Amarillo, Texas

haux · July 17th, 2009, 02:16 AM

Hi, all. I moved to Amarillo in October and decided today to head downtown and get some pictures of the city for you. I haven't seen any threads dedicated to Amarillo, so this thread's probably a first.

Enjoy.

We begin this journey inside my car, where it tells me the outside temperature is nearly 100. Nice. About four of the past six days have been 100 or higher.

Shameless plug of my employer. This is where I parked and headed on my foot-propelled tour.

Downtown Amarillo has lots of painted horses. I don't exactly get them, but I guess they're better than the pigs all over Cincinnati.

Here's the Amarillo Globe-News building. The Globe-News is Amarillo's newspaper.

The Santa Fe Building is Amarillo's second-tallest building. It's 188 feet tall and was built in 1930. It currently houses county offices.

The top of the building features red lettering that lights up brightly at night. It's visible for miles.

The Chase tower, the tallest building in the city. We'll pass by it later.

The Paramount Building. I don't know the history of it except that it used to house a theater and now has offices.

Sadly, a lot of downtown Amarillo looks like this. Closed buildings with boarded up fronts. The city's trying to revamp downtown, and there are a few projects going on that might kick up the place.

One of those projects is the Fisk Building. This 10-story building opened in 1927. I don't know how long it's been closed, but it's reopening in 2010 as a hotel.

This sign gives the details. They just had a dedication ceremony a few weeks ago. They're gutting the building to make the hotel.

There we go. The Chase Tower, the tallest building in the city. It's 374 feet tall and apparently is the tallest building between Dallas and Denver.

Another view.

Another horse!

This is the Barfield Building. It opened in 1927. It's currently waiting to be fixed up and turned into condos, but that seems to be getting nowhere. Such is the case with a few abandoned buildings downtown.

The Barfield Building from the side.

Amarillo National Bank Plaza One. This 16-story building is the eighth-tallest in the city.

This is Plaza Two of the Amarillo National Bank Building.

The old Potter County Courthouse. It's closed. You can probably see the fencing around it. There's a bit of fighting about this building. Gut it, tear it town, keep it, etc.

The front entrance of the courthouse, taken over the fence.

There's a tank next to the building, and even that's controversial. Some people want to move it, and that's got some veterans angry.

This is the courthouse that's currently in use. It's right across the street from the old courthouse.

This shapely building is the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts. This place houses Broadway plays, concerts, singers, the works. I've heard it's got great acoustics. The design is supposed to imitate Palo Duro Canyon, the second-largest canyon in the U.S. The canyon is about 20 miles south of Amarillo.

Another view of the Globe-News Center.

Aw. Isn't it a cute little downtown?

The Herring Hotel opened in 1926. It's the third-tallest building in the city. It's been closed since the 1970s, and I haven't heard anything of what's to become of it.

Another horse.

As I wandered around, I found a bunch of unpainted horses sitting inside, surprise, an abandoned building.

An out-of-focus (bleh) shot of the Amarillo Building. It's about a block away from the Herring Hotel, and this side is a similar design.

The 10-story Maxor Building. Dark clouds started rolling in.

Another abandoned building. No idea what this guy is.

And here comes the rain.

The "WT" on the top of the Chase Tower lights up. That was added a few months ago because West Texas A&M University has some classes in the building.

No way! Another horse!

Many of the streets downtown are brick, a throwback to the old days.

And that's downtown Amarillo by a fairly new resident. I hope you liked it. I'll probably do some more if demand is high.

SRG · July 17th, 2009, 02:32 AM

Nice pics, interesting tour. I like the PAC a lot.

So question..do you like living in Amarillo?

haux · July 17th, 2009, 03:37 AM

Yeah, I like it. I grew up in a tiny town in Arizona, and I moved to Amarillo from a small town in Ohio. This place is fine.

SRG · July 17th, 2009, 06:13 AM

Alright, cool. Glad to hear!

Sean in New Orleans · July 17th, 2009, 06:25 AM

Nice photos....I've been to Amarillo. It's so hot in the Summer, and it is SO cold in the Winter! Cheers....

Universal Soulja · July 19th, 2009, 01:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean in New Orleans

Nice photos....I've been to Amarillo. It's so hot in the Summer, and it is SO cold in the Winter! Cheers....

Co Sign

diskojoe · July 21st, 2009, 11:32 PM

its sad that all of those nice building are closed. amarillo needs a population boom to get things poppin again. nice looking town.

Ganis · July 22nd, 2009, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diskojoe

its sad that all of those nice building are closed. amarillo needs a population boom to get things poppin again. nice looking town.

the populations is growing, its just that all the life in amarillo is not down town

melissa0519 · September 26th, 2010, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean in New Orleans

Nice photos....I've been to Amarillo. It's so hot in the Summer, and it is SO cold in the Winter! Cheers....

Ive lived in Amarillo my whole life. Thats how Amarillo is!! We get the best and the worst of EVERY season!! One thing I've learned, that you can clearly see from the pictures, is that the weather never stays the same for one whole day!!

I love it though!

Ganis · July 17th, 2009, 07:06 AM

The Old Courthouse is under current renovation and will be back in operation next summer from what my folks tell me. Tank was donated by the Marine National Guard station there on I-40. Chase Tower is the tallest between DFW and Denver but it is also a test building for how a sky scrapper could do in the windy plains. The Paramount Theater is part of the Polk District (Street its on) where all the hip and where its at restaurants bars and clubs are. umm... ya.

I grew up there till moving to Dallas. 100 in the summer and snows 6 feet in the winter. But a short distance form the ski slopes in NM and CO.

You should definitely check out Caddilac Ranch on the west side of town off I-40.

Ganis · July 17th, 2009, 07:07 AM

also Barfield Building was going to be condos but the developer took all the money and tried to run... so that is in court right now.

Haring Building will be turned into Loft housing if they clean up that area.

Jeeper767 · July 29th, 2009, 03:01 PM

Great set Haux, and welcome to Amarillo.

The Fisk building was empty for a couple years before renovations started about a month ago. Even then it was only occupied on a couple floors.

The Santa Fe building is downtown's saving grace. She is a jewel and I'm so glad that the county fixed her up and reoccupied her. Everyone I've talked to who has driven through on I-40 remembers that building more than all the others.

The Paramount houses Randy's, a very nice restaurant. Before that it was sometimes used by artists for art exhibitions and gatherings. Not many residents are aware of that though. I attended and participated in a few photography exhibitions there. Unfortunately when the latest renovation was done they destroyed an original mural inside that was massive and equally beautiful. To this day I don't know why they had to do that.

Ahh the Barfield building. A touchy subject for me. I put a deposit on a 6th floor unit in 2004. The devloper, Todd Harmon, made excuse after excuse for a couple of years before I finally demanded my money back. I had to threaten legal action to get it. His original excuse was that some bank bought out the bank that guaranteed their loan, and the new parent bank decided to rescind the loan. Later the delays were due to tax status issues that were being dealt with in court. Every few months a new excuse. Of course now the building is an eyesore, whereas before the "renovation" it was abandoned, but didn't look abandoned at all.

On to the Herring. During Amarillo's boom, it was one of the nicest hotels west of the Mississippi. From what I understand, the building's interior is so dilapidated and out of fire code that it would cost less to tear it down and rebuild it than to refurbish it. I believe that and the fact that the building doesn't sit in the downtown core will prevent it from ever being renovated. It sure would be nice to see it occupied again someday though.

Anyway, once again welcome to Amarillo. I have lots of photos of the town, I just never show them on this site, but I may as well start posting em.

haux · July 30th, 2009, 10:49 AM

I'll just keep updating this thread as I go out and get more shots. I went to the amusement park Wonderland last weekend, so I've got a few pictures from there.

I also visited Palo Duro Canyon a few months ago, and I could share those pictures.

Does anyone have any requests? I can go out to Cadillac Ranch, The Big Texan (home of the 72-ounce steak), the zoo, whatever. There also are two small skyscrapers away from downtown that I'll get pictures of sometime. Anyone wanna see anything in particular?

Jeeper767, cool to see you. Maybe we could go out shooting sometime.

Ganis · July 30th, 2009, 07:50 PM

Lets see how close you can get to Pantex

JK.

Cadi Ranch, PD Canyon and The Big Texan are the 3 i think you should post.

SouthmoreAvenue · July 30th, 2009, 09:24 PM

I'd like to see the Palo Duro Canyon, if you can...

yakirz · August 1st, 2009, 05:28 AM

Thanks for the tour

Nice seeing a place I don't know too much about. I've seen pictures of the Chase building, but that's about all. Don't get out that way too often, so I'm not sure when I'd see the city.

haux · August 1st, 2009, 08:07 AM

One of my friends is letting me borrow her DSLR for about a week. My weekend starts Sunday, so I'll try to run downtown or to Cadillac Ranch or The Big Texan and get shots with that sucker.

pedro_auriazul · August 4th, 2009, 05:47 AM

Nice city. I think is the largest city of northwestern Texas, and it looks completely a "country" place.

I though that Amarillo was founded by spaniards when it belonged to the New Spain, but no.

Nic · August 4th, 2009, 10:25 PM

Amarillo wasn't founded until the late 1800s, so it definitely was never a Spanish city.

It exists because of the railroad. Ranching and agriculture were it's industry, and later gas and oil as well. Route 66, later upgraded to I-40 was also big. Of course there is more to it, but those are the pillars of Amarillo's existence.

haux · August 5th, 2009, 09:16 AM

Sorry, but I didn't get any shots for this forum with the SLR. I won't show any pictures with an SLR off until I get the hang of using one. I was shooting in manual, and getting the exposure right was like a puzzle I couldn't exactly solve. So I'll go out with my point and shoot next time.

I'm thinking I'll run to The Big Texan and get pictures of the outside of it. And maybe I'll post my pictures of Palo Duro Canyon soon.

July 17th, 2009, 02:16 AM	#1
haux I love tall buildings Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Palm Beach, Fla. Posts: 125 Likes (Received): 7	Amarillo, Texas Hi, all. I moved to Amarillo in October and decided today to head downtown and get some pictures of the city for you. I haven't seen any threads dedicated to Amarillo, so this thread's probably a first. Enjoy. We begin this journey inside my car, where it tells me the outside temperature is nearly 100. Nice. About four of the past six days have been 100 or higher. Shameless plug of my employer. This is where I parked and headed on my foot-propelled tour. Downtown Amarillo has lots of painted horses. I don't exactly get them, but I guess they're better than the pigs all over Cincinnati. Here's the Amarillo Globe-News building. The Globe-News is Amarillo's newspaper. The Santa Fe Building is Amarillo's second-tallest building. It's 188 feet tall and was built in 1930. It currently houses county offices. The top of the building features red lettering that lights up brightly at night. It's visible for miles. The Chase tower, the tallest building in the city. We'll pass by it later. The Paramount Building. I don't know the history of it except that it used to house a theater and now has offices. Sadly, a lot of downtown Amarillo looks like this. Closed buildings with boarded up fronts. The city's trying to revamp downtown, and there are a few projects going on that might kick up the place. One of those projects is the Fisk Building. This 10-story building opened in 1927. I don't know how long it's been closed, but it's reopening in 2010 as a hotel. This sign gives the details. They just had a dedication ceremony a few weeks ago. They're gutting the building to make the hotel. There we go. The Chase Tower, the tallest building in the city. It's 374 feet tall and apparently is the tallest building between Dallas and Denver. Another view. Another horse! This is the Barfield Building. It opened in 1927. It's currently waiting to be fixed up and turned into condos, but that seems to be getting nowhere. Such is the case with a few abandoned buildings downtown. The Barfield Building from the side. Amarillo National Bank Plaza One. This 16-story building is the eighth-tallest in the city. This is Plaza Two of the Amarillo National Bank Building. The old Potter County Courthouse. It's closed. You can probably see the fencing around it. There's a bit of fighting about this building. Gut it, tear it town, keep it, etc. The front entrance of the courthouse, taken over the fence. There's a tank next to the building, and even that's controversial. Some people want to move it, and that's got some veterans angry. This is the courthouse that's currently in use. It's right across the street from the old courthouse. This shapely building is the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts. This place houses Broadway plays, concerts, singers, the works. I've heard it's got great acoustics. The design is supposed to imitate Palo Duro Canyon, the second-largest canyon in the U.S. The canyon is about 20 miles south of Amarillo. Another view of the Globe-News Center. Aw. Isn't it a cute little downtown? The Herring Hotel opened in 1926. It's the third-tallest building in the city. It's been closed since the 1970s, and I haven't heard anything of what's to become of it. Another horse. As I wandered around, I found a bunch of unpainted horses sitting inside, surprise, an abandoned building. An out-of-focus (bleh) shot of the Amarillo Building. It's about a block away from the Herring Hotel, and this side is a similar design. The 10-story Maxor Building. Dark clouds started rolling in. Another abandoned building. No idea what this guy is. And here comes the rain. The "WT" on the top of the Chase Tower lights up. That was added a few months ago because West Texas A&M University has some classes in the building. No way! Another horse! Many of the streets downtown are brick, a throwback to the old days. And that's downtown Amarillo by a fairly new resident. I hope you liked it. I'll probably do some more if demand is high.

July 17th, 2009, 02:32 AM	#2
SRG keep jivin. Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: I ♥ OKC Posts: 4,196 Likes (Received): 0	Nice pics, interesting tour. I like the PAC a lot. So question..do you like living in Amarillo? __________________ until further notice i will be going out of my way to correct the spelling typos of people that annoy me on this forum.. my sites: http://www.downtownontherange.blogspot.com/ & http://www.okmet.org/

July 17th, 2009, 06:13 AM	#4
SRG keep jivin. Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: I ♥ OKC Posts: 4,196 Likes (Received): 0	Alright, cool. Glad to hear! __________________ until further notice i will be going out of my way to correct the spelling typos of people that annoy me on this forum.. my sites: http://www.downtownontherange.blogspot.com/ & http://www.okmet.org/

July 29th, 2009, 03:01 PM	#12
Jeeper767 Jeepus Africanus Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Kigali Posts: 42 Likes (Received): 2	Great set Haux, and welcome to Amarillo. The Fisk building was empty for a couple years before renovations started about a month ago. Even then it was only occupied on a couple floors. The Santa Fe building is downtown's saving grace. She is a jewel and I'm so glad that the county fixed her up and reoccupied her. Everyone I've talked to who has driven through on I-40 remembers that building more than all the others. The Paramount houses Randy's, a very nice restaurant. Before that it was sometimes used by artists for art exhibitions and gatherings. Not many residents are aware of that though. I attended and participated in a few photography exhibitions there. Unfortunately when the latest renovation was done they destroyed an original mural inside that was massive and equally beautiful. To this day I don't know why they had to do that. Ahh the Barfield building. A touchy subject for me. I put a deposit on a 6th floor unit in 2004. The devloper, Todd Harmon, made excuse after excuse for a couple of years before I finally demanded my money back. I had to threaten legal action to get it. His original excuse was that some bank bought out the bank that guaranteed their loan, and the new parent bank decided to rescind the loan. Later the delays were due to tax status issues that were being dealt with in court. Every few months a new excuse. Of course now the building is an eyesore, whereas before the "renovation" it was abandoned, but didn't look abandoned at all. On to the Herring. During Amarillo's boom, it was one of the nicest hotels west of the Mississippi. From what I understand, the building's interior is so dilapidated and out of fire code that it would cost less to tear it down and rebuild it than to refurbish it. I believe that and the fact that the building doesn't sit in the downtown core will prevent it from ever being renovated. It sure would be nice to see it occupied again someday though. Anyway, once again welcome to Amarillo. I have lots of photos of the town, I just never show them on this site, but I may as well start posting em. __________________ My Experiences in Rwanda

August 1st, 2009, 05:28 AM	#16
yakirz Registered User Join Date: May 2006 Location: Augusta (GA), Mobile (AL), Hilton Head Island (SC) Posts: 637 Likes (Received): 0	Thanks for the tour Nice seeing a place I don't know too much about. I've seen pictures of the Chase building, but that's about all. Don't get out that way too often, so I'm not sure when I'd see the city. __________________ ROLL TIDE!!! "Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription... is more cowbell!" I beg your pardon, Mama, what did you say? My mind was drifting off on Martinique Bay. It's not that I'm not interested, you see; Augusta, Georgia, is just no place to be. An American Dream

July 17th, 2009, 03:37 AM	#3
haux I love tall buildings Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Palm Beach, Fla. Posts: 125 Likes (Received): 7	Yeah, I like it. I grew up in a tiny town in Arizona, and I moved to Amarillo from a small town in Ohio. This place is fine.

July 17th, 2009, 06:25 AM	#5
Sean in New Orleans Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New Orleans, LA Posts: 2,893 Likes (Received): 2	Nice photos....I've been to Amarillo. It's so hot in the Summer, and it is SO cold in the Winter! Cheers....

July 21st, 2009, 11:32 PM	#7
diskojoe Registered Menace Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Houston TX Posts: 2,853 Likes (Received): 7	its sad that all of those nice building are closed. amarillo needs a population boom to get things poppin again. nice looking town.

July 17th, 2009, 07:06 AM	#10
Ganis BANNED Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Dallas / Amarillo Posts: 1,783 Likes (Received): 0	The Old Courthouse is under current renovation and will be back in operation next summer from what my folks tell me. Tank was donated by the Marine National Guard station there on I-40. Chase Tower is the tallest between DFW and Denver but it is also a test building for how a sky scrapper could do in the windy plains. The Paramount Theater is part of the Polk District (Street its on) where all the hip and where its at restaurants bars and clubs are. umm... ya. I grew up there till moving to Dallas. 100 in the summer and snows 6 feet in the winter. But a short distance form the ski slopes in NM and CO. You should definitely check out Caddilac Ranch on the west side of town off I-40.

July 17th, 2009, 07:07 AM	#11
Ganis BANNED Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Dallas / Amarillo Posts: 1,783 Likes (Received): 0	also Barfield Building was going to be condos but the developer took all the money and tried to run... so that is in court right now. Haring Building will be turned into Loft housing if they clean up that area.

July 30th, 2009, 10:49 AM	#13
haux I love tall buildings Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Palm Beach, Fla. Posts: 125 Likes (Received): 7	I'll just keep updating this thread as I go out and get more shots. I went to the amusement park Wonderland last weekend, so I've got a few pictures from there. I also visited Palo Duro Canyon a few months ago, and I could share those pictures. Does anyone have any requests? I can go out to Cadillac Ranch, The Big Texan (home of the 72-ounce steak), the zoo, whatever. There also are two small skyscrapers away from downtown that I'll get pictures of sometime. Anyone wanna see anything in particular? Jeeper767, cool to see you. Maybe we could go out shooting sometime.

July 30th, 2009, 07:50 PM	#14
Ganis BANNED Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Dallas / Amarillo Posts: 1,783 Likes (Received): 0	Lets see how close you can get to Pantex JK. Cadi Ranch, PD Canyon and The Big Texan are the 3 i think you should post.

July 30th, 2009, 09:24 PM	#15
SouthmoreAvenue Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Pasadena,Texas Posts: 504 Likes (Received): 0	I'd like to see the Palo Duro Canyon, if you can...

August 1st, 2009, 08:07 AM	#17
haux I love tall buildings Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Palm Beach, Fla. Posts: 125 Likes (Received): 7	One of my friends is letting me borrow her DSLR for about a week. My weekend starts Sunday, so I'll try to run downtown or to Cadillac Ranch or The Big Texan and get shots with that sucker.

August 4th, 2009, 05:47 AM	#18
pedro_auriazul BANNED Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mexico City, Mexico...DF Posts: 311 Likes (Received): 0	Nice city. I think is the largest city of northwestern Texas, and it looks completely a "country" place. I though that Amarillo was founded by spaniards when it belonged to the New Spain, but no.

August 4th, 2009, 10:25 PM	#19
Nic Registered User Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 1,074 Likes (Received): 5	Amarillo wasn't founded until the late 1800s, so it definitely was never a Spanish city. It exists because of the railroad. Ranching and agriculture were it's industry, and later gas and oil as well. Route 66, later upgraded to I-40 was also big. Of course there is more to it, but those are the pillars of Amarillo's existence.

August 5th, 2009, 09:16 AM	#20
haux I love tall buildings Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: West Palm Beach, Fla. Posts: 125 Likes (Received): 7	Sorry, but I didn't get any shots for this forum with the SLR. I won't show any pictures with an SLR off until I get the hang of using one. I was shooting in manual, and getting the exposure right was like a puzzle I couldn't exactly solve. So I'll go out with my point and shoot next time. I'm thinking I'll run to The Big Texan and get pictures of the outside of it. And maybe I'll post my pictures of Palo Duro Canyon soon.

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