Architecture/Significant Bldgs. | Flashback : Dallas

DP&L’s Twin Smokestacks

An unusual view of the smokestacks from 1939 — in color!

by Paula Bosse

I got to thinking about those two smokestacks that used to be such an important part of the Dallas skyline when I came across this rather forceful 1928 Dallas Power & Light Company ad:

(click for larger image)

“More than twenty thousand ways” to use electricity, “your tireless mechanical slave”! (To see a larger image of the ad’s illustrated inset, click here.)

According to The Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Power & Light Company power plant had been in use at the location at “at the foot of Griffin Street … since 1890, with additions in 1905, in 1912 and in 1914. In 1922 work started on the most recent addition, which when completed will cost over $2,000,000, and will provide additional generating capacity of furnishing 20,000 kilowatts” (DMN, Oct. 14, 1923).

Construction on the new addition — including the first of the two new smokestacks — began in the summer of 1922.

dpl_dmn_FWST_072822 Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 28, 1922

By the summer of 1923 the first smokestack was partially built.

DMN, July 13, 1923 (click for larger images)

The new addition was completed in 1924 (although improvements and construction were constantly ongoing). The new giant smokestack can be seen in this photo, alongside the old and new parts of the generating plant:

dpl_dmn_101224_photo2 DMN, Oct. 12, 1924

And, another view, this one with the 8-acre “spray pond” in the foreground:

DMN, Oct. 12, 1924

In 1928 DP&L announced that it needed a further addition:

Another large chimney or smokestack, a new boiler room and other plant enlargements will be required in the North Dallas generation plant to house the new addition. (DMN, Oct. 20, 1928)

And in 1929 … voilà — the second smokestack!

1929

Those two smokestacks (which actually emitted steam rather than smoke) were almost as much a part of the iconic Dallas skyline as Pegasus. You’ll see them in any wide shot of the skyline taken between 1929 and the late 1990s, when the plant was demolished to make way for the American Airlines Center (the design of which actually is reminiscent of the building it replaced). You could see those smokestacks from miles away, and, even though they’ve been gone for more than 15 years, I still expect to see them standing there. RIP, smokestacks!

1930s, via DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University

Photo by William Langley, 1945 (with the twin stacks AND Pegasus)

via Squire Haskins Collection, University of Texas at Arlington

Aerial photo by Lloyd M. Long, 1948 (detail)

***

Sources & Notes

Color image is a screengrab from the short 1939 color film of Dallas which you can watch in full, here.

Ad is from the 1928 Terrillian, the Terrill School yearbook.

William Langley photo of the cowboy on horseback is from the Library of Congress, used previously here.

Lloyd M. Long aerial photo is a detail of a photo cataloged as “Downtown Dallas — looking west,” from the Edwin J. Foscue Map Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University; the full photo and its details are accessible here.

For an unexpectedly enthusiastic essay about the design and cultural/aesthetic significance of the plant and its smokestacks, architecture critic David Dillon’s “Getting Up a Head of Steam: DP&L’s Power Station, Recalling an Urban Past, Is a Function of Triumph” (Dallas Morning News, Sept. 7, 1983) is well worth searching for in the Dallas Morning News archives. This is the first paragraph:

The Dallas Steam Electric Station on Stemmons is nearly a century old and for most of that time it has been a commanding presence on the downtown skyline, its soaring white smokestacks rivaling anything that modern skyscraper designers have come up with. In Pittsburgh or Detroit such a structure might pass unnoticed but in Dallas, never a factory town, it stands out as a romantic symbol of our earliest industrial aspirations.

(My favorite piece of trivia from Dillon’s article is the revelation that the “tapering white shafts and gold caps [were] touched up every few years by daredevil painters lowered from a helicopter…” (!)).

More about this plant (and how it lives on in the design of the American Airlines Center which now stands on the same land) can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “A New Turbine Power Station for Big D — 1907,” here.

As always, most images are larger when clicked. When in doubt … CLICK!

13 Comments

April 27, 2015

A Distant Dallas Hall on the Horizon — 1914

A clear line of sight, from Deep Ellum to SMU (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

A quick “bonus” post: a detail of an incredible photo of the Continental Gin building which shows a ghostly Dallas Hall looming in the distance. Dallas Hall was the first building on the SMU campus, and in 1914 — a year before classes began — the far off building was way, way out in the country. SMU is a little over 5 miles from Deep Ellum. That’s quite a view.

***

This detail is from a photo featured in a previous Flashback Dallas post, “The Continental Gin Complex — 1914,” which can be seen here. I’ve just added this detail — and two other magnified details showing Baylor Hospital and the old Ursuline campus — to the post.

The original photograph, titled “Continental Gin Company on Elm Street, Facing North” by Charles Erwin Arnold, is from the George W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection housed at the DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University. The photo and its details can be viewed here. It really is one of my favorite historical Dallas photos ever.

April 21, 2015

The Adolphus & Its Annex

The Adolphus Hotel and its annex, circa 1922 (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Built in 1912, the ornate and luxurious Barnett, Haynes, and Barnett-designed Adolphus Hotel (which was modeled on/inspired by the Plaza Hotel in New York) quickly became THE hotel in Dallas. It was so successful that in only four years an expansion was already underway. The 12-story “Annex” (seen above, just to the left of the original building) was designed by preeminent Dallas architects Otto Lang and Frank Witchell. The so-called “Junior Adolphus” was built around 1916/17 and added 229 rooms to Dallas’ most glamorous hotel. A third addition (“Adolphus III”) came along in the 1920s.

Below, a few views of the Adolphus complex at different stages of its growth. (Click photos for larger images.)

Built at the northwest corner of Commerce and Akard streets, the Adolphus Hotel was built on the spot previously occupied by the City Hall. This photo, looking northeast, shows the site’s excavation by Vilbig Brothers Construction.

In this detail from an April 1913 panoramic photograph of the city’s skyline, the Adolphus can be seen just six months after its opening at the end of 1912. (A previous post devoted to the full panoramic photo can be accessed here.) The Oriental Hotel, with its rounded topknot, can be seen across Commerce from its sister hotel (both were built by beer king Adolphus Busch). Seen in the background is the Praetorian Building — once the tallest structure in Dallas (it is the tall building, second from the right).

The the Lang & Witchell-designed annex came along around 1916/17 (see top photo). My favorite detail is what looks like an open-air terrace, with tables and chairs, overlooking Commerce Street.

Another view, showing the hotel and annex in 1924.

A closer look shows that the terrace is now enclosed.

A few years later, a further, taller addition was built.

***

Top photo from the 1922 Yearbook of the Dallas Architectural Club.

Photo of the excavation from Dallas Then and Now by Ken Fitzgerald (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2001); photograph from the Texas/Dallas History and Archive Division of the Dallas Public Library. A similar photo can be seen on the fascinating history page of the Vilbig & Associates website, here.

Detail of 1913 panoramic photo from the Jno. J. Johnson photo in the Library of Congress. (For more info, see previous post, “‘New Dallas Skyline’ — 1913,” here.)

Photo of the Adolphus with the Coca Cola sign in the lower left from Historic Dallas Hotels by Sam Childers (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2010). The author’s extremely informative caption can be read here.

See a wonderful pictorial history of the Adolphus Hotel on the Dallas Morning News website here.

The official website for the Adolphus Hotel is here.

Click photos for larger images.

16 Comments

April 20, 2015

Aerial View of the Centennial Fairgrounds — 1936

The Texas Centennial: a “World’s Fair” for Dallas

by Paula Bosse

This fantastic photo (by one of Dallas’ top aerial photographers, Lloyd M. Long) shows the impressive expanse of Fair Park’s new Art Deco splendor — most of the buildings seen here were built especially for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, and most of those are, thankfully, still standing.

***

Sources & Notes

Lloyd M. Long photo, found on Red Oak Kid’s Flickr stream, here.

To see this photo REALLY big, click here.

5 Comments

April 17, 2015

“New Dallas Skyline” — 1913

Dallas skyline panorama detail, 1913 (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

On April 1, 1913, one of Dallas’ most prominent photographers, Jno. J. Johnson, took a wonderful panoramic photo of the Dallas skyline. Dallas was, even then, boasting an impressive skyline. I’ve zoomed in a bit on the photo, breaking it down into four separate images. Johnson’s original photograph, titled “New Dallas Skyline — April 1, 1913,” is below. (Click to enlarge all images.)

(Click this photo!)
*

Below, the first portion of the photo.

E. Eppstein & Co., wholesale distributors of whiskey and cigars, was at 1300-1302 Jackson.

Above, the second portion, showing S. Akard Street, looking north — at the end of the street is the 6-month old Adolphus Hotel (then the tallest building in Dallas), built by beer baron Adolphus Busch, located on Commerce Street, catty-corner from his other hotel, The Oriental (the darker building in the center, with the distinctive top-knot on its northwest corner). The Praetorian Building (on Main) — a previous “tallest building in Dallas” — is the still tall-ish white building, second from the right.

The third portion (at the top) shows, I believe, Wood Street, looking east. The Post Office tower on Commerce can be seen at the far left. At the top, to the right of Wood Street (at S. Harwood) is the still-familiar sight of the First Presbyterian Church dome (brand new — the paint inside and out was probably still wet when this photograph was taken); to the right of the dome is the also-still-standing (and beautiful!) Scottish Rite Temple, also brand new.

The final portion shows what I guess would be considered the northern edge of The Cedars? I love old photos that show residences in what we now consider the Central Business District. It’s so weird seeing these houses! The hulking turreted building at the top is Butler Brothers (built in 1910-11) at 500 S. Ervay; it later changed its name to the Merchandise Mart, and it is now undergoing renovation.

***

Panoramic photograph by Jno. J. Johnson, from the Library of Congress, here.

For those who want to play along at home, a 1919 street map of the area can be found at the ever-indispensable Portal to Texas History, here.

Click pictures for much larger images.

7 Comments

April 13, 2015

The Elegant Municipal Building — 1914

A very un-Dallas-looking building … and one of its finest

by Paula Bosse

Appearing in the May 7, 1914 issue of Municipal Journal was a short article on Dallas’ then-under-construction Municipal Building and a drawing of what it would look like when completed.

Dallas Will Have Modern Municipal Building
Dallas, Tex. – The new municipal building of the city of Dallas is nearing completion and will be ready for occupancy in a few months. It will house all of the city departments and in addition will have a modern emergency hospital in the basement and public rest rooms for both men and women. The building is said to be a radical departure in architectural design from the usual type of public buildings in the South; it is constructed along simple but dignified lines. The structure will be of steel construction covered with blue Bedford stone, the five stories, basement and sub-basement will be a home worthy of the city of the hour, as Dallas people like to call their town. Ventilating and heating systems are being installed together with vacuum cleaners. The building, without furnishings, will cost about $550,000. C. D. Hill and Company are the architects. The structure was started by the Fred A. Jones Building Company, which failed just as the steel was up, and it is being finished within the estimates by the city under the supervision of the architects.

This new City Hall, located at Main, Harwood, and Commerce, was designed by Dallas architect C. D. Hill. Construction began in late 1913 — by January of 1914, its steel frame was in place.

Dallas Morning News, Jan. 1, 1914

The cornerstone was laid in a Masonic ceremony on Valentine’s Day, 1914.

municipal- bldg_FWST_021514-cornerstone Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Feb. 15, 1914

As the construction was winding down, workmen complained of an “intolerable” swarm of mosquitoes flying around the site. Apparently an underground spring was flooding the sub-basement and providing palatial digs for endless cycles of constantly-hatching mosquitoes. (I wonder if the basement still floods on occasion?)

municipal-bldg_dmn_091014-mosquitoes DMN, Sept. 10, 1914

The building was officially opened on October 17, 1914. Here’s a grainy photo that absolutely does not do that beautiful building justice.

DMN, Oct. 17, 1914

When the doors were finally opened to the public, it was expected that a few thousand people would show up to tour their new municipal building — in actuality, the much-larger-than-anticipated crowd numbered somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 curious Dallasites.

DMN, Oct. 18, 1914 (click for larger image)

The beautiful exterior was faced with granite and stone, and the interior boasted marble, mosaic tilework, and wood paneling. All of the furniture used in the building was made in Dallas. In addition to the mayor’s office, fire, police, and other municipal departments, the building also housed an emergency hospital, a sub-basement shooting range (!), and, on the 3rd floor, an 1,100-seat auditorium, with a 4th-floor gallery. (The auditorium was designed so that if, in the future, it was determined that it was not needed, it could easily be converted to office space by adding a few columns and beams — a renovation which obviously happened at some point.) Interestingly, the northern half of the top floor was left unfinished as the space was not needed at the time.

ALSO included in the new building’s amenities were much-needed public restrooms (or as they were euphemistically referred to back then, “comfort stations”). A men’s restroom and a women’s restroom (“positively divided with heavy walls”) were located under the Main Street sidewalk, accessible down stairs on either side of the building’s entrance. Up until this point, there was only ONE public “comfort station” in the city (for women and children) — at Fair Park. So for most downtown visitors, this might well have been the most exciting aspect of Dallas’ newest landmark.

The building referred to as both “City Hall” and “the Municipal Building” was considered to be one of the city’s finest and most elegantly imposing. But there are always a few people who just don’t like nice things, and there was a surprising amount of vandalism to the building in its first few weeks.

municipal-bldg_dmn_111014-vandalism DMN, Nov. 10, 1914

This is one of the truly great buildings in Dallas, and it just recently celebrated its 100th birthday. It is a Dallas Landmark and a Texas Recorded Historic Landmark. No longer a city property, it is now part of the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law campus (along with the old Titche’s building). UNT is currently working to restore and renovate this beautiful historic building. Thank you, UNT!

A few images of the building over the years. Here it is in its pristine early days:

Then there was a weird middle-age-crazy period when someone thought that the addition of awnings would be a good idea (that person was incorrect).

And, today, it’s back to looking distinguished and lovely. Thanks to the wonderful new open park in front of it, it has been given the stately space it deserves — what may be Dallas’ most beautiful building is finally able to be fully admired from a respectful distance.

Joe Mabel, Wikipedia

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo from the book Historic Photos of Dallas by Michael V. Hazel (Nashville: Turner Publishing Co., 2006).

Quote from Municipal Journal, Vol. XXXVI, No. 19 — May 7, 1914.

Photo of the old Municipal Building today by Joe Mabel, from Wikipedia. (And, yes, the parking garage of the Dallas Municipal Building is where Ruby shot Oswald.)

Newspaper photos and clippings as noted.

For a detailed description of the architectural details, design elements, and description of office and department locations within the building, see the article “Municipal Building Handsome Structure” (DMN, Oct. 4, 1914), here.

I’d love to know more about the little “aluminum trays, bearing a picture of the building” mentioned as being given away on opening day in an article above. There were FIVE THOUSAND of them given away. Surely there are some still around. Has anyone seen one of the these?

municipal-bldg_dmn_101814_aluminum-trays DMN, Oct. 18, 1914

1914 Texas Almanac ad for C. D. Hill & Co.

17 Comments

March 26, 2015

Lively Street Life Outside the Dallas Morning News Building — ca. 1900

Commerce & Lamar (click for larger image) (DeGolyer Library, SMU)

by Paula Bosse

A photo showing the bustling streets surrounding the newly-expanded Dallas Morning News building, back when it was located at Commerce and Lamar streets. Below, a closer look at turn-of-the-century pedestrian traffic. Click pictures for larger images.

I love the man on the far left … contemplating posting a few illicit bills?

Those curbs!

Journos.

A woman either stooped by age or bending over to pick something up, a woman with a carpet bag, and a high-off-the-ground buggy which illustrates one reason those curbs needed to be so high.

***

Photo titled “The Dallas Morning News building, Commerce & Lamar” from the Belo Records 1842-2007 collection, DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University; it can be viewed here.

Other views of the building from 1900 can be seen in these posts:

“Loitering In Front of The Dallas Morning News Building — ca. 1900, here
“The Dallas Morning News Building, Inside and Out — ca. 1900,” here

More posts where I’ve zoomed in on historic Dallas photos can be found here.

Click pictures for larger images.

4 Comments

March 25, 2015

2222 Ross Avenue: From Packard Dealership to “War School” to Landmark Skyscraper

Packard automobile showplace, 1940

by Paula Bosse

In late summer of 1939, a new 60,000-square-foot. $250,000 home for Packard-Dallas, Inc. featuring a “luxurious showroom” was announced. The first Packard automobile dealership had opened in 1933 at Pacific and Olive, and in the intervening six years, their growth had been tremendous, necessitating several moves and expansions.

The attractive art deco building, faced with Cordova limestone and decorated with glass bricks, cast aluminum letters, and neon, was designed by J. A. Pitzinger and Roy E. Lane Associates, and was constructed at 2222 Ross Avenue in a mere three months. The large building was right across the street from the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, in the block bounded by Ross, Crockett, San Jacinto, and N. Pearl. The president of Packard-Dallas was J. A. Eisele and the secretary-treasurer was his son, Horace. The grand opening on Dec. 16, 1939 was a big enough deal that the home-office Detroit honchos flew in, and there was even a 15-minute radio program devoted to it on KRLD.

Under the headline “Growing With Dallas,” the opening-day ad featured a photograph of Joe and Horace Eisele and “A Message of Appreciation and an Invitation”:

Ad, Dec. 16, 1939 (click for larger image)

“It’s Texanic!”

And another ad featured this nifty little line drawing of the cool building:

Dec. 16, 1939 (ad detail)

One of the stories about the opening of Dallas’ new auto showroom palace boasted that this big, beautiful, brash building was here to stay — Packard-Dallas had a 15-year lease on the place. …Which is why it was surprising to read that the building was sold less than two years later.

The U.S. was on the inevitable brink of involvement in the European war, and the National Defense School had begun operation in Dallas in July 1940. After a year of classes in which young men were taught “to do the technical and mechanical work necessary to warfare” (DMN, March 20, 1941), classrooms at the Technical high school and at Fair Park were bursting at the seams, and a larger facility was necessary. The Dallas Board of Education (which oversaw the program, often called “the War School”), was given the go-ahead to purchase the building (and, presumably, the property) for $125,000 in August 1941.

I’m not sure why J. A. Eisele sold the building (his name was listed as owner, rather than the Packard Company) — it wasn’t even two years old, and he got only half of what it cost to build. Patriotism? His son Horace had been drafted in April, so … maybe. Eisele seems to have left the auto sales business, which he had been in for decades, and had moved out of Texas by 1945.

After the U.S. officially entered the war and it became obvious that “defense schools” around the country would have to admit women in order to maintain manufacturing quotas, women began to work beside men at the Ross Avenue school in January 1942.

Eighty women Saturday pulled their fingers against the triggers of aircraft rivet guns as the Dallas National Defense School, 2222 Ross Avenue, started the state’s first major training course designed to place women side by side with men in Texas war materials plants. (DMN, Jan. 4, 1942)

1942

This “War School” was a training school for war-time jobs at places like North American Aviation.

defense-school_dmn_090643 Sept. 1943

Thousands of men and women trained at the Ross Avenue facility until the war ended in 1945. The school continued, but no longer as a Defense School — it became Dallas Vocational School, and its first students were veterans.

In 1976, the school was designated as one of the Dallas Independent School District’s magnet schools — it became the Transportation Institute, where “students interested in owning their own dealership, becoming a technician-mechanic or an auto body specialist will receive on the spot training in a laboratory consisting of a new car showroom, a modernly equipped repair center and a complete auto rebuilding facility” (DMN, Aug. 22, 1976). Back to its roots! And it only took 37 years.

The school continued for a while but, inevitably, the property became more and more attractive to developers. In 1981, as the developers were circling, a City Landmark Designation Eligibility List was issued. It contained buildings which had “particular architectural, historical, cultural and/or other significance to the City of Dallas,” and, if approved, were eligible to receive historic landmark designation. I’m guessing 2222 Ross Avenue didn’t make the cut, because Trammell Crow bought the building in 1983 and tore it down the next year.

via Lost Dallas by Mark Doty

But … Crow sold the facade to real estate developer and investor Lou Reese, who said that he would reassemble the limestone facade and incorporate it into a restaurant he planned to build in Deep Ellum. That was an interesting plan. (Incidentally, in the same city council meeting in which the demolition/disassembling of the building’s facade was discussed, the council also considered “a request for more than $7 million in federal funds for a project to renovate the Adams Hat Co building into apartments” (DMN, Aug. 8, 1984). …Lou Reese owned the Adams Hat building. What a coincidence!)

The city council’s decision?

The council authorized developer Trammell Crow to disassemble the art deco facade of the former Transportation Institute Magnet High School on the condition that the facade be reconstructed in Deep Ellum…. The company [has] demolished all but the building’s limestone facade, which was determined to be eligible for designation as an historic landmark. (DMN, Aug. 9, 1984)

So? Where’s that facade? There was no mention of it for three years, until an article in the Morning News about another developer who had big plans for a major Deep Ellum complex called “Near Ellum,” which would be bounded by Commerce, Crowdus, Taylor, and Henry streets.

Highlighting Near Ellum will be a 40-foot art deco facade, formerly on the front of the Transportation Institute on Ross Avenue, in the main parking plaza. The plaza will also include an outdoor stage for concerts and special events. (“Developer Plans Deep Ellum Project,” DMN, June 25, 1987)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand … that never happened. I wonder if that 76-year-old disassembled limestone facade is still crated up somewhere around town. Somehow I doubt it.

So, 2222 Ross Avenue. What’s there now? None other than the 55-story skyscraper, Chase Tower, also known as “The Keyhole Building.”

You could get a lotta Packards in there.

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo from the Detroit Public Library’s Packard Collection in the National Automotive History Collection, viewable here; I’ve straightened and cropped it. The reverse has this notation: “Packard Motor Car Co., branches/dealerships/agencies, 2300 [sic] Ross Avenue Dallas, Texas, exterior, show windows left to right; 1940 Packard 110 or 120, eighteenth series, model 1800 or 1801, 6/8-cylinder, 100-120-horsepower, 122/127-inch wheelbase, convertible coupe (body type #1389/1399), special furniture display.”

1942 photo of the building is from a publication called “Young America in Dallas,” Dallas History and Archives, Dallas Public Library.

The developer who apparently came into possession of the facade after Lou Reese was Ed Sherrill. Perhaps someone associated with the Near Ellum project might know what became of the “saved” facade.

Chase Tower info on Wikipedia here; photo of it here. Imagine a teeny-tiny car dealership at its base.

Packard automobiles? Some of them were pretty cool. Check ’em out here.

A lengthy article on the notorious developer Lou Reese — “Hide and Seek” by Thomas Korosec (Dallas Observer, June 8, 2000) — is here.

14 Comments

March 21, 2015

MORE Random Still-Standing Buildings Featured in Ads From 1929

Soda fountains came from here…

by Paula Bosse

A few more photos of buildings that are still standing, from the ad-pages of the 1929 city directory.

First up is the Southern Fountain & Fixture Mfg. Co. at 1900 Cedar Springs.

ad-southern-fountain-fixture_directory_1929

The Southern Fountain & Fixture plant was built in 1925 at the corner of Cedar Springs and N. Akard. They manufactured and sold soda fountains, showcases, and fixtures.

A major new residential high-rise is going up in the 1900 block of Cedar Springs (or has gone up — it’s been a while since I’ve been over there), but I think it’s going up at the other end of the block. (But somehow its address is 1900 Cedar Springs….) So, I’m not absolutely sure this building IS still there. Here’s a 2014 image from Google Street View. It’s a cool building — hope you’re still there, cool building!

Google Street View

Next, the Loudermilk-Sparkman Funeral Home at 2115 Ross Avenue.

(click for larger image of house)

The “home-like” Loudermilk-Sparkman funeral home moved into the former home of Col. A. H. Belo in June 1926 and settled in for a 50-year lease. (An article titled “Morticians In New Quarters” appeared on June 27, 1926 in The Dallas Morning News, complete with descriptions of interior decoration and architectural details.)

That place was a funeral home for 50 years — longer than it’s been anything else. That’s a lot of dearly departeds. (Clyde Barrow is probably the most famous cadaver to be wheeled through its portals.) In the ’70s, the granddaughter of Col. A. H. Belo sold the house — which was built in 1899/1900 — to the Dallas Bar Association, and today it is a swanky place to get married or eat canapés. And, thankfully, it’s still beautiful.

Google Street View

The Evangelical Theological College, 3909 Swiss Avenue, in Old East Dallas.

(click for larger image)

This “denominationally unrelated” seminary — where tuition and rooms were free, and board was at cost — was built in 1927 for $65,000. When the three-story-plus-basement building was finished, the college was in its fourth year, having moved from its previous location in The Cedars. “The college now has forty-five students representing fifteen states of the United States, three Canadian provinces and Ireland…. The faculty is composed of thirteen men…” (DMN, Dec. 25, 1927).

ad-evangelical-theological-college_directory_1929-det

The college has grown by leaps and bounds and is now the Dallas Theological Seminary, and the original building is still there.

dallas-theological-seminary_now_google Google Street View

Lastly, the Melrose Court Apartments and Hotel, 3015 Oak Lawn.

The Melrose, designed by architect C. D. Hill, was built in 1924, and as it was about to throw open the doors of its bachelor apartments to eager Dallas bachelors (and whomever), it advertised itself thusly: “Of palatial splendor, rivaling in dimensions the best appointed apartment hotel buildings of this modern day, it is equal to the best of any of America’s cities of a million.” (DMN, Aug. 31, 1924) Well, of course it is!

It’s been a landmark in Oak Lawn for over 90 years. I know it’s officially now the Warwick Melrose Hotel, but I’ve never heard anyone call it anything but The Melrose.

melrose-today

***

Sources & Notes

All ads from the 1929 city directory.

My previous post “Random Still-Standing Buildings Featured in Ads From 1927” is here.

7 Comments

March 20, 2015

Random Still-Standing Buildings Featured in Ads From 1929

S. Ervay & Griffin — still there! (click to see larger image of building)

by Paula Bosse

I’ve always had a fascination for old advertisements. Ads for local products and businesses are particularly interesting and can be quite informative — especially those that feature photographs of the businesses being advertised. I always get an exciting little jolt when I see a still-standing building that I recognize in a 50-, 60-, or 70-year-old ad. Below are a few ads from 1929 — 86 years ago! — featuring buildings that have somehow survived the wrecking ball. Not all of them are architecturally interesting, but they’ve all seen a lot more than you and I have. Click the ads below to see larger images of the buildings.

Above, the Boedeker Ice Cream plant — the “finest in the South,” located at S. Ervay & Griffin (1201 S. Ervay). The company was founded in 1887 by German Frederick Boedeker, the first ice cream manufacturer in Dallas. This building was built, I believe, around 1921. I’m not sure what’s in there these days (if anything), but here is it today, via Google Street View:

UPDATE: Apparently there are plans afoot — read about them here.

Next, the Dallas Tent & Awning Company at 3401 Commerce.

(click to see larger image of building)

This very successful company moved several times to larger and larger spaces, until they decided to build their own showroom and manufacturing plant in 1921. A 1922 Chamber of Commerce ad described the building as “a three-story modern building, 100 feet square with a warehouse in the rear which covers 40,000 square feet, Commerce and Race streets.” They manufactured tents, awnings, automobile tops, tire covers, and seat covers.

Here it is today, the cool-looking Murray Lofts, between Deep Ellum and Exposition Park:

(I’m not sure if the house in this ad was in Dallas, but I hope so! What a beautiful house! A larger image is here.)

Next, the Dallas Show Case & Mfg. Co. at 329-337 Exposition.

(click to see larger image of building)

According to a 1962 interview with Otto Coerver — the son of the company’s founder — the factory was built in 1920 just blocks from Fair Park — a location so far “out in the country” that there was no city electric service. Since its founding in 1880, the company had manufactured “bank, office and store fixtures, showcases, hardwood floors and special household and church furniture.” The building still stands, but I’m not sure who occupies it these days.

And, lastly, the Columbia Fence & Wire Co. at 3120 Grand Avenue.

(click to see larger image of building)

Though it’s been there since at least 1922, this building is one that I have to admit I probably wouldn’t shed a tear over were it to be demolished. Still, it’s been around a lot longer than I have, and I have to admire the fact that it’s managed to hang on for so many years. After the Columbia Fence & Wire Co. moved on, the building was occupied by a succession of light industrial businesses. In the 1970s it must have gone through quite a renovation, because it became home to a string of discos, including the short-lived Lucifer’s (owned by Dallas Cowboy Harvey Martin), the Plush Pup, and Papa Do Run Run. Below, the current Google street view (the sign above the vacant building says “S. Dallas Cafe”):

***

Sources & Notes

All ads from the 1929 city directory. (Apologies for the muddy images. Whenever I post these directory ads, they look great before they’re posted, then something happens during the uploading process, and … argh.)

Present-day images from Google Street View.

A continuation — “MORE Random Still-Standing Buildings Featured in Ads From 1929” — can be found here.

11 Comments

Flashback : Dallas

Category: Architecture/Significant Bldgs.

April 29, 2015

DP&L’s Twin Smokestacks

Sources & Notes

April 27, 2015

A Distant Dallas Hall on the Horizon — 1914

April 21, 2015

The Adolphus & Its Annex

April 20, 2015

Aerial View of the Centennial Fairgrounds — 1936

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April 17, 2015

“New Dallas Skyline” — 1913

April 13, 2015

The Elegant Municipal Building — 1914

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March 26, 2015

Lively Street Life Outside the Dallas Morning News Building — ca. 1900

March 25, 2015

2222 Ross Avenue: From Packard Dealership to “War School” to Landmark Skyscraper

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March 21, 2015

MORE Random Still-Standing Buildings Featured in Ads From 1929

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March 20, 2015

Random Still-Standing Buildings Featured in Ads From 1929

Sources & Notes

Category: Architecture/Significant Bldgs.

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