Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park (Aquarium), 1936

Fooshee and Cheek; Hal Thomson; Flint and Broad
Booziotis & Co., addition, 1993

The Aquarium represents a highly complex building type that was only beginning to be developed in the 1930s.  The intuitive technological solution developed by the architects is not apparent on the building's exterior, which consists of the traditional raised entrance pavilion and loggia with flanking wings.  This entrance, interesting for its vestigial display of elements from both Streamline and Zigzag Moderne, is formally aligned with the center axis of the Bandshell.  The expanses of blank wall surfaces successfully incorporate a series of alternating brick planes and recessed sculptural panels that impart a lively rhythm to the façade.  Adjacent to the Aquarium is the Education Annex, Luther Sadler, 1936; AAE, Inc., restoration, 1998, originally the Christian Science Monitor Pavilion.

Credits: Excerpts taken from The American Institute of Architects Guide to Dallas Architecture, published in 1999 by the American Institute of Architects, Dallas Chapter. The editor of this book was Larry Paul Fuller. The Fair Park Introduction and entries were written by Willis Winters, AIA.

Permission to publish these excerpts was granted by The American Institute of Architects, Dallas Chapter, in October 2002.