Bird’s-eye view of downtown Austin
This is as high as you can get above downtown Austin without flying. Yesterday evening we took in the view from the observation deck of The Austonian, the tallest residential building in Texas. At 55 floors up, the view (not to mention the elevator ride up there) takes your breath away. Even the Frost Bank Tower (foreground, far right), long the tallest building in Austin, seems dwarfed — and its owl-like facade looks rather surprised to see you up there.
At the north end of Congress Avenue, the Texas Capitol building was aglow, as was, to the northwest, the orange-lit University of Texas Tower.
From the east side of the building you can see Lady Bird Lake curving past downtown. For those unfamiliar with Austin, yes, our downtown lake looks like a river. It’s actually the Colorado River, dammed in 1960 for flood control, power-plant cooling (now closed), and recreation. Through her beautification efforts in the 1970s, Lady Bird Johnson was instrumental in transforming the lake’s barren, weedy shores into the scenic downtown oasis we enjoy today. Town Lake, as it was then known, was renamed in 2007 in Mrs. Johnson’s honor.
My thanks to the organizers of the Texas Rowing Center‘s team dinner for the chance to enjoy this amazing view.
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It’s a truly wonderful view! I once worked in LA’s tallest building (72 stories) and periodically made it to the top as my boss’s office was there but it wasn’t nearly as attractive a view.
I always imagine L.A.’s skyline as a less-polluted version of the futuristic city in Blade Runner. I’d like to see it from 72 floors up, just to compare. —Pam
What a view. I noticed the building on the right immediately as being a big tulip about to open. I must have thought that because of the time of year.
I bet so. It is definitely a design that makes you say, “Huh?” —Pam