Montana-born oilman T. S. Hogan hired Fort Worth architect Hedrick to design Midland’s first skyscraper, the twelve-story Petroleum Building and an adjacent music hall/movie theater. Both were completed in 1929. Hogan’s timing was unfortunate. The buildings, which opened just before the stock market crash of 1929, stood empty until the mid-1930s; the opening of the East Texas oil field in October 1930 resulted in a huge surplus of oil at a time of exceptionally low demand. The tower has cast-stone Gothic Revival ornament, including major and minor piers with rope moldings and spandrel panels that feature carved quatrefoils in high relief. The cornice and parapet are studded with crockets and finials. Glass-fronted retail spaces line the street facades.
The Yucca Theater, tucked behind the north side of the Petroleum Building, is elaborated with segmental arches and Gothic-styled tracery. The interior is decorated in an exuberant Assyrian style, with winged bulls and painted columns that a Cecil B. DeMille–era Samson could have tackled.
The vacant block to the south was the site of the Midland County Courthouse (1974, Dixon, Staley, Pierce, Pace and Leath), demolished in 2016. The county relocated to a nondescript office building four blocks north in 2010, with the former courthouse sitting vacant until viable plans could be developed. A hotel proposal had by 2018 fallen through.