The El Paso Energy Building (also known as the Kinder Morgan Building) is a high-rise office building located in

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 i ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It was completed in 1963 and has 33 floors. It was originally known as the Tenneco Building. It is the 28th tallest building in the city. Because of

downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...

's diagonal street grid, all four sides of the building are exposed to the sun. The windows are recessed from the frame to control heat and glare from the sun. The footprint of the building is an exact square.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The fi ...

, the architects of the building, were recognized with an Honor Award from the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

in 1969. An elevator or an escalator were required to get to the main lobby of the building because it was raised above the street level. the first 5 floors of the building opened to make a huge glass-enclosed space. A number of drive-through bank kiosks along Louisiana Street were replaced with fountains in 1984.

History

In 2001, the fountains were refurbished. A very long stock ticker was installed to deliver messages and add to the visual appeal in 1996 when the El Paso Corporation bought Tenneco for 4 billion dollars. When Tenneco owned the building the letters T-E-N-N-E-C-O outlined the top of the building on each of the four sides. In 2008, Gilbain Construction started a complete remodel of the building completed in 2012. The main lobby is now located on Level 1 with entrances on Louisiana Street and Travis Street. Level 2 contains conference rooms. Levels 3 through 29 are office space and Levels 30, 31 and 32 are the Executive offices. The Exec offices boast a three story grand stairway, boardroom, many conference rooms and spacious offices and meeting areas. Kinder Morgan purchased the building with its acquisition of El Paso Corporation in 2012. Kinder Morgan moved its headquarters to this building. EP Energy (formerly El Paso E&P Company) leases floors 18-27 from Kinder Morgan.

References

Houston Architecture
{{Houston skyscrapers Skyscraper office buildings in Houston Kinder Morgan Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings Office buildings completed in 1963 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design gold certified buildings

History

See also

References