Opinion: Debate Over What To Do With Dallas City Hall Promises Good Times Ahead

Oh, this is going to be old-school fun. The Dallas Morning News editorial page on Monday forthrightly said, as is its wont, that maybe, possibly, Dallas should consider demolishing City Hall. Just a thought, because, you know, the building is kinda not great.

The debate over City Hall’s potential future kicked off online at the start of the month after The News reported that the building, designed by the famed architect I.M. Pei, was about $100 million behind in deferred maintenance and, essentially, on the verge of being a dump.

The Dallas Landmark Commission wants the wedge-shaped concrete and glass structure, which sits in the middle of a scarcely used plaza/solar oven, designated a historic landmark. It was completed back in 1977, in the mists of time. Architecture experts are appalled that anyone would even think of tearing it down, and commenters on social media appear divided between the appalled and those who believe the building is, in a word, fugly.

Some of us at the Observer — well, me — tend to agree with the latter. C’mon, it’s hailed as an example of “Brutalism.” You might think that’d be a clue right there. Maybe architects were pranking the rubes. “Let’s build some butt ugly concrete buildings, call them an ‘ism’ and give them a bunch of awards. The suckers will never see what hit ‘em. Hah. Bet we could even put ‘brutal’ right in the name.”

Buy That for a Dollar?

Fans of the original Robocop are definitely on the keep-it side, as the building was used in the movie as the futuristic headquarters of the evil OCP corporation. (And what does that tell you?)

“Save it and turn it into the national robo cop museum,” one poster wrote on a Robocop fan site on Facebook.

“OCP should buy it and finísh it with some skyscraper,” wrote another.

Regardless of the building’s merits, what has us excited is a sense of gleeful nostalgia that might await us as the City Council takes tentative steps to discuss what to do with the building. There’s talk of building a new arena for the Mavericks and Stars and developing the surrounding land into some sort of entertainment district. Oh, Dallas voters love to talk about funding sports arenas. Could it be the future home of a Dallas casino? Perhaps, if both hell freezes over and gambling foe Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick kicks the bucket. (Not that we’re suggesting those two things would necessarily coincide, but we wouldn’t be surprised.)

Seems Like Old Times

For those of us who have watched City Hall since the mid-’90s, this sounds like it has the potential to be a hoot to liven up the dreary winter months: arenas for rich people, the risk of losing another sports franchise to the ‘burbs, preservation vs. demolition, the endless effort to liven up downtown’s south end, rotting infrastructure and money, money, money.

Throw in some sailboats on the Trinity River, maybe get the police and fire pension fund to invest in the new district, and it could be like The Greatest Hits of Dallas Shitstorms.

In the meantime, we threw together some photos of other Texas cities’ seats of government, plus a couple from similarly sized cities below. Just for comparison.