The William P. Hobby, Jr. State Office Building - formerly known as Republic Plaza - is a three-building government office complex located in the Warehouse District of

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 ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, United States. The building complex houses numerous

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 ...

Texas state agencies, including the

Texas Department of Insurance The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) regulates insurers and other companies that conduct insurance business in Texas, and assists Texas-based insurance consumers. TDI was founded in 1876 as the Department of Insurance, Statistics and History. ...

Texas Medical Board The Texas Medical Board (TMB) is the state agency mandated to regulate the practice of medicine by Doctors of Medicine (MDs) and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) in Texas. The Board consists of 12 physician members and seven public members ap ...

, Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and the

Texas State Board of Dental Examiners The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners (SBDE) is a state agency of Texas. It has its headquarters in Suite 8.600 at 1801 Congress Avenue in the George H. W. Bush State Office Building in Downtown Austin, Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: '' ...

. The complex is named for former

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

William P. Hobby Jr. William Pettus Hobby Jr. (born January 19, 1932) is an American Democratic politician who served a record eighteen years as the 37th Lieutenant Governor of Texas. He held that office from January 16, 1973, to January 15, 1991, for an unpreced ...

Architecture

The complex contains three distinct

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

towers. Tower one, designed by the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based Rossetti Associates, is clad in a bronze-tinted glass curtain wall with red

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

stripes; Tower two, designed by architecture firm Holt-Fatter-Scott, is a pueblo revival style building with a stucco facade; and Tower three, designed by

WZMH Architects WZMH Architects is an architectural firm established in 1961 and based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as Webb Zerafa Menkès Housden (after Peter Webb, Boris Zerafa, René Menkès, and Warwick Housden) the company's name was changed t ...

, is designed with concrete wall panels. The complex features an outdoor plaza which originally featured a large

water feature In landscape architecture and garden design, a water feature is one or more items from a range of fountains, jeux d'eau, pools, ponds, rills, artificial waterfalls, and streams. Before the 18th century they were usually powered by gravity, tho ...

consisting of a large pool covered by a red pipe trellis that sprayed water downward into the pool. After years of mechanical failures, the water feature was removed and the plaza was renovated in 2018; the pools were filled in with styrofoam blocks and covered with benches and planters, while the trellis' water system was repurposed to provide irrigation for the planters.

History

The complex, originally named Republic Plaza, was developed by Austin developers Watson-Casey Companies, originally envisioned as the first phase of a 60-acre

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

project for Austin's Warehouse District. The unbuilt redevelopment's master plan, designed by urban planner Denise Scott Brown, would have included a new city hall for the city of Austin and a new location for the

Laguna Gloria The Contemporary Austin - Laguna Gloria, formerly known as the AMOA-Arthouse at Laguna Gloria, is the former home of Clara Driscoll and site of a 1916 Italianate-style villa on the shores of Lake Austin in Austin, Texas. It was the original home ...

art museum, designed by architect Robert Venturi. The complex was originally built for private offices with ground-floor retail but had trouble attracting leases following the late-1980s Savings and Loan Crisis. In 1987, the

First Republic Bank Corporation First Republic Bank Corporation was an American bank based in Texas. Founded as the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company in 1920, in 1922 it assumed the name Republic National Bank of Dallas. Afterwards the bank acquired several banks and invested i ...

foreclosed on the complex. The developers, Watson-Casey had sought to attract the City of Austin to lease the building, first for the Electric Department, then for the Water and Wastewater Department, and later for a

lease purchase contract A Lease-Purchase Contract, also known as a lease purchase agreement or rent-to-own agreement, allows consumers to obtain durable goods or rent-to-own real estate without entering into a standard credit contract. It is a shortened name for a lease w ...

to use the complex as a temporary city hall, all of which fell through. In 1990, the complex was purchased by the State of Texas and was renamed the William P. Hobby, Jr. State Office Building. In 2019, it was revealed that the complex was in need of up to $50 million in repairs and contained a rat infestation. The

Texas Facilities Commission The Texas Facilities Commission is a Texas state agency. TFC's main duty is to manage state government buildings (excluding those operated by universities, the Texas State Capitol, and the Governor's Mansion). TFC also handles the sale of surpl ...

spent over $14 million since 2008 on repairs including new fire alarms, electrical systems, a new emergency generator, renovated elevators, and a new HVAC system. Texas State Senator

Kirk Watson Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning "church". It is often used specifically of the Church of Scotland. Many place names and personal names are also derived from it. Basic meaning and etymology As a common noun, ''kirk'' ...

and Representative

Gina Hinojosa Regina Inez Hinojosa (born December 8, 1973) is an American lawyer and politician. She is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing the 49th District. Hinojosa was sworn into the Texas House on January 10, 2017, af ...

proposed a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

to allow the complex to be auctioned off. In August 2023, the

Texas General Land Office The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is a state agency of the U.S. state of Texas, responsible for managing lands and mineral rights properties that are owned by the state. The GLO also manages and contributes to the state's Permanent School Fund. T ...

and the City of Austin Mayor

announced a plan to redevelop the Hobby complex into workforce housing. The complex would ideally include a housing resource office, a childcare facility, and retail space. The government procurement bidding process for this project began in August 2023 and a review process will take place after November 15, 2023.

Reception

Upon the completion of the complex, ''

Austin American-Statesman The ''Austin American-Statesman'' is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is owned by Gannett. The paper prints Associated Press, ''New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''Los Angeles Times'' internation ...

'' architecture critic Michael McCullar criticized the buildings' mismatched designs, saying that "bringing in three separate architecture firms to produce three separate "identities" for the complex may have diluted its architectural impact", and comparing the outdoor water feature to a "punctured radiator". During a Texas Senate Finance Committee meeting in 2019, then-Senator Kirk Watson said that the complex “is an embarrassment (and) it’s a joke — in any other universe it wouldn’t exist.”

References

{{Downtown Austin Office buildings in Austin, Texas Government buildings completed in 1986 1980s architecture in the United States Postmodern architecture in Texas WZMH Architects buildings