One American Center

600 Congress is a high-rise office building located at the northwest corner of West 6th Street and Congress Avenue in the Financial District of Downtown Austin, the state capital of Texas. Standing 400 feet (122 meters) tall and containing 32 floors, it is currently the 12th tallest building in Austin, tied with the Four Seasons Residences. The construction of One American Center was completed in 1984 and was developed by Rust Properties. It was the tallest building in Austin until the finishing of the Frost Bank Tower in 2003. In 2017, One American Center underwent a full rebrand to 600 Congress capturing the focus of its prominent location in the heart of central Austin. [4]

600 Congress[1]
(2007)
General information
StatusComplete
Architectural stylepostmodernism
Address600 Congress Avenue[1][2]
Completed1984
Technical details
Floor count32
Floor area505,764 sq ft (46,987.0 m2)[3]
Lifts/elevators17
Design and construction
ArchitectMorris-Aubry

Annually, Make-A-Wish Central and South Texas has a fundraising event called "Over The Edge," in which the first 300 persons to raise $1,500 in donations get to rappel 32 stories down 600 Congress.[5]

History

Construction on the One American Center began on August 16, 1982.[6] The building replaced a former 2-story Art Deco-style Woolworth's Department Store, which had since housed a 5 and dime at the time of the building's demolition.[7] Street-front diagonal parking on Congress Avenue was removed to make way for an expanded granite sidewalk and landscaping, including two rows of Texas red oak trees.[6] A matching 22-story hotel was originally planned on the northwest corner of the property adjoining the building, but was never built.[6]

Architecture

The postmodern building was designed by Houston-based Morris-Aubry Architects.[8] The building is designed with three stair-stepped tiers clad in pre-cast limestone trimmed with brown granite.[8] The 20,000 cubic feet of granite consists of Sunset Red granite from Marble Falls, Texas and Charlie Brown granite from Oklahoma, which was cut and polished in Puebla, Mexico.[9] The ground level facade of the building contains notches to give the appearance of individual storefronts.[6]

References
  1. "One American Center". Thomas Properties Group, Inc. 2013.
  2. "600 Congress - Office". Endeavor Real Estate Group. 2019. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20.
  3. "One American Center". Skyscraper Center. CTBUH. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
  4. "Emporis Page." Retrieved on April 9, 2010.
  5. Owen, Kristy (May 1, 2013). "Adventure Seekers: Over The Edge 2013". 365 Things Austin. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  6. Tyson, Kim (September 16, 1984). "High-class digs". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  7. McCullar, Michael (October 21, 1985). "Austin history breathes just around the corner". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  8. McCullar, Michael (October 21, 1985). "From expansive vista to granite canyon, a street forever different". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  9. Tyson, Kim (September 27, 1984). "Granite is a touchstone for new Austin buildings". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
Preceded by
Dobie Center		 Tallest Building in Austin
1982—2004
120m		 Succeeded by
Frost Bank Tower


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