Gerald D. Hines Waterwall 64-foot

In Houston’s Uptown District, a curved wall of falling water stands at the end of a long lawn of live oaks, and on hot days a fine mist drifts from its base. The Gerald D. Hines Waterwall is 64 feet high and semicircular, completed in 1985 to complement the 64-story Transco Tower, now Williams Tower, according to the Austin Chronicle.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation credits the fountain to John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson and the park to SWA Group, and says developer Gerald D. Hines commissioned it. Recirculated water pours over its inner and outer surfaces at 11,000 gallons a minute. The concave side is enclosed by a low pedimented arcade, the scaenae frons, that the foundation says recalls an ancient Roman theatre; the falling water makes the enclosure noticeably cooler. The Austin Chronicle adds that the interior surface is black obsidian aggregate, which contrasts with the white water.