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People walk on a skybridge over McKinney Street towards The Shops at Houston Center from the LyondellBasell Tower during around lunchtime, Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in downtown Houston.
Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
On a weekday afternoon, if the sidewalks in downtown Houston look especially bare, it could be because all the pedestrians can be found beneath them.
The tunnel system is a woven maze of pathways and halls leading to food courts and shopping strips for Houstonians to eat, shop and socialize during their lunch breaks.
People wait in line at food stalls and food trucks outside the JPMorgan Chase Tower during lunchtime, Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in downtown Houston.
Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerIt has become an integral network of underground businesses that employees and citizens access through elevators, skybridges and stairs.
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Downtown’s tunnel system is an estimated 20 feet underground, connects 95 city blocks and is over 6 miles long .
The history of the tunnel system
Sandra Lord, affectionately referred to as "the Tunnel Lady," has led walking tours of Houston and the underground tunnel system since 1991.
Since moving to Houston in July 1984, she has seen the tunnels evolve from a simple and dim design into the chic, modern collection of shops and culture it is now.
“I’m happy to see that it’s still in good shape and successful,” Lord said. “It’s been around long enough to have different eras.”
The tunnels' origins begin in the early 1900s, and was nothing like the hive that exists today. In the early 1930s, a tunnel was built connecting two of former Texas Governor Ross Sterling,'s buildings by his son-in-law and architect Wyatt C. Henderick.
Sterling owned both the Houston Post-Dispatch in the 1920s, which later became the Houston Post, and the Sterling Building, which was completed in 1931. The tunnel connecting the two was beneath Fannin Street and spanned between both Texas Street and Capitol Street.
The tunnels expanded thanks to an entertainment aficionado and entrepreneur who needed to cool his multiple movie theaters in downtown Houston.
Will Horwitz' first theater purchase was the 1913 Travis Theater at 614 Travis St. in 1919 for $150, renamed the Iris Theater after his daughter Ruth Iris. It is now the site of 75-story JP Morgan Chase Tower. He then opened the Texan theater in 1925 at 814 Capitol St., and began building the Uptown Theater at 805 Capitol St. 10 years later.
According to Cinema Treasures, Horwitz planned to air condition his three theaters , which would require digging holes in the basements.
So, he decided to connect them by building a tunnel, which he would call the “Uptown Center Project.”
It would include shops and restaurants upstairs along with a penny arcade and a German wine tavern downstairs.
After Horwitz' death on Christmas 1941 , the Texan Theater closed down Sep. 8, 1953, was demolished and the tunnels sat abandoned for years.
People walk through the downtown tunnels around lunchtime, Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in downtown Houston.
Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographerDowntown Houston underwent a revival in the 1970s as real estate developer Gerald D. Hines added 27 major buildings in Downtown Houston .
"It's fascinating because he made the tunnel system more interesting as I brought in more people through walking tours," Lord said about the parallel in the tunnel's growth during this time. "I called it the "new tunnel."
As new developers came along, so did new businesses and more tunnels and parking garages to Houston’s bustling downtown.
Most of the tunnels are not owned by the city of Houston. Each building is privately owned and operated, and spaces are leased to retailers.
Lord says that it speaks volumes for the system to still be used and popular, and she expects it to continue to be successful for years to come.
"It's going to be just fine," Lord said. "There's nowhere else like it anywhere else in the world."
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Where are the entrances?
The only ways to access the tunnels directly from the street is through Wells Fargo Plaza and the McKinney Garage on Main Street.
Other entry points are through elevators, street-level stairs and escalators inside office buildings directly connected to the tunnels.
Where can I park?
There are several locations for public garage parking downtown.
There is a map of specific locations you can park in relation to tunnel entrances.
When is it open?
The tunnels are only open weekdays from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The core of the tunnels’ appeal are to employees who work downtown and those offering services to them.
“Monday and Friday are the slowest days,” said Ron Gongora, 62, owner of Red’s Barbershop at 1001 Fannin Suite 170.
“Being in a business of convenience was really our success because people could come on their lunch break and get their haircut.”
