Dallas Power and Light Building - Dallas Downtown Historic District - Dallas, TX - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

"Prior to 1917, there were numerous electric companies providing power to the Dallas area; in that year. Colonel J. F. Strickland bought out and consolidated these power companies and formed Dallas Power and Light Company. This new company, with a franchise from the City, moved into the old Dallas Electric Light and Power Company at 1506 Commerce Street. At that time, Dallas Power and Light (DP&L) serviced 25,000 customers, employed 200 hundred people and had a generating capacity of 18,300 kilowatts. In 1924, DP&L began planning for an expansion of its office facilities. A 20-story office building was planned on the site adjacent to the DP&L's electrical sub-station building, with DP&L occupying half of the building, with the remaining space to be leased until the company grew to fill it; this was expected to happen in 10 years.

Lang and Witchell Architects were hired by Dallas Power and Light Company to design this new building. The zigzag moderne style was chosen as this represented the 'most modem and distinctly American skyscraper style, (as described by Lang and Witchell Architects in their 'Description of building for the Dallas Power and Light Company') impressive by the building mass and form, and not by ornamentation. Construction began in 1930, and Gardner and Howe Engineers and C. L. Shaw Company were selected as the contractors. The building was occupied in November 1931. The former Dallas Power & Light headquarters consists of a 20-story office building facing Jackson Street, and an integral three-story public lobby connecting to Commerce Street.

The tower is located at the 'rear' portion of the site, facing Jackson and Browder Streets, each with an entry to the lobby. Originally, the lobby was primarily circulation space and display areas for the exhibition of electric appliances and devices. The three-story portion of the building, which extends to Commerce Street, is commonly referred to as the 'annex' although it was part of the original construction. This smaller mass is composed of the same materials and details as the main portion of the building; the entrance is framed in with polished, black granite. Asymmetrical fluted pilasters line the face of this facade; these are adjacent to the large window openings at this entrance, which were originally display windows. These pilasters are crowned by abstract Corinthian capitals. The upper comer of the street facades holds two portrait busts - one is Edison and sources differ on the second with Watts and Steibmetz both named. This polished, black granite extends from this entrance and continues around the perimeter of the building as a base, approximately 5' high.

The entrance doors at this Commerce Street entry were paired brass doors; above these doors is an inset stained glass panel; this glass panel depicts a figure surrounded by clouds and sunlight spreading beams of energy to Dallas's skyline; it is referred to as the God of Electricity. This stained-glass window was designed by Miss Georgia Jenson and Mr. Roger Mcintosh of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company; McIntosh was responsible for the stained glass in several Dallas churches and the Adolphus Hotel. The two secondary entrances at Jackson and Browder are almost identical with brass and glass doors within an architrave of black, polished granite. The architrave contains a frieze made of etched granite supported by two fluted pilasters. The Jackson Street frieze depicts man and machinery in the production of power while the Browder Street frieze depicts the man who created and maintained the production of power.

This office tower is faced with buff-colored brick trimmed with terra cotta above the polished black marble at the base. This tower has setbacks at several levels, resulting in a tiered massing. These setbacks occur on the fourth, sixth and twelfth floors of the east and west facades, with a one-story step-back bordering each facade. These protruding sections of the building create a three-dimensional relief to the facade. The north and south facades have a similar design but are only setback at the sixth floor. The north facade of the tower is brick without windows as the majority of this wall is adjacent to another property (now a park)."