Southwestern Bell Telephone Building (Fort Worth,Texas)

 office building  Add category

1116 Houston - c.1899, c.1920, 1926, 1949, 1958, 1965, 1971
Inside this 16 story office and exchange building is Southwestern Bell's original building on this site. It was constructed around 1899 as a three story building and has been through a series of additions that added to it both horizontally and vertically. It was located at the intersection of Throckmorton and 11th Street. In 1903, another three story building was constructed on the southeast corner of Throckmorton and 10th Street. Two floors were added on top of this building in 1913. In the early 1920's, the 1899 building was doubled in size to the north. The year of 1926 saw a three story addition built on top of the 1899 and early 1920's structure. In 1949, another 4 story building was built between the structures on Throckmorton, giving the telephone company the entire block frontage. In 1958, a 9 story addition was constructed along Houston Street, stretching across the entire block. This addition was originally designed for sixteen floors. By 1965, the Houston Street building was expanded by two floors and the 1899 and 1949 buildings had 2 and 4 floors added, respectively. In 1971, two additions were built with one completing the Houston Street building by adding 5 more floors to that structure, and the other being a 16 story building on the northwest corner of the block on the site of the 1903 building. At some point in time, 10th Street was closed between Throckmorton and Houston and part of this last addition actually sits in the old street right of way. It is the only addition where floors have not been added on top of the building. The 1971 additions were designed by Komatsu & Associates of Fort Worth. The height of the building is 295 feet. This does not include a communications tower on top of the roof. The building also sits on axis with 10th Street. In August of 2003, the large red granite bell logo on the west side of the building was removed.