Renaissance Tower (Dallas)
At the time of completion in 1974, it was the tallest building in Dallas at and was originally known as the First International Bancshares Tower (First International Bancshares, Inc. was the new holding company parent of First National Bank in Dallas). In 1985, it was surpassed by Fountain Place and Bank of America Plaza, which became Dallas's tallest building. It was also clear that Renaissance Tower would be overtaken by Comerica Bank Tower and Chase Tower then under construction. Therefore, in order to regain some status, the building underwent a major renovation in 1986 that included a re-glazed exterior and removal of the lighting on its sides. In 1986, James T. Chiles was brought in by the owner, the Prudential Insurance Company of America to design the broadcast center and towers on top the building, one of which was . This brought the structural height of the building up to , securing its place as the second-tallest building in Dallas. Excluding antennas and spires, the Renaissance Tower is the fifth-tallest.
Architecture of Houston
In the 1960s, Downtown Houston was a modest collection of mid-rise office structures, but has since grown into the third largest skyline in the United States. In 1960, the central business district had 10 million square feet (1,000,000 m²) of office space, increasing to about 16 million square feet (1,600,000 m²) in 1970. Downtown Houston was on the threshold of a boom in 1970 with 8.7 million square feet (870,000 m²) of office space planned or under construction and huge projects being launched by real estate developers.
The largest proposed development was Houston Center, originally planned to encompass a 32-block area. However, by 1989, when the company that acquired the original developer sold Houston Center, the complex consisted of three office buildings, a shopping center, and a hotel. Other large projects included the Cullen Center, Allen Center, and towers for Shell Oil Company. The surge of skyscrapers mirrored the skyscraper booms in other sunbelt cities, such as Los Angeles and Dallas. Houston had experienced another downtown construction spurt in the 1970s with the energy industry boom.
The first major skyscraper to be constructed in Houston was the 50-floor, tall One Shell Plaza in 1971. A succession of skyscrapers were built throughout the 1970s, culminating with Houston's tallest, the 75-floor, tall JPMorgan Chase Tower (formerly the Texas Commerce Tower), designed by I. M. Pei and completed in 1982. As of 2010, it is the tallest man-made structure in Texas, the twelfth-tallest building in the United States and the forty-eighth-tallest skyscraper in the world.