The star-stamped aluminum panels give the tower the most distinctive curtain wall in downtown Dallas. They were derived from those on New York City architect Wallace K. Harrison’s 1953 Alcoa Building in Pittsburgh, although with a bolder, more sharp-edged design. The 36-story tower and 8-story banking pavilion were the first significant post–World War II projects in Dallas and the focus of later east-end development. With a series of expansions that continued the star panel motif (1964 Republic Tower II addition, Harrell + Hamilton; 1980 Republic Center Tower III addition, OMNIPLAN), the Republic Center came to completely occupy the large, irregular city block. The original tower was renovated in 2007 for 229 residential units by Corgan Associates and renamed the Gables Republic Tower.
Taking formal advantage of the angular street intersections around Thanks-Giving Square, I. M. Pei partner Henry Cobb designed the 49-story Energy Plaza (ARCO Tower; 1983, I. M. Pei and Partners) at 1601 Bryan Street, with a plan based on three right triangles of differing heights, leaving a fourth triangle at the corner open in deference to the chapel across the street. At One Dallas Centre (1979, I. M. Pei and Partners; 350 N. St. Paul Street), in an earlier response to the angular street grid, Cobb tautly stretched one of the firm’s elegant curtain walls over a sharp parallelogram set at an acute angle between streets.