Kyle McClenagan/HPM
Ashley Turner-Captain (Center) stands with family members in front of the Harris County Sylvester Turner Administration Building. Dec. 17, 2025.
Harris County officials and family members of Sylvester Turner, the late former Houston mayor and congressman, gathered at a 20-story building in downtown Houston on a foggy Wednesday morning for a renaming ceremony.
Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, a fellow Democrat and political ally of Turner’s, opened the ceremony by discussing the building’s history and how that history exemplifies the changes Houston has undergone over the last three-quarters of a century. Ellis said the structure at 1010 Lamar St. used to serve as the Sackowitz building — a high-end clothing store — in the 1950s.
“This building has such a rich history — opened, as I mentioned, in 1950,” Ellis said. “Early on, until the mid-’60s, African Americans and Hispanics could buy clothes from Sackowitz, but you couldn’t come in and try them on. … So I was thinking, shortly after Sylvester passed, what would be the appropriate honor? This building just made sense. It’s important.”
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The building will now be known as the Harris County Sylvester Turner Administration Building and will soon be the new offices of the county attorney’s office, auditor’s office and department of equity.
Turner died March 5 at the age of 70. A native Houstonian, Turner was born in 1954 and grew up in Acres Homes, a predominantly Black suburb. His death came just a couple months into his term as the representative of Texas’ 18th Congressional District, which has since remained vacant as a runoff election to determine his successor is scheduled for Jan. 31. He was the mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024.
Harris County Engineer Milton Rahman also spoke at Wednesday’s event and said the building will serve a fitting purpose in honor of Turner.
“That tells you this represents the value[s] justice, equity and fairness,” Rahman said. “Those are going to be the departments that Harris County holds very close to [its] chest — the values we carry. That’s going to be this building.”
Ashley Turner-Captain, Turner’s daughter, shared an anecdote from her father about how the skyscrapers of downtown Houston inspired him as a young man.
“I get to tell my son the story of his pop-pop getting on that bus, coming into downtown from Acres Homes, dreaming and being inspired [by] these big buildings and now this building — one of the tall buildings — is dedicated [to] his pop-pop,” Turner-Captain said. “I think that’s just an amazing way to honor him.”
Kyle McClenagan/HPM
Harris County leaders and family members of the late Sylvester Turner unveil a new monument to the former mayor and congressman outside the building that now shares his name. Dec. 17, 2025.
Turner-Captain also said the building is characteristic of her father’s “conviction” and “courage.”
“But most importantly, I’m excited about the children that will also be inspired when they see this tall building named after my dad,” she said. “There was a quote that he loved to state all the time. He said that, ‘Children are messengers that we send out into a world that we may not see for ourselves. What message will we send?’
“And I believe that by naming this building the Harris County Sylvester Turner Administration Building, we’re telling every single child from all parts of Houston, ‘It doesn’t matter what you look like, it doesn’t matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter how much money you have in your bank account. If you work hard, if you keep your pride up and stay good with the Lord, then he can fulfill your wildest, wildest dreams.’ “
Just before the fog turned to drizzle, Turner-Captain, her family and Ellis — along with Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia — unveiled a new monument to Turner outside the building that now bears his name at the corner of Lamar and Fannin Street.