George R. Brown Convention Center, convention center in Texas

The George R. Brown Convention Center opened on September 26, 1987, on the east side of downtown Houston. Its 100-foot-high exterior is painted red, white and blue, and the building was designed by John S. Chase, the first licensed Black-American architect in Texas. A 2001–2003 expansion raised the floor area from 1,150,000 to 1,800,000 square feet and added three exhibit halls, bringing the total to 105 meeting rooms. The 2014–2016 work added a ten-storey Grand Lobby, where Ed Wilson's 60-foot sculpture "Soaring in the Clouds" hangs from the ceiling.

Opened on September 26, 1987, the center replaced the obsolete Albert Thomas Convention Center and was named for Houston entrepreneur George R. Brown (1898–1983), whose Texas Eastern Transmission Company donated six of the eleven blocks. It was designed by John S. Chase, the first licensed Black-American architect in Texas, and built in 30 months by more than 1,200 workers for $104.9 million. A $165 million expansion finished in November 2003 added three exhibit halls and the Hilton Americas-Houston.

The center hosts the International Quilt Festival and Market each year, drawing about 50,000 visitors. Since 2017 it has been the venue for the FIRST Robotics world championships, which in 2023 brought 18,000 students from 59 countries. Comicpalooza, Houston's largest pop-culture event, also fills the halls annually.

The center is served by METRORail light rail at Convention District station, and a 700-car garage sits under Discovery Green across the street. The Hilton Americas-Houston and Marriott Marquis link to the building by skywalks, but the center is not connected to the Houston tunnel system. Exhibit Hall B3 converts into a 6,500-seat arena, so check which hall your event uses.

The center was the first convention center in the world to install a permanent Bitcoin ATM. Its site was once occupied by the Pillot House, a home tied to a founder of the Henke & Pillot supermarket chain; the house was moved to Sam Houston Park in 1965.