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Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains and West » West Texas » Midland to Toyahvale » Midland (Midland County) » Wilco Building

Wilco Building

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1958, Boone and Pope. 415 W. Wall St.

The twenty-two-story Wilco Building was the tallest in West Texas until surpassed by the First National Bank (MT3) in 1978. Abilene architect Dan Boone, a former associate of David S. Castle Company, expanded on the two-tone palette he incorporated in Castle’s Great Plains Life Insurance Company Building in Lubbock (LK9) by sheathing the exterior of the L-plan tower in buff brick and its interior in red brick. Architecturally the Wilco Building is a straightforward modern exposition of its steel-frame construction. It remains one of the leanest and most handsome of Midland’s downtown office buildings. As outmoded office space though, the Wilco Building is threatened.

The four-story, cast-in-place-concrete Cox Building (1979, Frank Welch Associates; 400 W. Wall) is a robust departure from the mid-century curtain walls of adjacent buildings. The thickness of each concrete column and spandrel panel is visible, along with exposed fasteners.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Bank of America Building (First National Bank of Midland)
Fasken Center (Midland National Bank Buildings)
Petroleum Building and Yucca Theater
Concho Center
The Centennial Tower (Briercroft Building)

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Wilco Building", [Midland, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-MT4.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 457-457.

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