Dallas Museum of Fine Arts -- Fair Park, Dallas TX
N 32° 46.836 W 096° 45.922
14S E 709287 N 3629175
The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts building was a Fair Park institution from 1936-1983, before they moved to a larger space in the downtown Dallas Arts District
Waymark Code: WMT37P
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/17/2016
Views: 6
The WPA writers enjoyed Fair Park so much that spent several pages detailing its many attractions and amenities.
The former Dallas Museum of Fine Arts building stood next to Leonhart Lagoon in Fair Park from 1936 to 1983.
Mama Blaster came here as a school girl with her mother to see the King Tut and Pompeii exhibitions in the 1970s.
After the Dallas Mueum of Art moved to their new building downtown, their old home in Fair Park became the Science Place, where Mama Blaster (then a mother herself) brought younger Blasterz when they were little kids. Most memorable: a Dinosaur-themed 4th birthday party that featured a surprise extra live bug experience after the Dino lady did her thing.
The Science Place closed in 2012, after merging with the Dallas Museum of Natural History and moving to the spiffy new Perot Museum of Nature and Science downtown.
The historic 1936 building is still vacant and waiting for its next tenant in 2017.
From Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State:
"The MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (open 8-5 workdays, 2-7 Sun.), Second Ave., between Grand Ave. and Trezevant St., is along neoclassic
lines, with touches of the Southwest. The structure is of cream-colored limestone combined with red granite. On a coping of cream limestone are carved the names of noted artists. A terraced garden provides a beautiful setting.
The art exhibit includes sculpture and 160 paintings in the permanent collection, among them a Van Dyck, Countess of Oxford, and Saint Jerome and Saint Francis by Guisto d'Andrea. There are also two loan collections, one of old masters, the other of nineteenth century paintings. Exhibits from the International Art Association and from local artists alternate every two weeks. The collection of the Dallas Art Association was started in 1901 and is maintained by a trust fund."
Those are some pretty humble beginnings. In 2016 the DMA is one of the largest art museums in the United States, and it's FREE. See: (
visit link)