Historic Preservation in Dallas Takes Another Hit as Exchange Park is Razed

We saw this coming, but it still hurts the heart of every preservationist in Dallas. Exchange Park is being demolished as I write this. 

UT Southwestern owns the site, and they decided to raze it rather than opt for historic tax incentives that could be used to rehabilitate the area. UTSW is building a state-of-the-art, cutting-edge pediatric cancer research center on the site, and no one can argue that this is not the highest and best use of the land. But we can still feel bad for lost history because, in 1956, Exchange Park WAS state of the art and cutting edge. It’s just a shame creative minds could not have found a way to keep this “city within a city,” intact.

Exchange Park: A City Within a City

An entirely new concept of the business community of the future — a city within a city, containing all of the facilities necessary to provide goods and services under the most favorable conditions — comfort and convenience without congestion.

Architectural South Magazine 1957

William Blakley was the genius behind creating America’s first weather-controlled mixed-use commercial development, landscaped like a park. Lane, Gamble & Associates drew up the plans, and despite building only part of the much larger planned development, it struck a chord with developers and the public, paving the way for the modern indoor mall concept.

Exchange Park: Dallas’ Cutting Edge Development of the 1950s

Exchange Park had three office towers. The first was for the Exchange Bank and Trust Company. Braniff Airlines was based in the second office tower in 1958. The third building was home to Frito Lay. This building featured a five-ton copper water sculpture by Wilbert Verhelst outside the front entrance.

Your grandparents may remember eating at La Tunisia. This exotic restaurant concept resembled something out of Arabian Nights and was designed by the same firm that supervised the construction of Disneyland.

In 2021 David Preziosi, then the Executive Director of Preservation Dallas, wrote a guest post for us about Exchange Park and at that time sounded the alarm about its ultimate demise.

Soon, Exchange Park will be a footnote in history and another significant loss of an important piece of Dallas’ architectural history. Unfortunately, UT Southwestern only sees the dirt as valuable and not the office towers and retail space complex. They are taking the familiar road that many developers do here with old buildings by scraping the site clean for new development. 

In the process, our architectural heritage is lost, and copious amounts of building materials, a staggering amount due to the sheer size of the over one-million-square-foot complex, are carted off to the landfill, taking up valuable space. The energy and raw materials that were used to create the massive complex will be lost, and precious new raw materials and energy will be needed to build something new. 

It is a shame for an organization that cares so much for people’s health to not to work harder to care for the environment’s health by working to reuse the existing buildings of Exchange Park and not wasting so much to build new ones eventually. 

David Preziosi, FAICP, Hon. AIA Dallas

Our readers were equally upset with the fate of Exchange Park and flooded us with comments.

My mother and father met at Exchange Park. She worked as a secretary for Mr. William Blakely. My father had an office there and had locked himself out. They met when my mom had to go unlock the door for him. I have heard all kinds of stories about the bowling alley and the restaurant. What a shame to tear it all down.

Cheri Reed

That was the most beautiful office there with a mall-like atmosphere. I remember the French cafe was my favorite place to have lunch when I could afford it. They had a dentist’s office, a dress shop, and restaurants. When I worked at Lone Star Life Ins, the company had the florist shop in the mall deliver a carnation in a vase to our desk on our birthday. I worked there in 1972 at Lone Star Life Ins and later at Frito Lay.

Nancy

Organizations and media can only bring awareness to issues. There are demolition delays, but that is about the only real tool, and even that is simply a delay to what is so often inevitable. Until our city, its businesses, and its developers appreciate our architectural past, we will keep erasing built history until Dallas looks like Anywhere, USA.

Preservation takes a village, so the harsh reality is that if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.