Williams Tower
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The Williams Tower
The Williams Tower, formerly the Transco Tower, is a building designed by architect Philip Johnson located in the Uptown District of Houston. It is also among southwest Houston's most visible buildings, as it can be seen as far away as Missouri City, a nearby suburb. It is named after the Williams energy company. However, many Houstonians who remain bitter about this local landmark being named after an Oklahoma-based energy company defiantly prefer to call it by its old name, Transco Tower, instead.
At 64 stories and 901 feet (275 m), the Williams Tower is the tallest building in Houston that is outside of the Downtown area. It has also been disputed that the Williams Tower is the tallest building in the world outside of a central business district. Furthermore, the building is unique in that it is built to function as two separate 32-floor towers stacked directly on top of one another. The building has separate lobbies, elevators and parking garages for each of the two sections. The bottom 32 floors are occupied by Williams, and the top 32 are occupied by a variety of local firms.
On the 51st floor there is a sky lobby that doubles as an observation deck. However, the view on it is considered dull, as it doesn't face toward downtown or any one of Houston's other skylines.
Increasing its visibility during the night-time hours, the tower has a beacon of light that sweeps the night sky over the Galleria area. This building, along with its beacon, is said to enhance the beauty of Uptown Houston's skyline and differentiate it with the larger downtown one.
In a greenspace adjacent Williams Tower is another Houston landmark, the Williams Waterwall:
The Williams Waterwall