Would You Tear Down Old Red? Officials Should Heed City Hall Parallels

In a few days, the Dallas City Council will be back from summer break. If you listen to the rumors (and we do!), they are fully expected to start deserting City Hall. It would be helpful to read some history so we learn from it and don’t repeat it. This is not our first rodeo with city leaders wanting to vacate and possibly destroy a historically, culturally, and architecturally significant building. The Dallas County Courthouse, known as Old Red, was facing the same fate in the 1960s. Can anyone imagine Dallas without Old Red? No. So let’s hope the story of Old Red rings an alarm bell, especially for our city council and city manager.

Built in 1892, the dramatic Richardsonian Romanesque Dallas County Courthouse was designed by Max A. Orlopp Jr. of the Arkansas-based architectural firm Orlopp & Kusener. Let’s pause for a moment and consider that Dallas City Hall is not yet 50 years old. Old Red is 134 years old and, as of 2024, is functioning once again as a courthouse for the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals.

Old Red is significant in both design and construction. After losing multiple courthouses to fire, this courthouse was built to last. The internal framework was made of cast iron with a grand stairway in the center of the four-level building. Using Pecos red sandstone, blue granite from Little Rock, and Texas granite, it features eight round turrets at 118 feet tall, a 205-foot clock tower, and an arresting gargoyle. It was dramatic for the 1800s, and it has become one of the most historically and architecturally significant buildings in Dallas.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s what is being said and written locally, regionally, nationally, and even globally about our I.M. Pei-designed city hall.

The Old Red and City Hall Similarities Continue

In 1919, the clock and bell tower’s structural stability came into question. The bell weighed 4,500 pounds, and the clock struck on the hour. The decision was made to take both down. That began a series of modifications not unlike what we have seen over the years at City Hall. The building was reconfigured, half of the grand staircase was removed to accommodate more offices, ceilings were dropped, and unsympathetic additions were made — and yes, some workers were moved to the basement. The plumbing had become problematic, and there was no air conditioning.

The Dallas Morning News has dozens of articles with descriptions of Old Red ranging from monstrosity to obsolete and just plain ugly. As the new courthouse was being constructed, there were endless behind-the-scenes discussions about Old Red’s fate. It was determined that no decision would be made until the new building was finished. The modernist George Allen Courthouse opened in 1965, and guess what? The word demolition was on the lips of many.

In January, Paula Bosse noted in her Flashback Dallas blog another alarming notion written about Old Red that parallels what we have seen reported about Dallas City Hall:

People presumed that the building was in a dangerous state of disrepair and was falling apart. That it would cost more to repair than it was worth. But engineers inspected it at the time and reported that it “would stand for years and years.”

There was a grassroots movement to save the building. Eventually, saner heads prevailed, and the Texas Department of Public Welfare moved into Old Red, footing the bill for almost half the costs of renovation.

In the 1980s, further restoration ensued with the restoration of the cast-iron central staircase and the original clock tower, which had been preserved through efforts by the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program. In 2007, the building was dedicated as the Old Red Museum of Dallas County History and Culture.

As we know, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and in 2021, the announcement came that Old Red Museum would be moving out and the building would once again house a court — the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals.

City leaders and citizens must work together in finding solutions when faced with situations like the one Old Red found itself in, especially when it was taxpayers who paid for the building in the first place. A “world-class city” is not just built with an eye to the future but also with an appreciation of its history.

Flashback Dallas

When renowned architects, economists, multiple members of our city council, and the largest grassroots movement of voters I’ve ever seen (Save Dallas City Hall) are all standing on the right side of history, the rest of our leadership should be paying greater attention.