North Side Branch Library Mural - Fort Worth, TX - Murals on Waymarking.com

"Fort Worth Public Art recently completed a major conservation project saving one of Fort Worth’s oldest painted murals. Anthony Dominguez’ untitled mural depicting the multicultural and economic history of the City of Fort Worth was painted in 1987 on the southeast façade of the Northside Branch Library at 601 Park Street in Council District 2. After twenty years, the sixty foot long mural showed significant aging and deterioration. In addition to paint loss, surface cracking and pigment fading, the original mural had been altered by vandalism and the city’s many efforts to cover graffiti.

When Crescent Real Estate Equities partnered with the Northside Branch Library through the new Adopt-A-Branch program and initiated a complete renovation to the 40 year old building, the Fort Worth Art Commission recommended to restore the mural to its original visual condition to compliment the renovations. They also encouraged Fort Worth Public Art to invite the original artist to join the renovation team.

Anthony Dominguez was pleased to accept the invitation to restore the mural and in October 2006 he and Mural’s Ink muralists Manuel Pulido and William Hall began a 10 day effort to clean and prepare the wall before restoring the mural to its original vibrancy. Dominguez’s original sketch (made available to FWPA by Don Punchantz) showed large areas that had been lost during an addition of a basement door. The artist drew the missing image back into the scene and the renovation team matched the mural’s original color scheme using paints specially formulated for outdoor conditions. Finally, the team coated the entire mural with several layers of a protective coating that resists harmful UV rays and also most markers and paints used to vandalize the property."