Tower Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little extra color on the side. Out here on what used to be the beating heart of U.S. Route 66, there stands a building that doesn't just sit on the landscape, it announces itself.

They call it the Tower Building, and friend, it earned that name. In the early 1930s, new businesses were springing up all along Route 66 like wildflowers after a hard rain, commercial structures going up one after another as travelers and entrepreneurs alike chased the promise of that long asphalt ribbon. Now, the Tower Building came a little later than some of those early risers.

It was designed by a Pampa architect named J. C. Berry, and in 1936, a local entrepreneur by the name of J.

M. Tindall put the thing up. Gas station and diner under one roof, which, if you've ever been road-weary and running on fumes, you understand is about as close to salvation as architecture gets.

Berry didn't just draw four walls and call it a day either. The Tower Building is a genuine example of the art deco style, with curvilinear massing, those sweeping rounded forms that make a building look like it's already moving even when it's standing still. And then there are the neon highlights.

Picture that sign glowing out across the flat Texas dark, pulling in drivers from a mile away. That's not just a building. That's a beacon.

Some structures just hold space. This one holds history.

What the marker says

The distinctive Tower Building was one of many commercial structures erected in the early 1930s along new U.S. Route 66. Designed by Pampa architect, J. C. Berry, the structure was built by local entrepreneur, J. M. Tindall in 1936. The Tower Building is an excellent example of a gas station/diner of the 1930s and exhibits many elements of the art deco style, curvilinear massing, and neon highlights. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1994