The Milam Building has undergone many events, including fires, foreclosure, and ownership changes. It was owned by Principal Mutual Life Insurance Co. of Des Moines, Iowa while the law firm of Maloney & Maloney occupied the top three floors. The 1950s had a tenancy by Mobil, Shell, the Railroad Commission of Texas, and Exxon used the building for their Texas headquarters, before they moved to Houston. The 1960s saw a tenancy by the men's clothing firm Hutchins Brothers in the specially designed Argyle Room as a permanent retail store within the building. George Willis was the architect of the building. The Milam Building was listed on National Register of Historic Places in 2014. The building was the first high rise office building in the world that was completely air conditioned and the first high rise that was built with no steel girders, only reinforced concrete.
Design
The building contains 210,851 square-feet within the tower structure and it was the first office building in the United States with built-in air conditioning when constructed. The general contractor was L.T. Wright and Company and the architect was George Willis, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. The building engineer was M.L. Diver. The building was named after Colonel Ben Milam, a leader in the Texas revolution. The Milam Company advertising proclaimed air conditioning as the building's principal feature, naming it Carrier's "Manufactured Weather." Doors and windows could be closed year-round, making the interior environmentally cleaner and quieter. The air conditioning covered all 21 floors of the building including its basement. The building shares an character with New York's seminal Barclay-Vesey Building. Exterior ornamentation is kept to a minimum, except at the top of the building.
Air-conditioning system
The Carrier Engineering Corporation installed an air-conditioning system that promised a constant temperature at 56 percent relative humidity. Some smaller single story buildings such as stores, auditoriums, and theaters had been air-conditioned earlier, but a high-rise multi-story office building required unique technology in the original construction to allow for controlled air-handling through a delivery system of ducts throughout the building. The Milam building's air-conditioning and cooling system consisted of 11 units of air-conditioning equipment, including fans, dehumidifiers, heaters. There were two refrigeration units with a maximum 375-ton capacity for cooling water, in addition to water storage tanks, pumps, and piping. The distribution lines consisted of air-distribution ducts with grills and dampers. There were manual and automatic power systems that controlled the air-flow. One air-conditioning unit served two floors, with a few exceptions. The majority of the equipment was located in the basement of the building. This early air conditioner system was modeled from a German mine shaftcompressor. Large ice chunks were deposited in the building's basement to aid the chilling unit. The long chiller remained in service until October 1989. Its 60 years of service was trumpeted by Carrier as proving good design leading to longevity. In designing and executing this installation, and creating an artificial climate, at least nine new mechanical construction problems had to be addressed not previously encountered in skyscrapers. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers recognized that Carrier's "Manufactured Weather" had many benefits. Cooled offices helped in tenant retention. The office environment became more efficient and hospitable due to the elimination or reduction of unwanted elements. The building owners also found they could charge a premium of 10 to 15 percent more rent for air conditioned offices. In short, the deal between Travis Investment Company and Carrier Engineering resulted in the first high-rise, fully air conditioned, office building in the United States.
