Hall of State | |
 Exterior of the Hall of State | |
  Hall of State  Hall of State | |
| Location | 3939 Grand Ave., Dallas, Texas |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°46′51″N 96°45′40″W / 32.78083°N 96.76111°W |
| Built | 1936 |
| Architect | Donald Barthelme, Adams & Adams, et al |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| Part of | Texas Centennial Exposition Buildings (1936-1937) (ID86003488[1]) |
| TSAL No. | 8200000213 |
| RTHL No. | 6732 |
| DLMKHD No. | H/33 (Fair Park) |
| Significant dates | |
| Designated CP | September 24, 1986 |
| Designated TSAL | January 1, 1984 |
| Designated RTHL | 1981 |
| Designated DLMKHD | March 4, 1987[2] |
The Hall of State (originally the State of Texas Building) is a building in Dallas's Fair Park that commemorates the history of the U.S. state of Texas and is considered one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in the state. It was designed and built for the Texas Centennial Exposition.
Site
[edit]The Hall of State is located at Fair Park, an 80-acre fairground in East Dallas. It is located at the west end of the 1,500-foot (460 m) long Esplanade of State which is flanked by six exhibition pavilions and features a long reflecting pool.
The Dallas State Fair (later the State Fair of Texas) has been held at Fair Park since 1886.[3]
City leaders, such as R. L. Thornton, Fred Florence, and George Waverley Briggs, wanted Dallas to be chosen as the host city for the Texas Centennial Exposition. They worked on building public support and hired architect, George Dahl, to draw up preliminary plans.[4] Dallas was chosen as the host city in September 1934.[5] City officials offered the land at Fair Park and promised $8 million dollars would go towards the Centennial,[6] even if they did not get any state or federal funds.[7]
In spring 1935, Texas House Bill 11 passed, which allocated $1,000,000 towards buildings for the Texas Centennial Exposition on the State Fair of Texas fairgrounds[8] plus $200,000 to "equip and furnish the structure."[9]
Design and Architecture
[edit]
Architects
[edit]In September 1934, when Dallas submitted its bid to become the host city for the Centennial Exposition, George Dahl’s conceptual sketches for the State of Texas building were presented to the Texas Centennial Commission.[10] This version included a cylindrical tower with a gold star on top in the center of the building with pavilions on each side. By June 1935, these plans, minus the tower, were published in the Dallas Morning News.[11] Dahl’s design was approved by the Exposition Commission and the Texas Centennial Commission.
Around June 20, the Centennial Board of Control, a group established by the Texas Legislature to oversee and disburse money set aside for the Centennial,[12] contracted the Texas Centennial Architects, Associated to design the building. This group included ten prominent Dallas architects, such as Mark Lemmon, Hal Thomson, Roscoe DeWitt, Marion Foosher, Anton Korn, Ralph Bryan, Walter Sharp, and Arthur Thomas.[10] On June 24 and 29, 1935, this group presented their designs for the State of Texas building.[13]
These new designs attempted to bring the building’s costs down to the amount set by the Texas Legislature ($1 million).[14] By July 3, 1935, none of these designs had been approved.[10][15]
The next day, Mark Lemmon offered Donald Barthelme the position of chief designer for the State of Texas building. By July 9, Barthelme presented his designs, which were approved by the State Board of Control in Austin. The final revisions to his design was approved on July 20, 1935. All three entities involved—the Texas Centennial Central Exposition Corporation, the Texas Centennial Commission, and the Centennial Board of Control—approved his design.[10]
Construction
[edit]The formal groundbreaking ceremony for the Hall of State was on October 12, 1935.[5] The original building plans included two additional rooms, the Hall of 1836 and the Hall of 1936. To keep costs down, they were not built, although their foundations were poured.[10] By February 1936, the building's steel framework was up,[16] but only the exterior of the building was ready when the Centennial opened on June 6, 1936.[10]
Exterior
[edit]The curved exedra at the entrance to the Hall of Texas features 76-foot (23 m) tall limestone pillars sit in front of blue tiles designed to evoke the state's flower, the bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis). In the center, above the entrance is an 11-foot (3.4 m) bronze with gold leaf statue by Allie Tennant[17] of the "Tejas Warrior": an archer holds high a bow without an arrow, meant to symbolize peace.
The names of the following 60 prominent historical figures in Texas' history are on the exterior frieze of the Hall of State:
Outside, a statue of Robert L. Thornton, benefactor of the State Fair of Texas and former Mayor of Dallas stands, overlooking the esplanade.
Interior
[edit]The building is designed in the shape of a T, and has four interior rooms representing regions found in Texas: West, East, North and South. Each room includes artwork representative of the region.
The main entry inside the Hall of State is the Hall of Heroes, which features six bronze statues of James Fannin, Mirabeau B. Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, Thomas Jefferson Rusk and William B. Travis. There are also bronze plaques that commemorate the Battle of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto.
History
[edit]Built in 1936 at the astronomical (especially during the Great Depression) price of $1.2 million, the building was the most expensive per unit area of any structure built in Texas.
It was designed for the centennial of the Republic of Texas by architect Donald Barthelme[18] in the beaux arts style and is considered one of the most representative examples of art deco architecture in Texas. According to documents from the Dallas Historical Society Centennial archives collection, John F. Livers designed and manufactured the majority of the Art Deco ornamental metalwork at his Livers Lighting and Bronze Company in Kansas City, Missouri, including the light fixtures. It was built using Texas limestone and features memorials to many of the heroes of Texas history.
Current
[edit]The Dallas Historical Society has been responsible for managing the Hall of State since 1938. The Hall of State is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a part of Fair Park. In 1986, the building was restored at a cost of approximately $1.5 million, and the G.B. Dealey Library was opened.
The G.B. Dealey Library, located in the West Texas room of the Hall of State, holds more than ten thousand bound volumes and three million historic documents, including Sam Houston's handwritten account of the battle of San Jacinto.
The Dallas Historical Society rents the Hall of State for events and provides guided tours to school groups.
The structure became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1981.[19]
The American Museum of the Miniature Arts was previously located at the Hall of State.
See also
[edit]
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Dallas County, Texas
- Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Dallas County
- List of Dallas Landmarks
References
[edit]- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
- ^ "Ordinance No. 27079" (PDF). City of Dallas. 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
- ^ Association, Texas State Historical. "The History of the State Fair of Texas: From Its Origins to Modern Day". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
- ^ "Speed proves amazing part of Centennial". Dallas Morning News. June 7, 1936. pp. 1, 6.
- ^ a b Hazel, Michael (Spring 2011). "Building the Westminster Abbey of the New World: Designing and constructing the Hall of State". Legacies: A history journal for Dallas and North Central Texas. 23 (1): 18–27.
- ^ Hazel, Michael V. (2011). "Building the Westminster Abbey of the new world: designing and constructing the Hall of State". Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas. 23 (1): 18–27. ISSN 1071-0426.
- ^ Ragsdale, Kenneth (1987). The year America discovered Texas: Centennial '36. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0890962995.
- ^ "Workers begin on Centennial". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. June 23, 1935. p. 5.
- ^ "HB 11, 44th R. S. text" (PDF). Legislative Reference Library of Texas. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f Winters, Willis (2021). "Donald Barthelme's Epic Design for the Hall of State". Legacies: A History Journal for Dallas & North Central Texas. 33 (2): 20–36.
- ^ "Dominating Hall of State to reflect Southwestern Art". Dallas Morning News. June 16, 1935.
- ^ Cummings, Light Townsend (2013). "History, memory, and rebranding Texas as western for the 1936 Texas Centennial". This corner of Canaan: Essays on Texas in honor of Randolph B. Campbell: 37–57.
- ^ "Details of two other giant structures for Centennial rushed". Dallas Morning News. June 25, 1935. pp. 1, 12.
- ^ "Protesting board of architects to offer new design". Dallas Morning News. June 28, 1935. p. 1.
- ^ "Architects junk prepared design for Hall of State". Dallas Morning News. July 4, 1935. p. 1.
- ^ "Steel going up for Hall of State". Dallas Morning News. February 16, 1936. p. 7.
- ^ Hendricks, Patricia D. and Becky Duval Reese, A Century of Sculpture in Texas: 1889-1989, University of Texas, Austin, 1989 p. 45
- ^ Hall of State FAQs Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, Dallas Historical Society
- ^ "Texas Historic Sites Atlas". Texas Historical Commission. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2013.
External links
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