When the Binz Building opened in 1895, Houstonians flocked downtown for a novelty that now feels almost unimaginable: a view from six stories above the street. It offered a new way of seeing the city — from above — and signaled the start of Houston’s long fascination with building upward.
Downtown’s Evolving Skyline traces more than a century of ambition through the buildings that reshaped Houston’s silhouette and its sense of possibility. This 90-minute, docent-guided walking tour moves from early 20th-century confidence to late-century experimentation, stopping at landmarks such as 806 Main, dismissed as “Carter’s Folly” when it rose 16 stories in 1910, and the 1929 Gulf Building, Houston’s great Art Deco landmark. We’ll also look at acclaimed mid-century towers like the Tenneco Building, now the Kinder Morgan Building, and Philip Johnson’s Pennzoil Place, whose faceted forms helped redefine the downtown skyline in the late 20th century.
Along the way, the tour looks beyond style and height to the engineering ingenuity that made these giants possible, including how skyscrapers were designed to stand on Houston’s famously swampy soil. Taken together, the buildings form a layered record of growth, confidence and adaptation.
Downtown’s Evolving Skyline is part of a select series offered throughout the year tracing Houston’s story from bayou banks to gleaming towers, as the city marks its 190th birthday.
Things to remember
This is an exterior architecture tour. It doesn't go inside any buildings.
There are no public restrooms along the tour route.
About the tour
Advance ticket purchase is required. Tickets are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and walk-up registrations cannot be accommodated. Tour tickets are nonrefundable.
Registrants will receive parking and check-in information by e-mail in advance of the tour.
In the event of inclement weather that prevents the tour from being offered as planned, registrants will be notified as early as possible with options to attend a rescheduled tour or transfer their reservation to another Preservation Houston tour.
Do you have an Architecture Walks pass?
If you are a Preservation Houston member and have received a free Architecture Walks pass, you may redeem it for admission to this tour. E-mail tours@preservationhouston.org and we’ll be happy to assist.
Passes are redeemable subject to ticket availability.