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Hancock Whitney Center, formerly One Shell Square, is a 51-story,
skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...
designed in the
International style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...
by
Skidmore, Owings and 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 enginee ...
, located at 701 Poydras Street in the
Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...
of
New Orleans, Louisiana 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 ...
. It is the tallest building in both the city of New Orleans and the
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
of
Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...
, and is taller than Louisiana's tallest peak,
Driskill Mountain Driskill Mountain (also referred to as Mount Driskill) is the highest natural summit in Louisiana, with an elevation of above sea level.Heinrich, P. V. (2001)Louisiana Geofacts PDF version, 1.6 MB''Public Information Series'' 6, Louisiana Geol ...
. The building is primarily used for leasable office space, with some retail space on the ground level. The design of the building is very similar to Houston's
One Shell Plaza One Shell Plaza (OSP) is a 50-story, skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. Perched atop the building is an Antenna (radio), antenna that brings the pinnacle height of the building to . At its completion in 1971, the tow ...
and Denver's Republic Plaza, as well as Rochester's
Five Star Bank Plaza Five Star Bank Plaza is a high-rise building located in Rochester, New York, United States, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It is the sixth tallest building in Rochester and was originally built as Marine Midland Plaza. Site preparation ...
, all designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Hines Interest is the developer of Hancock Whitney Center and Lincoln Property Company.
Shell USA 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 18,0 ...
is the building's largest tenant. The building was renamed in 2018. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
that same year.


Construction and design

Hancock Whitney Center was built using a double tube system, with a
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
core and a concrete perimeter, and opened for business in 1972. The exterior of the building is clad in Italian travertine (limestone) and bronze glass. There has been concern over the years regarding the limestone's integrity during severe weather such as tropical systems. These fears did not play out during
Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...
in August 2005 and the building weathered the storm with minimal damage, such as blown out windows and rain damage. The building reopened to tenants in December 2005. At the time of its completion in 1972, it was the tallest building in the
Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...
, surpassing the Wachovia Bank of Georgia Building in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. It held the title of the Southeast's tallest building until 1976, when the Westin Peachtree Plaza in Atlanta surpassed it. Hancock Whitney Center was the first skyscraper in the
South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...
to surpass the 200 meter mark. A
heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...
—the Hancock Whitney Center Emergency Heliport—is located on the roof of the tower.


Location

Hancock Whitney Center is bounded by Poydras Street to the south, Carondelet Street to the west, Perdido Street to the north, and St. Charles Avenue to the east. Hancock Whitney Center has its own ZIP code, 70139 surrounded by 70130.


Branding

In August 2017, Hancock-Whitney Bank announced that it would relocate to One Shell Square in 2018. Although Shell is still the largest tenant by space, the building was rebranded as "Hancock Whitney Center."


See also

* List of tallest buildings by U.S. state * List of tallest buildings in New Orleans * List of tallest buildings in Louisiana


References


External links

*
Hancock Whitney Center
at Hines Interests Limited Partnership
Lincoln Property Company

Boston.com Article
{{Authority control Skyscraper office buildings in New Orleans Shell plc buildings and structures Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings Office buildings completed in 1972 1972 establishments in Louisiana National Register of Historic Places in New Orleans