr 7, 2008, 12:07 AM**

79th Floor, 360 degree observation deck.

That alone makes me wish this was built.

Ayreonaut · #8 Posted: **Apr 7, 2008, 1:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMancuso

actually, the 'several others' were based on this proposal.

In that case, it's a shame it was never built.

Trae · #9 Posted: **Apr 7, 2008, 1:56 AM**

Damn oil bust. Wish the oil boom could have lasted an extra three years or so, and this tower would have happened here in Houston.

Great_Hizzy · #10 Posted: **Apr 7, 2008, 4:35 AM**

Longterm it would've been a nice addition but in the short and mid terms it would've made the mid to late 80s bust even worse for the office market--even if it had shifted to become the late 80s/early 90s bust.

Xeelee · #11 Posted: **Apr 7, 2008, 2:33 PM**

There is another one out there with a restaurant inside a dome at the very top. I used to have a rendering of it and it is in a book about that skyscraper competition. Anyone have it?

FrancoRey · #12 Posted: **Apr 7, 2008, 5:44 PM**

Oh well. Such is the way of economic cycles. Denver lost it's fair share of office towers in the 80's to the oil bust as well. Here is my fav lost tower: Reliance Center http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=148924

OhioGuy · #13 Posted: **Apr 11, 2008, 8:45 PM**

Wow, this would have been an amazing building in Houston. I really like the look of it. I think they style of it would have fit in perfectly in the downtown core. Too bad.

Xeelee · #14 Posted: **Apr 11, 2008, 9:34 PM**

Here is another I found online somewhere:

Wattleigh · #15 Posted: **Apr 11, 2008, 10:39 PM**

I think that was KPF's submission into the design competition.

Where did you find it?

volguus zildrohar · #16 Posted: **Apr 11, 2008, 10:57 PM**

Hey, it lived on. Helmut Jahn recycles.

Rail Claimore · #17 Posted: **Apr 11, 2008, 11:33 PM**

Houston's been screwed by the FAA more than once. Chase (then Texas Commerce Tower) was supposed to be over 1100 ft tall, but the feds made them chop off a few stories because of Hobby.

Von · #18 Posted: **Apr 20, 2008, 6:57 PM**

ugh I hate Hobby Airpot...errrr

Trae · #19 Posted: **Apr 20, 2008, 9:37 PM**

Now, it is said that the original Chase Tower height (over 1100 feet) would not be too tall for planes going into Hobby. Just how it was in the 80's.

Jibba · #20 Posted: **Apr 21, 2008, 3:09 AM**

Not really a shame that this was never realized; it's a little too cheesy I think. Houston's current tallest is leagues better than this.