Hall of State (State of Texas Building), 1936

Texas Centennial Architects; Adams and Adams (San Antonio)
Thomas-Booziotis, renovation, 1987

The terminus of the Esplanade and the architectural centerpiece of the Exposition was the State of Texas Building, now known as the Hall of State.  When the consortium of ten Dallas firms hired to design the building failed to produce a plan acceptable to the State Board of Control, Dahl called in Houston architect Donald Barthelme, who quickly produced a synthesis of the previous schemes and had it approved.  Barthelme's design for the Hall of State illustrates the discernible influence of Paul Philippe Cret, whose Folger Shakespeare Library and, more particularly, his Aisne-Marne Memorial-both dating to 1932-provide authoritative previews of this monumental edifice.  Barthelme worked in Cret's office in the early 1930s, prior to returning to his hometown of Galveston.  He undoubtedly brought with him Cret's classical modern aesthetic, which was abundantly applied in stone to the building's central exedra and flanking lateral wings.  The building's towering achievement, however, was in its incorporation of art as a propaganda vehicle to express the history, culture and geography of Texas.  A team of international, national and regional artists was assembled to augment the Art Deco architecture, a collaborative effort that produced some of the most splendid and awe-inspiring interior spaces in the United States.

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.