Please join me in the fight to save I.M. Pei’s iconic Dallas City Hall from the wrecking ball, a prospect now under consideration due to a massive deferred maintenance bill and pressure from the development community to replace it with a new sports arena. In my estimation, demolition of this masterwork — Ada Louise Huxtable called it “breathtaking” — would stand as the most significant loss of a public building since Penn Station was torn down in the 1960s. As I write in the Dallas Morning News:
“Of all the irresponsible, ill-conceived, short-sighted, counter-productive, cynical, philistine and downright dumb ideas I’ve heard in my time writing about Dallas, the prospect of razing City Hall stands alone. Demolishing architect I.M. Pei’s iconic building would be an act of epic mismanagement indefensible on aesthetic, environmental, financial or moral grounds.”
Amen!
I cannot believe this is where we are as a City or Society. To remove a sculptural element and building that represents Dallas in its most iconic state with another sports center or what ever they think we need is misguided and poor planning.