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 American and Canadian English 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 district ( ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, United States. The building complex housed numerous

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

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 a ...

, Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners. 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.

Architecture

The complex contains three distinct

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

towers. Tower one, designed by the

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

-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 sup ...

stripes; Tower two, designed by architecture firm Holt-Fatter-Scott, is a

pueblo revival The Pueblo Revival style or Santa Fe style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States, which draws its inspiration from Santa Fe de Nuevo México's traditional Pueblo architecture, the Spanish missions, and Territor ...

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 ...

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 (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

project for Austin's Warehouse District. The unbuilt redevelopment's master plan, designed by urban planner

Denise Scott Brown Denise Scott Brown (née Lakofski; born October 3, 1931) is an American architect, planner, writer, educator, and principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates in Philadelphia. Early life and education Born to Jewish parents Simon a ...

, 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 hom ...

art museum, designed by architect

Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. Together with his wife and partner, Denise Scott Brown, he helped shape the way that ...

. 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 The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s (commonly dubbed the S&L crisis) was the failure of approximately a third of the savings and loan associations (S&Ls or thrifts) in the United States between 1986 and 1995. These thrifts were b ...

. 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 ...

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 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 Preston Watson (born March 18, 1958) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 59th mayor of Austin since 2023, previously holding the office as the 54th mayor from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United S ...

and Representative Gina Hinojosa 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 Pl ...

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 F ...

and the City of Austin Mayor

announced a plan to redevelop the Hobby complex into

workforce housing Workforce housing is a term that is increasingly used by planners, government, and organizations concerned with housing policy or advocacy. It is gaining cachet with realtors, developers and lenders. Workforce housing can refer to any form of hou ...

. The complex would ideally include a housing resource office, a childcare facility, and retail space. The

government procurement Government procurement or public procurement is the purchase of goods, works (construction) or services by the state, such as by a government agency or a state-owned enterprise. In 2019, public procurement accounted for approximately 12% of GDP ...

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 the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', '' ...

'' 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