Dallas’ Proposition A Promises Long-Needed Transformation for Fair Park’s Largest Venues

By Norman Alston, FAIA
Special Contributor

Proposition A on the Nov. 8 ballot is perhaps best known for what it will do for the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. However, Fair Park is also a benefactor of this ballot item. The projected cash infusion will exceed the amount spent on Fair Park upkeep and improvements during the entire time since the construction of the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition.

Last week we looked at how this would transform the beautiful and historic Band Shell. Today we will look at possibilities for one of Fair Park’s largest and perhaps most enigmatic buildings: the Fair Park Coliseum.

Fair Park Coliseum

Originally built in 1959 as the State Fair Livestock Coliseum, this giant, mostly plain box clad in green metal panels seems out of place at historic Fair Park. It shares almost none of the architectural qualities of the Centennial’s exposition buildings, qualities labeled “Texanic Architecture” by the Centennial’s Chief Architect, George Dahl.

Instead, Fair Park Coliseum’s scarce architectural details reflect common Midcentury Modern features in its folded plate roof and adjacent chevron-shaped vents.

On a recent visit to the building, it was interesting to note a metal plaque commemorating the addition of air conditioning. The plaque was undated, but the requisite list of City officials it shows narrows the date of the project to the mid-1960s.

I am trying to envision events in the building from 1959 to that time, taking place in a windowless, un-air-conditioned metal box with livestock. Even so, the building is large, seating more than 8,500, and is perhaps best known as the home of the Dallas Chaparrals professional basketball team (The Chapparals relocated to San Antonio and became today’s San Antonio Spurs) and the Dallas Black Hawks Ice Hockey team, a minor-league team associated with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks. In past years, it was also popular for concerts and hosted many famous performers.

In the most recent bond program, the City spent over $13 million on improvements to critical mechanical systems and new seating. However, like all other venues in Fair Park, the Coliseum lacks an influential lobby, concession, and restroom space and inadequate back-of-house facilities to compete with newer venues. Most interesting and frustrating, the two large banks of seating around the coliseum floor are not connected, requiring visitors to leave the building and re-enter on the other side to reach the opposite side seating.

The new vision for the building made possible by Prop A addresses all of these issues to create a truly modern, multi-purpose venue for an extensive selection of events, from rodeo and livestock shows to sporting events, trade shows, and concerts.

This will be accomplished through various improvements to address the facility’s needs. The new vision accomplishes this through an addition that creates a new mezzanine that connects both sides of the seating area with an additional section of seating and a greatly expanded lobby, restroom, and concession space.

Another benefit of this addition will be the possibility of creating a more dramatic and attractive entrance to the building, giving it a chance at a much better relationship to the adjacent streets and pedestrian activity at Fair Park. The photo illustrates how this could be done while maintaining and playing off of the building’s existing Midcentury Modern features. As noted previously, these are just ideas and do not reflect the likely final design.

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Norman Alston, FAIA, founded Norman Alston Architects 30 years ago to allow him to focus his practice on historic preservation, the fulfillment of his architectural passion. Through his restoration designs, education and advocacy, he seeks to integrate historic buildings into the urban fabric while creating a wider culture of preservation that embraces the unique character of the community’s architectural legacy.