600 Congress
Annually, Make-A-Wish Central and South Texas has a fundraising event called "Over The Edge," in which the first 300 persons to raise $1,500 in donations get to rappel 32 stories down 600 Congress.
History
Construction on the One American Center began on August 16, 1982. The building replaced a former 2-story Art Deco-style Woolworth's Department Store, which had since housed a 5 and dime at the time of the building's demolition. Street-front diagonal parking on Congress Avenue was removed to make way for an expanded granite sidewalk and landscaping, including two rows of Texas red oak trees. A matching 22-story hotel was originally planned on the northwest corner of the property adjoining the building, but was never built.
Architecture
The postmodern building was designed by Houston-based Morris-Aubry Architects. The building is designed with three stair-stepped tiers clad in pre-cast limestone trimmed with brown granite. The 20,000 cubic feet of granite consists of Sunset Red granite from Granite Mountain, close to Marble Falls, Texas, and Charlie Brown granite from Oklahoma, which was cut and polished in Puebla, Mexico. The ground level facade of the building contains notches to give the appearance of individual storefronts.
References
- ^ "One American Center". Thomas Properties Group, Inc. 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-12-07.
- ^ "600 Congress - Office". Endeavor Real Estate Group. 2019. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20.
- ^ "One American Center". Skyscraper Center. CTBUH. Retrieved 2017-08-06.
- ^ "Emporis Page." Retrieved on April 9, 2010.
- ^ Owen, Kristy (May 1, 2013). "Adventure Seekers: Over The Edge 2013". 365 Things Austin. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
- ^ Tyson, Kim (September 16, 1984). "High-class digs". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
- ^ McCullar, Michael (October 21, 1985). "Austin history breathes just around the corner". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
- ^ McCullar, Michael (October 21, 1985). "From expansive vista to granite canyon, a street forever different". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
- ^ Tyson, Kim (September 27, 1984). "Granite is a touchstone for new Austin buildings". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
External links
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30°16′07″N 97°44′36″W / 30.2686°N 97.7432°W