Municipal Court Building receives Preservation Dallas Achievement Award

City of Dallas sent this bulletin at 03/20/2014 08:28 AM CDT

 

March 20, 2014                                                                               

 

For Immediate Release                                                    

 

For more information contact:

Zaida Basora – City of Dallas Public Works
(214) 948-5360

Municipal Court Building receives Preservation Dallas Achievement Award

Dallas - The Municipal Court Building (Municipal Building Annex) has been recognized with a 2014 Preservation Dallas Achievement Award. The award will be presented at the 15th Annual Preservation Dallas Achievement Awards event to be held May 14 at the historic Texas Theatre.

 

Completed in 1956 during Mayor R.L. Thornton’s administration, the Old Municipal Building Annex served as Dallas City Hall for 22 years, until the current City Hall was completed in 1978. The building’s underground garage was where Jack Ruby fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov. 24, 1963. The Municipal Court Building, the Annex 12 courtrooms, judiciary offices, public transaction counters, historical exhibit areas, city attorney, records and court support offices. The 106,000 square-foot, five-story building required a complete interior rehabilitation.

 

The Main Street entry lobby, tax collection counters, original City Council Chamber and lower level corridors were restored to retain the character-defining marble veneered walls, blond hardwood paneled walls, travertine floors and other details of 1950’s courthouse architecture. Details such as the original Cutler mail chute system were preserved and accentuated.

The first floor transaction counters, once used for collecting city taxes, now serve as exhibit areas. Under the guidance of the City of Dallas Archivist, display panels currently in production will explore the history of Dallas on one side of the hall and the history of the Municipal Building complex on the other.

 

The Conley Design Group, GSR Andrade, Jaster Quintanilla and Ratcliff Constructors, as well as the City of Dallas Public Works Department’s Facility Division spent countless hours over the years updating and renovating the building, while preserving its historic elements.