Dallas Municipal Building - Dallas, TX - Frieze Art on Waymarking.com

"Design began in 1912, and the building was opened and occupied in fall, 1914. There have been numerous changes to the building since it was occupied, with the first major change made in 1924 and followed by subsequent changes in 1933, 1940 and 1944.

In November 22 - 24, 1963, this building gained national notoriety when Lee Harvey Oswald was held as a suspect in the assassination of President Kennedy at Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. He was interrogated in the 'Robbery and Homicide' offices on the third floor and kept in the City Jail on the fifth floor at night. On Sunday, November 24, Oswald was escorted from the Jail to the Processing department in the basement, for transfer to the Dallas County Jail. A crowd of reporters and some members of the public were waiting in the basement, as Oswald was led form the Processing area to a waiting car in the basement, at the bottom of the ramp to this parking garage. Jack Ruby, one of the spectators, came out of the crowd and fatally shot Oswald; this was captured on national television.

Perhaps the largest city hall constructed in Texas during the early twentieth century, this impressive Beaux Arts style building epitomized the common mans' idea of what a public building should look like. This city hall is located at the comer of Main, Harwood and Commerce Streets, with its' main (are largest) facade facing Harwood Street; while the Main and Commerce Street facades are the secondary facades, they are treated no less impressively. At five stories tall (with two basement levels), the first floor is raised half-a-story above the sidewalk level, with monumental exterior staircases to these original entrances, leading to brass-clad monumental entry doors. The building exterior is clad in Texas gray granite (used at the base) and Indiana Limestone for the main portions of the facades. The building is constructed of structural steel frame with an exterior of Indiana limestone and Texas gray granite used at base. The building form is typical of Beaux Arts design, with a central mass (facing Harwood Street) flanked by 'wings' which protrude only slightly. This central mass contains ten three-story Corinthian columns which line this facade, providing 'bays' which contain the three entry doors and windows at the upper levels. These windows alternate with arched and triangular pediments above. The cornice line above these columns at the entries displays some distinct features - the architrave states 'Municipal Building,' carved into the limestone. Near the top of the building (above the fourth floor), a balustrade occurs above the two rows of dentaling on the Harwood Street facade. The 'wings' on either side of the central mass at Harwood Street way have a large two-story arched window that is divided by a spandral that bears an elaborate medallion. The window has Doric columns at the first floor of this window opening and the arch has a radiating voussoir. The entrances on the Main and Commerce Streets are smaller versions of the Harwood Street entrance, with a single pair of doors flanked by two three-story Corinthian columns; each is topped with the same ornamental cartouche. The windows on either side of these entrances are the same arched windows with a spandral in the middle containing a medallion and radiating voussoirs around the arch. A large mansard roof of green ceramic tiles climaxes this composition, and is topped with a copper egg and dart coping at the top."