JPMorgan Chase Building - Houston, Texas
Posted by: 
Raven
N 29° 45.539 W 095° 21.826
15R E 271438 N 3294420
The JPMorgan Chase Building, formerly the Gulf Building, is a 37-story 130 m (430 ft) Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. Completed in 1929, it was the tallest building in Houston until 1963.
Waymark Code: WMGPDR
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/27/2013
Views: 5
The JPMorgan Chase Building, formerly the Gulf Building, is a 37-story 130 m (430 ft) Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Houston, Texas. Completed in 1929, it remained the tallest building in Houston until 1963, when the Exxon Building surpassed it in height. The building is the Houston headquarters of JPMorgan Chase Bank, and was formerly the headquarters of Texas Commerce Bank.
Texas Commerce Bank initiated the restoration of the building in 1989, in what is still considered one of the largest privately funded preservation projects in American history. Recent preservation work included restoring the terrazzo floor in the building's Banking Hall, but keeping the hollows worn into the marble border where generations of customers stood to conduct their banking business. Largely through the efforts of JPMorgan Chase, the former Gulf Building was designated a City of Houston Landmark in 2003. The structure was already a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Per the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance's "Houston Deco" website: (
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"[Architect Alfred C.] Finn's masterful design makes the Gulf Building [now the "JPMorgan Chase Building"] one of the most significant examples of Art Deco architecture in the southwestern United States. When the building opened, it boasted Houston's most elaborate Art Deco interiors. The detailing in the Main Street lobby and original National Bank of Commerce banking hall are intact; nothing remains of the ornate interiors of the Sakowitz Bros. department store. The Gulf Building was Houston's tallest skyscraper from 1929 to 1963."
For more info, check out the following webpage for of interesting and anecdotal trivia about the building: (
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