The Edward A. Thomas Building, or 1200 Travis, is a 28-story building in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

that is currently occupied by the

Houston Police Department The Houston Police Department (HPD) is the primary law enforcement agency serving the City of Houston, Texas, United States and some surrounding areas. With approximately 5,300 officers and 1,200 civilian support personnel it is the fifth-largest ...

as its current headquarters. At one time it was known as the Houston Natural Gas Building. The building houses HPD's administrative and investigative offices.Apocada, Gene.
HPD to make major changes
" ''

KTRK-TV KTRK-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Bissonnet Street ...

''. Friday February 8, 2008. Retrieved on April 9, 2010. The building, with of rentable space, has a typical floor size of . The police department's , three-floor crime laboratory, a fitness center, a voice/data room, a 24-hour emergency tactical command center,Houston Police Department Headquarters Renovation
" Hines. Retrieved on April 28, 2010. and a fingerprinting laboratory are located in the building.

History

The building, originally the Entex Building, was built in 1967. A renovation in 1988 involved the installation of a new central plant. In 1994 the City of Houston bought the building to house the headquarters of the

. In February 1995 the

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Currently, there are sixteen members, 11 elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, w ...

unanimously voted to retain the Hines company as the development manager for the renovation of 1200 Travis. In the 1990s Hercules Engineering and Testing Services received a contract to do testing in the renovated 1200 Travis building. In October 1997 the $21 million renovation was completed. In 2007 the

announced that it was opening a gift shop inside the building. The Museum, Gift Shop, and officers' memorial opened on May 12. In 2008

Harold Hurtt Harold L. Hurtt is an Assistant Director at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for the Office of State, Local and Tribal Coordination, which consists of outreach programs and communications coordination between various outside law ...

, the head of HPD, proposed a plan which would have involved the City of Houston selling 1200 Travis. In regards to a proposed new police headquarters, Hurtt said "It is not a building like 1200 Travis, which was built to be an office building." In 2011

Mayor of Houston The following is a list of people who have served as mayor of the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Until 2015, the term of the mayor was two years. Beginning with the tenure of Bob Lanier, the city charter imposed term limits on offi ...

Annise Parker Annise Danette Parker (born May 17, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 61st Mayor of Houston, Texas, from 2010 until 2016. She also served as an at-large member of the Houston City Council from 1998 to 2003 and city controller fro ...

said that the city is considering selling the 1200 Travis facility so that the city will not have to lay off 273 jailers. As of 2012 the facility is for sale.Moran, Chris.
New downtown campus on HPD wish list
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. Wednesday June 6, 2012. Retrieved on June 7, 2012.

Gallery

File:HPDHQDowntownHouston.JPG, 1200 Travis

References

External links

Houston Police Department Headquarters
at

Emporis Emporis GmbH was a real estate data mining company that was headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company collected data and photographs of buildings worldwide, which were published in an online database from 2000 to September 2022. On 12 Sept ...

HPD Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Edward A. Building Houston Police Department Bank company headquarters in the United States Skyscraper office buildings in Houston Office buildings completed in 1967 Headquarters in the United States Police headquarters Police stations in the United States Buildings and structures in Houston

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links