JPMorgan Chase Building - 712 Main Street

The JPMorgan Chase Building on 712 Main Street is one of the great nighttime buildings in Houston, but it's so hard to see among all the other buildings that have crowded it out of the skyline. It's an explosion of art deco glory aimed skyward. Half way between a wedding cake and a medieval castle, the Chase Bank Building was formerly the headquarters of Gulf Oil whose gas stations have long since left the gulf coast, but are still thriving in New England. The building was commissioned by Jesse H. Jones whose name, along with the Hobby, Wortham, Smith, and Hermann, is on just about everything in the city. Worthy of Jones' stature, the skyscraper is Gothic in design on the outside, and inside the lobby outfitted in patterned marble and art deco details. In the large plaza area at the entrance of the building is a multi-colored sculpture entitled "Personage with Birds", which was designed by painter and sculptor Joan Miró, and which was installed in the plaza in early 1982. The Chase Bank Building was the tallest building in Houston until 1963. And it was even taller when it had a giant illuminated Gulf logo rotating on top of the building.

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