Original plans for the project called for twin towers, with the second tower rotated 90 degrees from the original, to be built across the garden on an adjacent lot, but with the collapse of the Texas oil, banking and real estate industry and the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, the project was never completed. The building was designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Henry N. Cobb, Harry Weese Associates, and WZMH Architects, and was completed in 1986. The building was named for the array of 172 dancing fountains in the plaza at its base with a fully automated water show as the centerpiece. The fountains were an extreme undertaking and the first concept of their kind on such a large scale. WET Design company was brought in to facilitate the project; it was the company's first major project since the founders left Disney to team up. WET collaborated with the firm of I. M. Pei as well as landscape architects Dan Kiley and Peter Ker Walker to create the waterscape of Fountain Place in Dallas, Texas. The project showed the first use of WET's patented open-jointed paving in a fountain where shots of water appear from the openings in the plaza's surface. After completion of Fountain Place, WET went on to design other notable fountains such as the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas and The Dubai Fountain. The building was designed as a large, multi-faceted prism. Its various slanted sides cause the building to have a completely different profile from all directions. The sibling tower under construction, AMLI Fountain Place, will be composed of 367 residential units above nine stories of parking. Its architect, Page Southerland Page, Inc., intended its exterior design to echo that of the original office tower, calling to mind the planned but never realized twin tower. Upon its completion, it will be the tallest skyscraper built in Dallas since the Chase Building.
History
At the time of its opening, it was the second tallest building in the city, behind Bank of America Plaza. However, upon completion of the Comerica Bank Tower and the Chase Tower, it fell to fourth-tallest. The post-completion addition of an antenna spire to the Renaissance Tower relegated Fountain Place to its current spot at fifth on the list. On September 24, 2009, the FBI arrested 19-year-old Hosam Maher Husein Smadi of Jordan for an alleged attempt to bomb the skyscraper. Smadi was living and working in Italy, Texas, and had been under FBI investigation for some time.
Tenants
Fountain Place is the headquarters of Tenet Healthcare. Tenet Healthcare announced in 2008 that it was moving from the northern suburban areas of Dallas to Fountain Place due to high gasoline prices and the revitalization of downtown Dallas. Trevor Fetter, the company's then president and chief executive, credited the Dallas Area Rapid Transitlight rail and the concept of an urban location for his decision to move to Downtown Dallas. Fountain Place contains many financial institutions and offices including Wells Fargo. Originally cited as First Interstate Tower or Allied Bank Tower, it was after the 1988 merger of Wells Fargo that the building became known as Fountain Place, becoming the only major skyscraper in Dallas not to lend its name to the occupying bank. The top two levels of Fountain Place are occupied by Dallas Architecture Firm, Rouch Architects. Fountain Place also serves as Region 6 headquarters for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Hunt Oil operated out of Fountain Place until they built new headquarters across the street in 2007.
In popular culture
In seasons 10–14 of Dallas, exterior shots of the building were used for the offices of Bobby Ewing's Petro Group Dallas, which later became Ewing Oil. The building's dancing fountains were used for scenes in the movie Blank Check. Exterior shots of the building are seen in the USA NetworkTV seriesQueen of the South.
AMLI Fountain Place
AMLI Fountain Place is a 562 ft. residential skyscraper that will neighbor Fountain Place. As of 2019 it is under construction, and has been projected to be completed in 2020. The project was first proposed in 2016, to remove the parking space on Fountain Place's west side. The project will also be the first project since the proposed Ross Perot Tower to occupy the parking lot. The original design called for twin buildings of Fountain Place, however because of the oil crisis/decline, the twin was never built. The twin building was projected to be built parallel to the parking lot. When completed, AMLI Fountain Place will bring in 367 apartments that will rise 46 stories. AMLI Fountain Place will also use the same glass of its sibling.
