GPS City GuideDallasRenaissance Tower

Stop 21 of 32 · Dallas audio walking tour

Renaissance Tower

downtown Dallas · 1974 · completed modernist skyscraper

What you'll hear here: about a minute of narration about Renaissance Tower, and how it fits downtown Dallas, written to be listened to on the spot rather than read at home.

Renaissance Tower rises 56 stories at 1201 Elm Street, the second-tallest tower in Dallas. From here you can feel its presence: the city’s second-tallest tower, the fifth-tallest in Texas and the 47th-tallest in the United States. Look up and you’ll see the work of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, the architects who completed it in 1974.

Its profile has changed — Skidmore, Owings and Merrill renovated the building in 1986, re-glazing the exterior and removing the lighting on its sides. Tenants today reflect its continued importance: Neiman Marcus Group, Hilltop Securities and Godwin Lewis PC call it home. When it first rose in 1974 it was the tallest in Dallas at 710 ft (220 m) and was known as the First International Bancshares Tower, named for the new holding company parent of First National Bank in Dallas.

By 1985 it was surpassed by Bank of America Plaza, and Comerica Bank Tower and Chase Tower were already under construction. Your neighbors here include Neiman Marcus Group, Hilltop Securities, and Godwin Lewis PC, in a tower that lost its height record to Bank of America Plaza in 1985.

Where it is

Coordinates
32.7812, -96.802
Area
downtown Dallas
Era
1974 · completed modernist skyscraper
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Three stops free. No account needed. The audio plays itself as you walk.