Esperson Buildings

Among the most recognizable buildings in Downtown Houston, the Niels and Mellie Esperson Buildings are the district’s only complete examples of Italian Renaissance architecture. Designed by theater architect John Eberson in 1927 and 1941, respectively, they boast elaborately detailed massive columns, great urns, terraces and a grand tempietto at the top like that built in the courtyard of San Pietro in Rome in 1502. Although considered two separately buildings, the “Mellie Esperson” is really a 19-story annex to the original “Niels Esperson,” named for a real estate and oil tycoon.

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