I've lived in Houston my entire life, all 29 years of it so far. It is by far one of the most architecturally intriguing cities on the planet. Lack of zoning has led to one of the most unique city profiles around although we pay for it here with odd looking neighborhoods (a flower shop next to 2 older homes next to a car wash behind a donut shop around the corner from an apartment complez, you get the idea). We have at least seven major business centers (Downtown, The Galleria, The Texas Medical Center, Greenway Plaza, Westchase & The Energy Corridor, Greenspoint, The Woodlands) along with quite a few second tier building clusters (NASA/Clear Lake, Midtown/Museum District, Sugar Land).
All of this development was fueled by the boom days of the 70's and 80's but what you all may not know is that most of our outlying business centers were developed primarily to function as "cities within the city". They are wholly independent of each other. They have their own shopping, residential, and transportation access. Granted, Houston is a "spoke & wheel" freeway city as opposed to a grid pattern such as Los Angeles so our tower clusters have stayed close to and followed along most major freeways. Whereas in Chicago, you have one massive downtown area stretching for miles and miles, Houston's is spread across hundreds of square miles but is not nearly as dense.
You mentioned that you would like some sort of comparison with Dallas. Being that The Little D or the "Glass Ranch" as we Houstonians like to call it does boast some impressive architecture as well, it is definitely worthy of comparison. Downtown Dallas stretching up past McKinney/Lemmon is the first and most recognizeable group. The next area of note is the Stemmons Freeway (I-35E) corridor just Northwest of downtown. There are some towers scattered along I 635 North and US 75 North including Dallas' Medical Center but the next best stretch of buildings is along the Dallas North Tollway north of I-635. It begins with the Dallas Galleria (nice, but Houston's blows this one out of the water) and stretches for miles Northward. Most of these buildings are not very tall but they sport some of the newest and most cutting edge architecture around.
Beyond Dallas, Irving has the next biggest cluster of towers including Las Colinas (the famous fountain showing the horses galloping through water is here). Some new buildings are springing up at Legacy (Dallas North Tollway & 121 in Frisco) and points West. Arlington has a few mid-rise buildings and with the advent of the new Cowboys stadium, more will likely come. Fort Worth's downtown area is a fraction of the size of Dallas' but has some interesting features of its own. One of the tallest towers took a direct hit from a freak urban tornado some years ago and sat dilapidated for years before finally being hollowed out and rebuilt. Fort Worth has been more successful than Dallas at retaining and preserving its architectural history but Fort Worth has also not experienced the development boom enjoyed by its bigger brother 30 miles East. Fort Worth's older downtown area has been preserved decently but they did bulldoze Hells Half Acre (warehouses and rail yards) back in the 60's and 70's to develop the Tarrant County Convention Center and the Fort Worth Water Gardens among other things.
In summary, Dallas' entire downtown skyline is pure eye candy. Who doesn't love the Blue Diamond building (did you know the original plans called for more than one of those to get built?), Reunion Tower with its spherical outline, or any of the other towers like Crescent Court and the old Magnolia Building? Houston's isn't all that shabby either what with Pennzoil Place (still a classic), the two former Enron towers, and of course all the other wonderful towers designed by the greats like Cesar Pelli, Phillip Johnson, and I. M. Pei. No, its not Chicago or New York, but Houston is probably #3 on that list and Dallas isn't very far behind.
In terms of modern architecture, Houston has the edge in quantity of buildings but Dallas and surrounding areas might have the edge in quality. Houston has a most imposing downtown profile and most of the basic shapes, colors, and lines are represented. We've got 3 towers at or near 1,000 feet while Dallas only has one. We've got the makings of a much more active downtown scene than does Dallas. Once the Main Street light rail line was built here, it paved the way for a whole bar and night club strip to be developed in concert with new mid and high rise lofts and condos. Dallas has a much more extensive light rail system that hubs in downtown but it is not as active after hours. Dallas' West End Marketplace seems to have fallen on some hard times recently but it may have changed since I last visited. Most of the night scene is in Deep Ellum just east of downtown Dallas and off the rail line for now. Houston's other night scenes are in the Galleria area along Westheimer & Richmond.
In terms of development, Dallas and the rest of the Metroplex is about 1 million people and several hundred square miles ahead of us. Their suburbs sprouted up much the same way ours did, along the freeways. The two cities are similar in that most of the suburban development occurred North and West of downtown. Houston does have an increased amount of development to the Southwest and Southeast though. Dallas' suburbs are MUCH bigger and have basically surrounded the city of Dallas itself cutting it off from expansion Northward and Westward. Most of these places like Plano, Carrollton, Irving, Grand Prairie, and Arlington grew up big in the 70's and 80's. Houston's suburbs in contrast are somewhat limited in size because of Houston's once aggressive method of annexation. Most of the unincorporated areas of Harris County and surrounding counties are not suburban cities, just collections of neighborhoods. Our biggest suburban cities are Sugar Land, Missouri City, Baytown, Pasadena, and a big group of cities to the Southeast along Galveston Bay.
The long range planning for population award definitely goes to Dallas although their freeways are way behind ours in terms of capacity, especially I-30 and I-35E. US 75 was one of, if not the worst stretch of roadway in the country about 15 years ago but it has since been widened and is actually aesthetically pleasing to drive. Most of Houston's freeways are anything but nice to look at what with the never ending sprawl of strip malls and billboards bombarding your eyes for miles on end. Don't get me wrong, Dallas has its fair share of this blight too but for some strange reason, I seem to notice it less when I'm going through there. One last note about the freeways, while Dallas seems to have a never ending row of cookie cutter stack interchanges along I-635 and some genuine "Malfunction Junctions" (I-35/I-30 in downtown), it is also starting to enter the big league with stacks like the High Five (I-635-US 75). Houston has had these kinds of stacks for over 15 years along Beltway 8/Sam Houston Tollway) to go along with our inner core of stacks along I-610 and in downtown. I get chills driving into either of these downtowns as the 5 lane freeway swoops into and then just alongside each city's showcase of towers.
To go along with the urban planning vein, most of Dallas' main thoroughfares are at least 3 lanes each way while Houston still has a ways to go. Most of Houston's streets are two lanes each way with esplanades. There is room to add a third lane but the older pavement usually has to be ripped up and redone first due to our gumbo clay soil and our ridiculous water table. It's not as bad as New Orleans soil and water tables but its close enough. In terms of transportation, Dallas has a huge leg up on us with its light rail and commuter rail systems. They got the benefit of matching Federal funds and a friendly contingent in Congress whereas we got an inept transit agency with a hap hazard plan, tepid local support, and a long list of enemies in congress including the now departed Tom DeLay (yay!). Our metro area is perfect for a good short and long range complementary rail system a la Dallas, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Do not forget who runs this town however. Big Oil, developers, and the highway lobby have so far successfully beaten back or vilified any rail plans but the tide may be changing. We've widened most of our freeways about as big as they can get and the ones that haven't been fixed will be fixed soon. We do have rail right of way to use but we also have a slap-dash development pattern along most of it so rail will have to come hand in hand with development.
I hope this has been informative to everyone. This is my first major contribution to SimTropolis but this thread just grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go. Ironically enough, I will likely be moving away from Houston later this year to another metro area that may soon have its architectural "day in the sun". I'll be relocating to Phoenix by Labor Day. Phoenix is an up-and-comer that isn't much to look at vertically today but may soon grow upward. C'mon, with nearly 4 million people, their tallest building is only about 40 stories. You know that will change soon and I will have a front row seat to see it all!
