Karen Eubank: So You Think Dallas City Hall is Old? Think Again

I admit that I have to stifle a laugh when people call Dallas City Hall old. After years growing up in Europe and Asia, I know old architecture. America is a young country, and Dallas is a young city, so calling our city hall old lacks context. Let’s look around at just a few examples from a long list.

Palazzo Senatorio has been Rome’s municipal seat since 1143. It was rebuilt in the Middle Ages, redesigned by Michelangelo in the 16th century, and renovated again in the 19th century. It has always been maintained and used by the city government. 

Lübeck Town Hall in Germany still serves as the headquarters and meeting place for the city parliament. It’s 800 years old and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. 

Bruges City Hall was constructed in 1376. It is still the active seat of local government. And talk about a cool city council chamber, meetings are held in the Gothic Hall!  

That’s Europe, where historic buildings are more widely revered. Shifting focus to our own country, America also has its share of historic government buildings that are much older than the Dallas City Hall.

New York City Hall is the oldest continuously operating city hall in America. It was finished in 1812 and is still the seat of government functions. The mayor’s office and city council chambers are here, as well as the staff of thirteen municipal agencies. It is one of the largest government buildings in the world, a National Historic Landmark, and on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2014, it underwent a comprehensive restoration and update, including updated mechanical systems, fire sprinklers, and sustainable elements for around $100 million.   

Completed in 1901, Philadelphia City Hall is still the seat of government for the city and the largest municipal building in the United States. There have been continuous improvements conducted in phases over the years, including $6.85 million on exterior lighting in 2024, a $62 million preservation project in 2009, and a $26.5 million tower refurbishment in the late 1980s.

For the most relevant comparison, however, let’s look closely at Boston City Hall, a modern building more comparable to Dallas City Hall’s age and architectural significance.

Construction on Boston City Hall was completed in 1968, ten years before Dallas City Hall. It, too, is a brutalist design — done by the highly-lauded firm of Kallmann, McKinnell, and Knowles, who won a competition in 1962 to design it. The internationally recognized architect I.M Pei, who designed Dallas City Hall, also designed the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, the Bank of China Tower, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library in Boston, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, and our own Morton Myerson Symphony Hall and Fountain Place.

Later, renovations and upgrades at Boston City Hall were done in phases, a sensible approach. The major renovations were completed in 2022 for $95 million. At the first public meeting at Dallas City Hall in late 2025, Alyx Scott presented insights from the Boston project and offered to share expertise with Dallas. Yet, it appears Dallas officials have not yet engaged the experts from the Boston project, so the most current expertise on a project that is extremely similar to Dallas City Hall may be untapped.

“The new Boston City Hall Plaza recasts a monumental, brutalist open space into a verdant and inviting civic center in the heart of downtown Boston. For five decades, the plaza hosted Boston’s largest gatherings from sports celebrations to political rallies to seasonal cultural festivals, but it lacked human scale, offered limited amenities and was highly inaccessible. In partnership with city leadership and with the input of thousands of Bostonians, the renovated plaza is now a civic front yard where all are welcome.”

Saski Associates

“We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.”

Ada Louise Huxtable

So far, Dallas has had one rushed assessment on their “old” building. Several local preservation architects I spoke to said that a proper assessment of a building this size should take at least six months.

Historically, debates around architecturally significant civic buildings more often center on adaptation than demolition. It’s more on trend to discuss adapting or reimaging these buildings rather than destroying them. And other similar buildings have shown us that phased repairs and updates are the global norm. Just because our present and past city leaders have failed to budget for repairs and updates in a phased manner does not mean this building and its land should be sold to the highest bidder. It means we need leaders who have a broader worldview on the best practices that other large cities use in their civic architecture.

Internationally recognized architecture, regardless of age, creates a global identity and awareness. The work of I.M. Pei on Dallas City Hall is recognized worldwide. I’d argue it’s as much a part of the architectural fabric of our city as the Meyerson, Reunion Tower, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  As we consider the legacy and future of Dallas City Hall, let’s ensure that our decisions reflect both the significance of its global architectural stature and the responsibility we have to carry it forward for generations to come.