One Shell Plaza (OSP) is a 50-story, skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in

Downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45 ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Perched atop the building is an antenna that brings the pinnacle height of the building to . At its completion in 1971, the tower was the tallest in the city.

Designers

One Shell Plaza was designed by the

architectural firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countr ...

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

. Associate architects were Wilson, Morris, Crain & Anderson, and the landscape architects were

Sasaki Associates Sasaki is a design firm specializing in Architecture, Interior Design, Urban Design, Space Planning, Landscape Architecture, Ecology, Civil Engineering, and Place Branding. The firm is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, but practices on ...

. The Hancock Whitney Center in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and Republic Plaza in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, also designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, have designs very similar to that of One Shell Plaza. Like One Shell Plaza, the Hancock Whitney Center also has Shell Oil as a major tenant, and was previously named One Shell Square.

History

At its completion in 1971, the tower was the tallest in the city. The building was renovated in 1994. The $80 million in major renovations included an updated lobby and plaza, elevator modernization, upgrades to the buildings EMP systems, new lighting, and ADA modifications. In December 2011 Shell renewed the lease for . The new lease retroactively had the start date of January 1, 2011, and will last for 15 years, ending in 2025. In June 2012 One Shell Plaza, together with 26-story Two Shell Plaza at 811 Louisiana Street, were purchased by

Enterprise Products Enterprise Products Partners L.P. () is an American midstream natural gas and crude oil pipeline company with headquarters in Houston, Texas. It acquired GulfTerra in September 2004. The company ranked No. 105 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of th ...

Partners, which is owned by the family of

Dan Duncan Dan L. Duncan (January 2, 1933 – March 29, 2010) was an American entrepreneur born in Center, Texas. He was the co-founder, chairman and majority shareholder of Enterprise Products. Early life and education Duncan was born in 1933 in rural ...

, Houston's wealthiest man. The two buildings sold for a reported $550 million.

Tenants

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States–based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is among the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,000 ...

, a subsidiary of

Shell plc Shell plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and second ...

, was headquartered in this building until 2016.

Baker Botts Baker Botts L.L.P. is an American law firm headquartered in Houston, Texas, at One Shell Plaza. It has approximately 725 lawyers and primarily handles matters involving technology and energy companies. It is the second-oldest law firm west of the ...

, one of the largest law firms in Houston, has been a tenant in the building since it opened in 1971.Houston, Texas
."

. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. "One Shell Plaza 910 Louisiana Street , Houston , Texas..." Baker Botts renewed its eight-floor, 172,301-square-foot lease in 2022, making it a tenant for over 50 years. As of 2018,

NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in energ ...

occupied the bottom 22 floors of the building. The Houston Club, on the 49th floor of the building, has dining, entertainment, and meeting facilities.One Shell Plaza
" ''Hines Interests Limited Partnership''. Retrieved on January 17, 2009.

Antennas

The 170 ft mast atop the building has carried various television and radio signals since the building's completion. The mast supported 1971 start up channel 26 KVRL (later KDOG, now KRIV) and a mast that simultaneously radiated signals for eight FM stations KYND (then 92.5, now KKBQ on 92.9 MHz), 93.7 KRLY (now KQBT), 95.7 KIKK-FM (now KKHH), 99.1

KODA KODA (99.1 FM, "Sunny 99.1") is an American commercial adult contemporary-formatted radio station in Houston, Texas. The station is owned by iHeartMedia. Its studios and offices are located along the West Loop Freeway in Uptown Houston. KOD ...

, 100.3

KILT-FM KILT-FM (100.3 MHz "The Bull 100.3") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a country music radio format. The studios and offices are in Greenway Plaza in Southwest Houston. KILT-FM serves as a co ...

, 101.1

KLOL KLOL (101.1 FM, "Mega 101") is a commercial radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a Spanish-language Latin pop format. KLOL serves as the Spanish-language flagship station for the Houston Texans football team. ...

, 102.1 KLYX (now KMJQ), and 104.1

KRBE KRBE (104.1 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station in Houston, Texas. It is owned by Cumulus Media and broadcasts a contemporary hit radio format. The studios are located in Suite 700 at 9801 Westheimer Road in western Houston. KRBE has an ...

. The combiner and antenna was supplied by Electronic Research Inc. One Shell was used until the completion of the then Texas Commerce Tower and Allied Bank Plaza in 1982–1983, creating a skyscraper canyon that causes multipath distortion, and necessitated the move to the Houston

antenna farm An antenna farm, satellite dish farm or dish farm is an area dedicated to television or radio telecommunications transmitting or receiving antenna equipment, such as C band (IEEE), C, Ku band, Ku or Ka band, Ka Band (radio), band satellite dish ...

Missouri City Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, an increase ...

Gallery

File:Downtown Houston 1971.jpg, Houston skyline in 1971 shortly after completion of the building File:Ground floor of One Shell Plaza (OSP).jpg, Entrance on Smith Street File:One_Shell_Plaza_(OSP)_at_dusk.jpg, Dusk

In popular culture

The building was used as the fictional "World Building", the setting of fictional oil company "World Oil", a fictional Houston-based firm, as part of initial storylines presented on the former NBC soap opera '' Another World''. It featured even more prominently on spinoff series ''

'', set in Houston.

References

External links

FCC-Entry, which gives 300.2 metres as height with antenna
{{Shell oil Skyscraper office buildings in Houston Oil company headquarters in the United States Office buildings completed in 1971 Shell plc buildings and structures Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings 1971 establishments in Texas