Religion | Flashback : Dallas

Miscellaneous Dallas #2

Open 24 hours, plenty of free parking…

by Paula Bosse

And now, a bunch of homeless, random images (all are larger when clicked).

Above, the 24-hour Rainbow Restaurant, 1627 N. Industrial at Irving Blvd. Below, its menu.

1951

Thomas Confectionery, 1100 Elm Street. “Largest Confectionery In the State.” Popular date spot with the pre-flapper generation.

1911 (via Portal to Texas History)

1912. Dallas Morning News want-ad

Fair Park Church of God in Christ, 1036 S. Carroll Ave.

1974 (via USC Libraries)

And it’s still standing! (I love that the curb tiles are still there.)

2017 (via Google Street View)

The Knox Street Business District, pre-Central Expressway. …Way pre.

1932 (via SMU Rotunda)

A. Harris & Co. — Texas Centennial Commemorative Paper (gift wrap?).

1936 (via Portal to Texas History)

The Lakewood Country Club (see it before the landscaping in this photo from this post).

(via eBay)

The McFarland Drug Co., 598 Elm, at Hawkins, in Deep Ellum (later became 2424 Elm).

1905 (via DeGolyer Library, SMU)

The Lyric Theatre, 364 Elm, near Stone (later 1602 Elm).

1907-ish (via DeGolyer Library, SMU)

Dudley M. Hughes Funeral Home, 400 E. Jefferson Blvd, Oak Cliff.

(via Tichnor Bros. Collection, Boston Public Library)

“A Drive in White Rock Valley.” Before the lake.

(via eBay)

***

Sources & Notes

Rainbow Restaurant postcard is from the Tichnor Bros. Postcard Collection, Boston Public Library.

See the first installment of “Miscellaneous Dallas” here.

rainbow-restaurant_tichnor-bros-collection_boston-public-library_sm

3 Comments

Ursuline Academy — 1921

Velma Rich and her classmates…

by Paula Bosse

I never tire of looking through old high school yearbooks. Here are some photographs from the 1921 edition of The Ursulina, the yearbook of the Ursuline Academy, the all-girls school located in the block bounded by Live Oak, Haskell, Bryan, and St. Joseph in Old East Dallas.

Above, the “I Year High,” which I gather would be the equivalent of the freshman class. (I am transfixed by the girl in the center of the front row — I think she is Velma Rich — I bet she was a handful.) (Caption for this photo listing the girls can be seen here.)

Below, the East View of the Academy. The caption reads: “A Famous Battlefield (the study hall) and the Porch of Dreams, where school girls congregate to discuss the latest bulletin board news while enjoying some toothsome dainty.” (All photos larger when clicked.)

The auditorium. “And this is where we treat our friends to music, play and dance.”

The chapel. “‘Tis just the place to go for help when things are ‘up and down.'”

The dining hall. “You may live without learning/You may live without books/But show me the man/Who can live without cooks.”

The hall and stairways. “If these old stairs had power of speech, what girlish secrets they could tell!”

The music room. “A spot where many young ladies are kept very busy, ‘Untwisting all the chains that tie the hidden soul of harmony.'”

The recreation room. “Just the spot where, nine months out of the year, you can always find ‘Jest and youthful jollity/Quips and cranks and wanton wiles/Nods and becks and wreathed smiles.'”

The campus. “What you and me/Were wont to ‘saw and see.'”

The campus. “This is a gay spot at all times. It is kept alive in summer by games of roller skating, croquet and tennis; in winter, by ‘hikes,’ basket ball, races and, on rare occasions, old fashioned snowballing.”

The grotto. “Somehow, all life seems much more sweet/When I take my old brown beads and kneel at Mary’s feet.”

The pecan grove. “Where nuts grow, and school girls go to while away the time.”

“II Year High” (sophomore class).

“III Year High” (junior class).

The provincialate and novitiate. “Sweet secluded retreat where young Ursuline teachers are trained in the spirit of the Order to continue the work begun by St. Angela de Merici over three hundred years ago.” (Another, slightly more gothic image is here.)

And because I love her attitude, another look at 15-year-old Velma Rich.

***

Sources & Notes

All photos from the 1921 edition of The Ursulina, the yearbook of the Ursuline Academy. Many (if not all) of the photos are by Dallas photographer Frank Rogers.

Other Flashback Dallas posts on Ursuline can be found below:

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5 Comments

February 23, 2020

Black Churches in Dallas — 1930

by Paula Bosse

Yesterday I posted several photos of schools for Dallas’ African American community from a 1930 “Negro Directory” — today it’s churches. Of these, only two survive, and only one continues as a church. (All images are larger when clicked.)

Above, my favorite building of these churches, a small one serving as the home of Randolph Free Will Baptist Church, Flora and Watkins streets (3113 Flora — the location can be seen on this 1921 Sanborn map).

Below, Boll Street C.M.E. Church (Christian Methodist Episcopal), corner of Boll and Juliette (2631 Juliette), near Booker T. Washington High School. It can be seen on this 1921 Sanborn map as “Morning Chapel C.M.E. Church” (this area was obliterated when Woodall Rogers was built).

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU (info at bottom of post)

via John L. Patton Collection, Dallas Historical Society

Church of God in Christ, Thomas and Ellis streets (3028 Thomas Avenue).

Greater Macedonia Baptist Church, corner of Good and Bryan (902 Good Street). This building later became home to Good Street Baptist Church.

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU

Metropolitan Tabernacle (Baptist), Thomas and Boll streets (this was apparently never built — a Metropolitan Tabernacle was listed in 1930 at 2202 Thomas, but it was not this building.)

New Hope Baptist Church, southwest corner of San Jacinto and Bogle (sometimes spelled “Bogel”) — see it on a 1921 Sanborn map here).

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU

New Salem Baptist Church/Salem Missionary Baptist Church, 1110 S. Preston Street (see it on a 1921 Sanborn map here).

New Zion Primitive Baptist Church, 2215 Wheeler (address is incorrect in caption; the street name “Wheeler” soon changed to “Lowery”).

Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, 5006 McKinney Avenue, between what is now Monticello and McCommas. (This is not to be confused with the church of the same name designed by James Flanders which was located at McKinney and Pearl.)

And, lastly, the two buildings which are still standing. First, St. James A.M.E. Church (African Methodist Episcopal), Good and Florence streets (620 Good Street, now 624 N. Good-Latimer Expressway). Designed by noted black architect William Sidney Pittman (who was also the son-in-law of Booker T. Washington), the building is currently home to several non-profit groups. Read the history of the building in the landmark nomination form here, and see what it looks like now — with its historical marker in front of it — on Google Street View here.

ca. 1932, DeGolyer Library, SMU

Dallas Morning News, Oct. 18, 1919

And, finally, the only one of these churches still standing, and still functioning as a church, St. Paul Methodist Episcopal Church (now St. Paul United Methodist Church), corner of Burford and Juliette streets (1820 Burford, now 1816 Routh Street), also designed by architect William Sidney Pittman. See it on a 1921 Sanborn map here as “Juliette M.E. Church” (it wasn’t completed until 1922 and seems to have been given a place-holder name). Read about its history here, and see it today on Google Street View here.

ca. 1932, via DeGolyer Library, SMU

***

Sources & Notes

Photos from Official Directory: Dallas Negro Churches, Schools and Other Activities; Civic, Business, Fraternal, Social, Etc. compiled by James H. Smith, 1930; from the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society, via the Portal to Texas History. This fantastic resource is scanned in its entirety here (the full list of churches begins on p. 10).

The five “ca. 1932” photos are from a scrapbook/photo album of amateur photos called “Graphic History of Negro Dallas” which was compiled by the Priscilla Art Club in 1932; the scrapbook is from the George W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University; links to the individual photos are in the photo captions.

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November 16, 2019

First Presbyterian Church — 1960

by Paula Bosse

Above is another wonderful photo by Dallas photographer Squire Haskins. It captures an interesting view of the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Dallas (Harwood and Wood streets), with background cameos by bits of the Statler Hilton, the Lone Star Gas Building, whatever the building is next to the Lone Star Gas Building, and the Southland Life Building.

I’m not sure why Haskins took this particular photo (on February 29, 1960), which seems to focus on the church’s parking lot, but a few days after this photo was taken the church celebrated the 47th anniversary of the move from their previous location at the northeast corner of Main and Harwood by recreating the two-block march which the 1,000-member-strong congregation took back in 1913 from the old church to the brand new one. The recreated march included participation of 88 church members who had made the original march in 1913. The first services were held in the new church on March 2, 1913.

And it still looks beautiful.

Below, the previous home of the First Presbyterian Church, built in the 1880s, at the northeast corner of Main and Harwood.

via the Library of Congress

The dome-less new church in December, 1911 (construction of the copper dome was “almost complete” in March, 1912):

Dallas Morning News, Dec. 31, 1911

Completed, and wowing them on picture-postcard stands.

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo — “First Presbyterian Church, downtown Dallas, Texas” — by Squire Haskins, taken on Feb. 29, 1960; it is from the Squire Haskins Photography, Inc. collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Special Collections, UTA. More info on this photo (and a larger image) is here.

Read an exhaustive account of the new church’s design features in the Dallas Morning News article “First Presbyterian Church Completed” (DMN, March 2, 1913), here.

Read a history of the First Presbyterian Church in Dallas, from 1856 to 1913, in an article which is dominated by a photo of the Main and Harwood building and titled “Will Be Abandoned As Church Property After Sunday Services” (DMN, Feb. 21, 1913), here.

Two more very early photos of the First Presbyterian Church can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “Dallas in “The Western Architect,” 1914: City Buildings and Churches” (scroll down to #6).

January 29, 2019

Temple Emanu-El, At the “Northern Limits of Dallas” — 1957

Temple Emanu-El, 1957… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Above, the new, not-yet-landscaped Temple Emanu-El in 1957, at the northeast corner of Hillcrest and Northwest Highway; this aerial view is looking north from Northwest Highway. (The view today, via Google Earth, is here.)

In 1952 Temple Emanu-El’s congregation purchased eighteen rolling acres of Caruth farmland from Earle Clark Caruth, at what was then described as “the northern limits of Dallas.” This was after a lengthy period of consideration by leaders of the congregation over whether they should accept the gift of developer and artist Sylvan T. Baer of eleven “wooded and rolling” acres in Oak Lawn along Turtle Creek which he had offered as the site of a new temple. Even though Baer’s attractive site was more centrally located than their long-time South Dallas location (a definite bonus, as the congregation wished to move closer to the North Dallas area where most of their members now lived), the Turtle Creek site was ultimately deemed to be too small, too far from the North Dallas area they preferred, and too restrictive as far as the ability to finance construction. (Though rejected as a religious site, Baer’s very pretty land eventually became the home of the Dallas Theater Center.)

Temple Emanu-El — home to the largest reform Jewish congregation in the South — hired Dallas architects Howard R. Meyer and Max M. Sandfield to design their new home (with William W. Wurster of the University of California serving as consultant); the project was announced in 1954, and dedication ceremonies of the finished building(s) took place in February, 1957, probably around the time the photos below and above were taken.

Feb. 2, 1957

Below, the first Temple Emanu-El, built in 1876 at Commerce and Field, designed by architect Carl G. DeGrote. It was dedicated May 28, 1876 (read the extensive coverage of the ceremonies as printed in the Dallas Herald here — click “zoom” to read). After a move to their next location, the old temple became the University of Dallas Medical Department in 1900; it was demolished around 1906.

Temple Emanu-El, first location

Later, as a medical school (DHS photo via NIH)

The second site was at the corner of S. Ervay and St. Louis, in The Cedars, built around 1898, designed by architects J. Reilly Gordon, H. A. Overbeck, and Roy Overbeck. Following another move in the ‘teens, the building was converted into a Unitarian Church; it was demolished in 1961 to make room for R. L. Thornton Freeway.

The congregation moved into its third location about 1917: a new Hubbell & Greene-designed building at South Boulevard and S. Harwood, where they remained until the move to the new Hillcrest location. This building was demolished in 1972.

The congregation officially moved to their fourth (and current) location, in North Dallas, at the beginning of 1957, led by Rabbi Levi A. Olan.

Texas Jewish Post, Sept. 30, 1954 (click to read)

***

Sources & Notes

First three photos by Life magazine photographer Joe Scherschel, © Time Inc. More than 150 photos from this assignment can be found here. Supposedly there was a cover-story on the new building, but all I’ve found is this one-page photo-with-caption from the Feb. 25, 1957 issue. If anyone has info on a lengthier Life story, please let me know.

Drawing and article announcing the new Temple Emanu-El are from the Texas Jewish Post (Sept. 30, 1954), here. (UNT’s Portal to Texas History has fully-scanned issues of the DFW-centric Texas Jewish Post — 1950-2011 — accessible here. All issues are searchable, and all have articles, photos, and ads — it is a fantastic resource.)

Read a description of the just-completed first Dallas synagogue from the Dallas Herald (May 28, 1876), here (column 4); read the surprisingly lengthy coverage of the official opening ceremonies, which includes a history of the events which led to the building’s construction, in the May 30, 1876 Herald, here (columns 1-4). (To read the articles, click the “zoom” tab above the scanned page.)

Read the Temple Emanu-El entry in the Handbook of Texas here.

The history page of the Temple Emanu–El website is here.

Head to the Dallas Morning News archives to read about the art and architecture of Temple Emanu-El in the article “A Temple of Art, Architecture — The Forms Merge In Well-Designed Emanu-El” by architecture critic David Dillon (DMN, Dec. 24, 1984).

A comprehensive history of Temple Emanu-El and Jewish life in Dallas (well-illustrated with photographs) can be found in the book A Light in the Prairie, Temple Emanu-El of Dallas, 1872-1997 by Gerry Cristol (Fort Worth: TCU Press, 1998).

All images are larger when clicked.

4 Comments

September 2, 2018

Dallas in “The Western Architect,” 1914: City Buildings and Churches

by Paula Bosse

The 7-part Flashback Dallas series of buildings and houses featured in the Dallas issue of The Western Architect finally comes to an end! What I thought would be a quick and painless way to share tons of cool Dallas photos I’d never seen has turned into a seemingly endless dive into the research of a whole slew of buildings, most of which I knew very little (if anything) about. I feel like I’ve been through an immersive, three-week course in “Lang & Witchell”!

This final installment features buildings built by the city (mostly fire stations) and a few churches — six of these eight buildings are still standing. Today’s star architects are Hubbell & Greene.

1. PARKLAND HOSPITAL (above), Oak Lawn & Maple avenues, designed by Hubbell & Greene. This new, sturdy, brick “city hospital” was built in 1913 on the beautiful park-like 20-acre-site of the previous city hospital (the old wood frame building — built in 1894 — was cut in pieces and moved farther back on the property, “across a ravine” — it was reassembled and for a time housed patients with chronic and contagious diseases and was the only institution in Dallas at the time that served black and Hispanic patients — part of this old building can be seen at the left in the background of the photo above). The new hospital was “entirely fireproof” and was built with very little wood — other than the doors, trim, and banister railings, it was all steel, cement, reinforced concrete, plaster, and brick. The original plans called for two wings, but the city had to put construction of the second wing on the backburner until funds became available. As it was, this one-wing hospital (with beds for 100 patients) cost in excess of $100,000 ($2.5 million in today’s money). The building still stands but is barely visible these days behind a wall, trees, and dense shrubbery — it is surrounded by a huge, recently-built complex of similarly-styled buildings. (See it on a 1921 Sanborn map, here.) (All images are larger when clicked.)

postcard dated 1914, via Pinterest

2. ART BUILDING, Fair Park, designed by Hubbell & Greene. Known as the Art & Ladies’ Textile Building when it was erected in 1908, this domed building gave Dallas its first public art museum. No longer would the 14 paintings owned by the Dallas Art Association (including works by Childe Hassam and Robert Henri) be relegated to being displayed (when staff was available) in a room in the public library. The building was initially built as a nod to “ladies” and was the place where textile crafts and artworks were displayed during the State Fair (Texas artist Julian Onderdonk was given the task of beating the bushes in New York City for works to be loaned for display in this building during the fair). The art gallery was set in the rotunda — a sort of gallery within a gallery — while textiles and other exhibits were shown in the outer area of the octagonal building. One interesting bit of trivia about the construction of this building is that it was built largely of cement blocks — 70,000, according to newspaper reports. In order to facilitate construction, a “cement block plant” was set up on the grounds in Fair Park, turning out hundreds of blocks a day, which were then laid out to “season” in the sun. (Incidentally, this building was under construction during the historic flood of 1908 — which the newspaper refers to as “the recent high water,” and the bad weather was slowing the construction process.) The building is no longer standing, but it seems to have lasted at least through the end of 1956. It stood just inside the Parry Avenue entrance, to the left, next to the Coliseum (now the Women’s Building) — the site is now occupied by a parking lot directly behind the D.A.R. house. (See it on a 1921 Sanborn map, here.)

via Dallas Museum of Art blog “Uncrated”

3. CENTRAL FIRE STATION, 2012 Main Street (adjoining the Municipal Building), designed by Lang & Witchell. When Adolphus Busch acquired the land Dallas’ City Hall and central fire station sat on (in order to build his Adolphus Hotel), there was a sudden springing to action to build new homes for both displaced entities. The new location for the firehouse was in an already-standing building facing Main, adjacent to the new Municipal Building — it became the new headquarters for the Dallas Fire Department in 1913. It was, I believe, the first Dallas firehouse built without horse stalls, as it housed only motorized firefighting vehicles. The building’s use as a fire station ended in the 1920s; it was thereafter used by other municipal offices: for a while in the 1930s its third floor was used as a women’s jail, and for many years it was the site of Dallas’ corporation court. It looks like the building is still there, but I’m unsure of its current use. (See it on a 1921 Sanborn map, here.)

Dallas Firefighters Museum, via Portal to Texas History

4. OAK LAWN FIRE STATION, Cedar Springs & Reagan, designed by Hubbell & Greene. This still-active firehouse (!) — Dallas’ first “suburban” fire station — was built in 1909 as the home of No. 4 Hook and Ladder Company. When construction of the building was announced, it was described as being a gray brick structure topped by a roof of “cherry red Spanish tiling.” It was — and still is — a beautiful building. (I’ve written about this firehouse previously, here.) (See it on a 1921 Sanborn map, here.)

5. NO. 6 ENGINE COMPANY, Forest Avenue (now MLK Blvd.) & Kimble, South Dallas, designed by H. B. Thomson. This South Dallas fire station was built in 1913 and was in service until 1955 when it was demolished to make way for the “South Central Expressway” (see more photos in a previous post on this, here). (See it on a 1922 Sanborn map, here.)

Dallas Firefighters Museum, via Portal to Texas History

6. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, S. Harwood & Wood, designed by C. D. Hill. Built in 1911-12, this impressive building boasted “the largest monolith columns in the city” (a claim which might have been surpassed by architect Hill’s be-columned Municipal Building built soon after this church, two blocks away — and rivaled by Hubbell & Greene’s Scottish Rite temple, one block away). Still standing and much expanded, the church is still looking great. (See it on a 1921 Sanborn map, here.)

Dallas Morning News, March 24, 1912

7. WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 2700 Fairmount (at Mahon), designed by Hubbell & Greene. Before looking this one up, I had no idea what part of town this church was in — I was surprised to see it was in the area now known as “Uptown” … and it’s still standing. This congregation (organized in 1892) had occupied churches in the McKinney Avenue/State-Thomas area for several years before this church was built in 1910-11. When the congregation moved to their current location on Devonshire in the 1940s, the building was taken over by Memorial Baptist Church. When that congregation was dissolved, the church was given — for free! — to the First Mexican Baptist Church (Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana). After several decades, they, too, eventually moved to a new location, and the old church has had a variety of occupants come and go. (Read about its recent past — and see tons of photos — at Candy’s Dirt, here.) (See it on a 1921 Sanborn map, here.)

via Westminster Presbyterian Church website

8. FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, corner of Cadiz & Browder, designed by Hubbell & Greene. This Christian Science church was built in 1910 on the southern edge of downtown for $100,000 (over 2.5 million dollars in today’s money). Following its days as a Christian Science church, it has had secular and non-secular occupants. It still stands (as a lonely building in what is mostly a sea of parking lots), and it is currently a house of worship once again. (See it on a 1921 Sanborn map, here.)

And that concludes this 7-part series featuring photos from the 1914 all-Dallas issue of the trade publication The Western Architect, which can be viewed in its entirety (with additional text), here (jump to p. 195 of the PDF for the July, 1914 scanned issue).

***

Sources & Notes

The Western Architect, A National Journal of Architecture and Allied Arts, Published Monthly, July, 1914. This issue, with text and critical analysis in addition to the large number of photographs, has been scanned in it entirety by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as part of its Brittle Books Program — it can be accessed in a PDF, here (the Dallas issue begins on page 195 of the PDF). Thank you, UIUC!

In this 7-part series:

Dallas Morning News, June 4, 1914

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December 19, 2017

Lighting Menorahs — 1954

by Paula Bosse

Above, a photo of Gilla Silverman and her mother, Devora Halaban Silverman, wife of Rabbi Hillel Silverman, lighting menorahs during Hanukkah, 1954.

Happy Hanukkah!

***

Sources & Notes

Photo from the Dallas-Fort Worth Texas Jewish Post, Dec. 23, 1954. The entire 52-page issue of this special “Chanukah Issue” has been scanned and may be viewed at UNT’s Portal to Texas History site, here. (Click “zoom” to enlarge the pages, click arrows at right and left to move through the issue.)

Rabbi Hillel Silverman arrived in Dallas as the new rabbi at Congregation Shearith Israel in 1954 and was a popular and influential member of Dallas’ Jewish community for the decade or so he served here. He may be best known beyond Dallas as “Jack Ruby’s rabbi.”

Read about a 2009 return to the city by Rabbi Silverman in the Texas Jewish Post article by Dave Sorter, “A Golden Opportunity to Reunite” (Oct. 8, 2009), here.

The Texas Jewish Post article introducing Rabbi Silverman to its readership — “Dr. H. E. Silverman Appointed to Head Israel Pulpit” (July 8, 1954) — can found here.

An article focusing on the Ruby family and Dallas (Rabbi Silverman is interviewed) can be found in “Remembering JFK” by Steve North (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, via the Texas Jewish Post, Nov. 21, 2013), here.

June 11, 2017

Mosaic Restoration at Downtown’s St. Jude Chapel

Tile by tile by tile… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

A couple of weeks ago I went downtown to check out the restoration of the large mosaic above the entrance to the St Jude Chapel on Main Street. The 1968 Gyorgy Kepes mosaic (which I wrote about here) is undergoing needed repair work, restoration, and cleaning, in preparation for next year’s 50th anniversary of the downtown chapel. The work on mosaics inside the chapel as well as the large one outside is being done by artist and preservationist Julie Richey of Julie Richey Mosaics in association with Art Restorations, Inc.

As you can imagine, the outdoor mosaic overlooking Main Street has, for 50 years, weathered everything from intense summer heat, freezing temperatures, automobile exhaust, slight shifting of the building’s structure, damage to individual tiles, mildew, grout decomposition, and a host of other factors, all of which led to the much-needed restoration work.

A couple of things that I found interesting, in talking with Julie Richey and Cher Goodson (of Art Restorations, Inc.) was that there are over 800,000 glass smalti tiles (or tesserae) forming the sunburst mosaic. 800,000! I had no idea it was so large until I was standing right below it. After missing or damaged tiles have been replaced, all 800,000-plus will be cleaned — by hand, I think — with, as Cher told me, Dawn dishwashing liquid (good for cleaning greasy dishes, oil-soaked waterfowl, and Venetian glass tiles). Speaking of those tiles, one of the most serendipitous moments in this project was when Julie was able to track down slabs of smalti in New York which were the very same smalti used in the original 1968 mosaic — they had been kept in storage for 50 years, and they look brand new. That means that the tesserae being used to replace the damaged or missing tiles are from the exact same batch as the originals, which means the vivid colors, the composition, the opacity, and the surface texture are the same. That is an incredible stroke of luck!

The work should be wrapping up soon — if you’d like to catch the last few days of this project, hop downtown and say hello to the women doing such great work! (UPDATE: The project actually ended Friday. But you should still go down and take a look at it!) While you’re there, you should step inside to see the little chapel, a calm and peaceful oasis in the heart of downtown. There are several other mosaics inside — Julie and company did work on some of those as well, most notably the very large, striking “Risen Christ” above the altar.

Below are some photos I took inside and outside the chapel on May 24, 2017 — most are larger when clicked.

St. Jude Chapel is in the 1500 block of Main, between Ervay and Akard.

Here it is, seen from Neiman’s, across the street.

Below is part of the mosaic by Gyorgy Kepes — seeing it up close, you begin to realize that, yeah, there probably are more than 800,000 glass tiles up there. (Definitely click the photo to see a very large image.)

The photo at the top of the post shows the lift used to tackle the job; looking on is Dallas filmmaker Mark Birnbaum who is documenting the project. Below, Julie Richey and Lynne Chinn are raised up on the lift to do their torturously tedious and very, very detailed work (imagine working on this huge thing using tweezers!). Julie can be seen snipping “new” smalti to replace the damaged or missing tiles, working from photos, diagrams, grids, graphs, and guides to make sure the restoration is as close as possible to the original mosaic: the colors must match, the shapes must match, the placement must match.

You really have to be focused to do work like this. Here, Julie is setting a tiny piece into that giant mosaic (the marked vertical strips of tape help map the mosaic and insure that everything goes back in exactly as it was originally placed in 1968.

Speaking of snipping the smalti (which sounds like a naughty euphemism used amongst naughty mosaicists), here’s what’s left over, below. I talked to conservator Callie Heimburger, who gave me a lot of interesting information on how the whole intricate process worked — she was set up at a table on the sidewalk and had containers full of these beautiful discarded glass shards in front of her. I really wanted to scoop up a handful and sneak them into a pocket, but I managed to control myself.

Everything is meticulously color-coded.

st-jude-chapel_greens-blues_052417_bossse

st-jude-chapel_oranges-yellows_052417_bosse

And smalti? Here are bags of “new” bagged tiles — not shown are the slabs or the larger pieces which look a little like brightly colored peanut brittle.

Julie asked if I wanted to go up on the lift and take a closer look. It was even more impressive (and a little overwhelming) to be right next to it. I also got to take a look over the top of the building. There Julie pointed out all that remains of one of downtown’s biggest and busiest retail stores, W. A. Green. I didn’t have the presence of mind to get a good photo up there, but here’s the “ghost sign,” seen from across the street.

Since I was there, I had to step inside to see what the little chapel looked like. It’s very charming. And the mosaics inside are also impressive.

Here’s what you see as you step in.

To your left is the altar. This lovely mosaic was also restored and cleaned. Also: curved walls, a stained glass skylight, and a light fixture that is one of my very favorite decorative elements of this chapel.

A closer look at “Risen Christ.”

Turn around, and from the pulpit you can see the choir loft.

A wonderful depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A detail.

I’m afraid I’m not very well-versed on my saint iconography, but this might be St. Martin de Porres, with a broom, and mice at his feet.

Leave it to me to find these little mosaic mice, my favorite tiny discovery of the day.

And here’s the view from the chapel toward Main Street.

The St. Jude Chapel offers a nice, tranquil respite from a loud and busy downtown Dallas. You should visit sometime. All are welcome.

UPDATE: Dallas filmmaker Mark Birnbaum was working on a short documentary of the project when I stopped by the site (you can see the back of his head in the top photo). His 10-minute film, “Genesis Mosaic,” can be viewed here.

***

Sources & Notes

Thanks so much to Julie Richey, Callie Heimburger, Cher Goodson, and Lynne Chinn for taking the time to chat with me. Julie Richey Mosaics website is here; Art Restorations, Inc. website is here.

You can see more on this project (including photos and video) on Julie’s Facebook page, here, and Art Restorations’ Facebook page, here; see photos from the Risen Christ restoration on Julie’s blog, here.

The St. Jude Chapel (Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas) website is here; videos on the history of the downtown chapel are here.

All photos by Paula Bosse.

Images larger when clicked.

9 Comments

March 26, 2017

The Saint Jude Chapel Mosaic by Gyorgy Kepes — 1968

Main Street mosaic… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Perhaps you’ve noticed the intensely colorful sunburst-like mosaic that adorns the Saint Jude Catholic Chapel at 1521 Main Street, near Stone Place. It’s hard to miss. The artist is Gyorgy Kepes (1906-2001), an important Hungarian-born avant-garde painter, photographer, and educator who immigrated to the United States in 1937. He taught for a short time at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) in the mid 1940s, and may be known best in Dallas for his work as artistic director for Temple Emanu-El in the late 1950s, a project which artfully brought together contemporary art, architecture, and design into a sacred space.

At the time Kepes was commissioned to create the mosaic for the new Saint Jude Chapel (which opened in 1968), he was immersed in founding the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). One wonders how he found the time!

This mosaic — which as far as I know is untitled — is probably a familiar sight to people who work and live downtown, but most who pass it are completely unaware of the name of the artist. I hope I’ve helped correct that a bit. Thank you, Gyorgy Kepes — and thank you, Saint Jude Chapel — for this nice little addition to Dallas’ public art.

***

Sources & Notes

All photos from the Saint Jude Catholic Chapel website, here. The undated black-and-white photos are from a video history of the chapel, here.

Read about Gyorgy Kepes in overviews of his life and career from MIT, from the James Hyman Gallery, and from Wikipedia.

I have been unable to find any information about this mosaic. Had I not stumbled across Kepes’ name in a Sept. 14, 1968 Dallas Morning News article about the new chapel (which I was reading while researching the very interesting history of the building the St. Jude Chapel is in — and the building next to it) (that post is here), I’m not sure I’d be able to track down the identity of the artist. It’s surprising how little is out there about such a prominently displayed work of art!

UPDATE: Rather bizarrely, a few weeks after I wrote this, I learned that this mosaic was being restored — so I went downtown, met the restoration team, took some photos, and wrote the post “Mosaic Restoration at Downtown’s St. Jude Chapel.”

All photos are larger when clicked.

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November 20, 2016

Holy Blues: Blind Willie Johnson and Arizona Dranes — 1920s

johnson-dranes

by Paula Bosse

Today a little Sunday-go-to-meetin’ music, courtesy of two powerful singers who recorded at about the same time — late 1920s — and who both spent time in Dallas. Blind Willie Johnson was from Marlin, Texas, but he recorded much of his music in Dallas and regularly played street corners in Deep Ellum. Arizona Dranes, also a native Texan, lived in Dallas for several years and was, like Johnson, blind. Listening to both of them, you can hear their influence in the gospel and blues music that came after them. Read about the short life and career of Blind Willie Johnson here. Read about the life and career of Arizona Dranes from Michael Corcoran, here and here. And listen to their music below. It’s fantastic. (All of the tracks by Johnson were recorded in Dallas.)

blind-willie-johnson
Blind Willie Johnson, 1927-ish?

That guitar!

Here he is with his wife singing behind him.

Johnson’s song “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” was included on the Voyager Gold Record, a collection of music chosen to represent Earth’s culture and diversity, carried into space aboard the Voyager.

Arizona Dranes in 1953

That voice!

The song below starts off deceptively “plinky” but picks up considerably when Arizona starts to sing.

Want to know more about Arizona Dranes? Michael Corcoran can tell you what you need to know.

Flashback : Dallas

Category: Religion

June 7, 2021

Miscellaneous Dallas #2

Sources & Notes

January 24, 2021

Ursuline Academy — 1921

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February 23, 2020

Black Churches in Dallas — 1930

Sources & Notes

November 16, 2019

First Presbyterian Church — 1960

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January 29, 2019

Temple Emanu-El, At the “Northern Limits of Dallas” — 1957

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September 2, 2018

Dallas in “The Western Architect,” 1914: City Buildings and Churches

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December 19, 2017

Lighting Menorahs — 1954

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June 11, 2017

Mosaic Restoration at Downtown’s St. Jude Chapel

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Images larger when clicked.

March 26, 2017

The Saint Jude Chapel Mosaic by Gyorgy Kepes — 1968

Sources & Notes

November 20, 2016

Holy Blues: Blind Willie Johnson and Arizona Dranes — 1920s

Category: Religion

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