Norwood Tower, Gothic Revival skyscraper in Downtown Austin, United States
Norwood Tower is a 16-story Gothic Revival office building in downtown Austin, with a facade covered in finials, gargoyles, and tracery patterns made from cast concrete panels designed to look like limestone. Attached to the building is the Motoramp Garage, one of the earliest self-parking structures in the area, where drivers could navigate ramps directly to each floor without any vehicle elevator.
Norwood Tower was completed in 1929 and held the title of tallest building in downtown Austin for several decades. It was also the first fully air-conditioned office building in the region, which made it stand out among the commercial properties of its time.
During segregation, the maintenance staff at Norwood Tower provided access to the only public restroom available to Black visitors in downtown Austin. This detail is not marked anywhere in the building today, but it reflects how the space was used by the broader community during that period.
The tower is easy to spot from the surrounding streets in downtown Austin, and walking around the block gives good views of both the facade and the upper floors. Stepping back from the building allows you to see the roofline and the overall shape of the upper floors more clearly.
The lower 13 floors of the building follow a square floor plan, while the upper floors shift into a cross shape that changes how the building looks from above. At each corner of those upper levels, there are small rooftop gardens that give the crown of the tower a recognizable pattern when seen from a higher vantage point.
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