page_title: Williams Tower
section_title: Features
hierarchical_section_title: Williams Tower / Features
caption_attribution_description: English: Skyline of Uptown Houston
context_page_description: The Williams Tower is a 64-story, 1.4 million square feet class A office tower located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas. The building was designed by New York-based John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson in association with Houston-based Morris-Aubry Architects. Construction began in August 1981, and was completed in December, 1982. The tower is among Houston's most visible buildings as the 4th-tallest in Texas, and the 44th-tallest in the United States. The Williams Tower is the tallest building in Houston outside of Downtown Houston, and is the tallest skyscraper in the United States outside of a city's central business district.
context_section_description: There are six elevators that take tenants to the 51st floor, where they can transfer to other elevators to get to the 49th through 64th floor of the building.  There is no public observation deck.
  During the night-time hours, the building is defined by a 7,000 watt beacon that sweeps across the sky and can be seen up to 40 miles (65 km) away on a clear night. Topped by such a beacon, the tower hearkens back to the Palmolive Building in Chicago, Illinois. The building, along with its beacon, is a Houston landmark that identifies the Uptown Houston district.
  The building is connected to a 10 level, 3,208 car parking garage by a sky bridge. The bridge also connects the building to retail outlets, like The Galleria, and two Federal Aviation Administration-licensed helipads.
  In a grass field adjacent to the Williams Tower is the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park. Formerly privately owned in common with the tower, the waterwall and park have been owned by the Uptown Houston Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, a non-profit local government corporation since 2008.
  The Houston Business Journal said that the tower was "designed to be energy efficient". The building received the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star label for each year since 2000 in which the building was eligible to receive the award. As of 2009 the building managers are seeking to gain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the United States Green Building Council.
caption: Panoramic view of one of the Uptown Skylines. The Williams Tower is clearly distinguished
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