Discover The Art Deco Wonderland of Dallas’ Fair Park on July 30

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art deco
North Texas mural

Preservation Dallas is presenting their first-ever virtual program tomorrow entitled “Art Deco Architecture in Fair Park,” and it’s a can’t-miss event for anyone who loves history, Dallas, and art.

This program is important on multiple levels, not the least of which is the program’s virtual aspect. Our recent unexpected and collective fast-forward into video technology has created exciting opportunities. We are gaining access to people and places that not long ago would have necessitated a sizable monetary expense and a big chunk of time.

art deco
The Administration Building was renamed The Women’s Museum in 2000.
The Spirit of the Centennial statue depicts a young woman rising from a cactus.

A Virtual Tour Experience of an Art Deco Treasure

Now, you can enjoy your favorite beverage, stay in your shorts, yoga pants, or heck, even your jammies, and tune into experts like Preservation Houston’s Executive Director David Bush and their Programs Director, Jim Parsons. Together they have written several books about Art Deco in Texas. Their 2012 Fair Park Deco book focuses on the architecture and art of Fair Park created for the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936.

art deco
The Federal Building is now known as The Tower Building

What is equally important about this program is, of course, education. Most people don’t know Fair Park has one of the largest collections of Art Deco architecture and art in the world.

Yes, I said world.

art deco
The Hall of State
The Texas Portico at the Centennial Building

We have an Art Deco site people from all over the world travel to see in our proverbial backyard. In general, they are much more knowledgeable about our own Art Deco wonderland than we are. Fortunately, this excellent presentation will rectify that.

The Swine Building
A photographic process mural

Bush and Parsons have presented programs about the Art Deco architecture and art of Fair Park all over America. “We’ve been surprised at how many people outside Texas are aware of Fair Park,” Parsons said.

A Functional, Historic Fairground

In addition to Art Deco lovers, there are also dedicated World’s Fair enthusiasts.

“Fair Park is one of the only places where an intact fairground still exists,” Bush said. “There is one left in Israel and part of the San Diego fairground is left. Walking around Fair Park, you can still get a feel for what it must have been like in 1936. It’s hard to believe it was all designed and built in less than a year!”

The State of Texas Building
The Tejas Warrior statue.
The Magnolia Lounge

If You Go:

Art Deco Architecture in Fair Park” will be presented on July 30th at 6 p.m. The program is free for current Preservation Dallas members and $10 for the general public.

Click the image above to register.

Do yourself a favor if you live in Dallas. Take a drive to Fair Park and see the architecture and art in person after the presentation. It’s about the best place in town to enjoy a safe and socially distanced day out. And you’ll get to see something beautiful you probably never knew existed!

Karen is a senior columnist at Candy’s Media and has been writing stories since she could hold a crayon. She is a globe-trotting, history-loving eternal optimist who would find it impossible to live well without dogs, Tex-Mex, and dark chocolate. She covers luxury properties and historic preservation for Candys Dirt.

2 Comments

  1. s lambert on July 30, 2020 at 9:14 am

    the building was Hall of Administration. not Administration Building. before that, barely after turn of the last century it was a livestock exhibition building. not built for the centennial. the Women’s Museum was the name of the organization and the building, after collapse of the museum, is now the Women’s Building. despite another building known by that same name for decades.

    • Karen Eubank on July 30, 2020 at 6:17 pm

      Thank you for your comment. You are welcome to contact my sources, Preservation Dallas and the authors to discuss these points. The Women’s Museum is clearly labeled “Women’s Museum” on the front of the building, regardless of what people prefer to personally call it. I hope, as you appear to be clearly interested, that you will support the program and tune in. We are extremely lucky to have this incredible collection at our fingertips.

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