Founded by Warren Sylvanus Bellows in 1914 and still family-owned, W. S. Bellows Construction Corporation began in Canada, relocated to Kansas City, Kansas, and from there moved to Oklahoma City in 1920. Bellows won contracts throughout Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Tennessee. In 1936, Bellows moved its headquarters to Houston after being awarded the contract to build the landmark San Jacinto Monument. Other historic projects include the University of Texas Tower in Austin, which Bellows built in 1935. The company also made history in Houston in 1963 by building the Humble (now Exxon) Building, then the tallest building west of the Mississippi. In 1970 in Houston, Bellows constructed One Shell Plaza, then the tallest concrete building in the world. With its sterling reputation and almost a century of experience, Bellows has become a landmark itself in the
construction industry. Over the past 95 years, Bellows has built buildings in many market sectors comprising performing arts theaters, museums, office buildings, retail buildings, industrial facilities, hospitals, hotels, churches, wastewater treatment plants, tenant buildouts and complete building renovations. W. S. Bellows Construction helped shape much of Houston’s downtown skyline in the 1950s through the 1980s. Undertakings in downtown Houston included 10 high-rise office towers, two luxury hotels (Four Seasons and Hyatt Regency), the Alley Theatre and the Wortham Theater Center. Nearby on Allen Parkway, Bellows built four office towers and four parking garages for American General (now AIG) between 1964 and 1984. Bellows has built numerous office buildings and hotels in many other major Texas cities as well as in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Little Rock and Biloxi. Bellows has constructed office campuses elsewhere in Houston for Shell Oil Company, Schlumberger and BMC Software, among other businesses. In 2008, Bellows completed a large expansion project for ConocoPhillips at its Woodcreek campus which includes a new parking garage, a state-of-the-art fitness center and extensive exterior
777 Tower, Los Angeles
Enduring Legacy
site work. Bellows also built campuses in San Antonio for The Capital Group and in New Orleans for Prudential. Bellows performed the original tenant buildout in all of the buildings that the company has constructed. Major tenant renovations were performed for Vinson and Elkins, Baker Botts, EOG Resources, Hess, Chevron, Dynegy, Continental Airlines and other businesses. Since 1985 in the Texas Medical Center, Bellows has completed over 270 renovation and building projects including work for Baylor College of Medicine, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Memorial Hermann Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital. Bellows has had a continuing presence at Texas Children’s Hospital since 1989 when the company began building the Feigin Center and the West Tower. Since then, Bellows has completed vertical additions to both of those buildings and also built the Clinical Care Center and the offsite Meyer Building and Garage in addition to bridges, tunnels
Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston
1970
1984
Wortham Theater Center, Houston
1983
3 Houston Center/ Chevron Tower, Houston
95 th A nniversary B yline | S pring 2009
One Shell Plaza, Houston The world’s tallest concrete building of its time.
1947-1995
Warren S. Bellows Jr.