PREOCCUPATION WITH The growth of Amarillo’s distinctive skyline since 1925 ANB PLAZA ONE RULE BUILDING
AMARILLO BUILDING
MAXOR BUILDING
ANB PLAZA TWO
MAR | APR 2022
HERRING HOTEL
BRICKANDELM.COM
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CARLANDER ART COURTESY OF PPHM
BY WES REEVES
P
erhaps it was the perceived emptiness of the sky that drove the great men and women of Amarillo’s ascendant years to enliven it with tall buildings.
Or maybe they heard Lubbock was laying plans to build higher. Whatever the motivation, Amarilloans started building tall in the 1920s, back when an eight-story building was considered a skyscraper. Tall buildings continued to spring from the sod as late as the 1980s, and then the growth mostly stopped. But what we got was more than enough to stake our city to a sometimes hostile claim. As we wind our way through the river breaks on a drive back into town, we all look forward to catching that first glimpse of a city on the faraway steppe. Our familiar skyline has become an “icon of place” as the Houston-based
architectural historian Anna Mod calls it. And it reminds us of where we’ve been and what we’re capable of doing. Mod has grown familiar with Amarillo’s skyline as a consultant for several historic downtown properties, including the American National Bank/SPS Tower, recently renamed FirstBank Southwest Tower. She understands the visual impact of tall buildings and their role in advertising what we have to offer. “Amarillo’s skyscrapers pierce the big sky of the high Texas Plain,” Mod says. “And given the vastness of the surrounding landscape, they have elbow room as they tell us about the city’s cattle, banking, and oil and gas industries.” In the end, that tale is as much about people as it is bricks and mortar—the colorful characters who built their triumphs and failures into every component part.
MODERN-DAY BUILDING PHOTOS BY ANGELINA MARIE, SHORT EARED DOG PHOTOGRAPHY
