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One Shell Plaza

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Status
  
Complete

Country
  
United States

Roof
  
218 m (715 ft)

Floors
  
50

Architectural style
  
Modern architecture

Type
  
Commercial offices

Antenna spire
  
304.8 m (1,000 ft)

Height
  
218 m, 305 m to tip

Floor area
  
11 ha

Completed
  
1971

One Shell Plaza httpss3amazonawscomhinesimagesoneshellpl

Location
  
910 Louisiana Street Houston, Texas

Architecture firm
  
Skid, Owings & Merrill

Similar
  
Wells Fargo Plaza, Enterprise Plaza, Bank of America Center, CenterPoint Energy Plaza, Heritage Plaza

One shell plaza top 5 facts


One Shell Plaza (OSP) is a 50-story, 218 m (715 ft) skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. Perched atop the building is an antenna that brings the height to 304.8 m (1,000 ft). At its completion in 1971, the tower was the tallest in the city.

Contents

Map of One Shell Plaza, 910 Louisiana St, Houston, TX 77002, USA

Designers

One Shell Plaza was designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Associate architects were Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson, and the landscape architects were Sasaki Associates. One Shell Square, in New Orleans and Republic Plaza in Denver, also designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have designs very similar to that of One Shell Plaza. Like One Shell Plaza, One Shell Square has Shell Oil as a major tenant.

Tenants

Shell Oil Company, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, is headquartered in this building. The law firm of Baker Botts is also headquartered there.

The Houston Club, on the 49th floor of the building, has dining, entertainment, and meeting facilities.

History

The building opened in 1971 and was renovated in 1994. The $80 million in major renovations included an updated lobby and plaza, elevator modernization, upgrades to the buildings EMP systems, new lighting, and ADA modifications.

In December 2011 Shell renewed the lease for 804,491 sq ft (74,739.7 m2). The new lease retroactively had the start date of January 1, 2011, and will last for 15 years, ending in 2025.

In March 2012 Hines Interests Limited Partnership announced it was putting the building up for sale.

The building stood in for the headquarters of the "Knox Oil Company" in the 1983 film Local Hero.

Antennae

The 170 ft mast atop the building has carried various television and radio signals since the building's completion. The mast supported 1971 start up channel 26 KVRL (later KDOG, now KRIV) and a mast that simultaneously radiated signals for eight FM stations KYND (then 92.5, now KKBQ on 92.9 MHz), 93.7 KRLY (now KQBT), 95.7 KIKK-FM (now KKHH), 99.1 KODA, 100.3 KILT-FM, 101.1 KLOL, 102.1 KLYX, and 104.1 KRBE. The combiner and antenna was supplied by Electronic Research Inc. One Shell was used until the completion of the then Texas Commerce Tower and Allied Bank Plaza in 1982–1983, creating a skyscraper canyon that causes multipath distortion, and necessitated the move to the Houston antenna farm in Missouri City.

References

One Shell Plaza Wikipedia