Downtown's Evolving Skyline Architecture Walk

On the second Sunday of every month, Preservation Houston presents a docent-guided walking tour of an architecturally and/or historically significant area of Houston. Join Preservation Houston on Sunday, June 15 for a Downtown's Evolving Skyline Architecture Walk.

When the Binz Building opened in 1895, Houstonians flocked there to see what the world looked like from the top floor — six stories above the street. Although the city's skyline has changed a great deal since then, Houston's fascination with the skyscraper hasn't.

Join us Sunday evening, June 15, as we explore the city's race skyward during our Downtown's Evolving Skyline Architecture Walk.

This tour explores the changes in downtown Houston's downtown skyline during the past 100 years through buildings like 806 Main, called "Carter's Folly" when it was completed in 1910, reportedly because some locals thought a 16-story building couldn't stand on its own, and Philip Johnson's groundbreaking Pennzoil Place, which set the stage for the postmodern skyline of the 1980s.

These buildings are a fascinating record of the city's growth, and so are the stories of the changes in design, engineering and culture that shaped them.

Please note this is an exterior architecture tour only. The tour will not go inside any of the buildings. There are no restrooms along the tour route. Tickets go on sale at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 15, under the canopy of the Rice Lofts on the northwest corner of Main Street and Texas Avenue. The last tour group will leave just after 6 p.m. Reservations are not required.

The Architecture Walks Program is supported in part by the Susan Vaughan Foundation and by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.

Photo: Pennzoil Place (1976, Johnson/Burgee Architects with S.I. Morris Associates). Photo by Jim Parsons.