On the Street: What's Your Favorite Space?

People love Dallas’ architecture. What’s your favorite space? Here are comments from a variety of Columns readers who’ve shared their favorite places and told us why.

Winspear Opera House 

“The shape and color of this building, the function it serves, and its surrounding environment brings feelings of hope and exuberance to me.” 

Azi Soltani, senior architectural representative, American Tile and Stone 

“I love the interior of this building, especially the performance hall. When you visit, it feels like you’re inside a large, lavish egg.” 

Tom Huang, Sunday and enterprise editor, The Dallas Morning News 

Perot Museum of Nature and Science 

Photo credit: Chad Davis, AIA

“I absolutely love the Perot Museum, especially the texture and pattern on the outside walls!” 

Don Clampitt, chairman, Clampitt Paper Company 

“You have to include the mastery and ingenuity of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science building in downtown Dallas, a beautiful and functional building that helps to set the Dallas skyline apart!”  

Meridan Zerner, sports dietitian, Cooper Clinic 

Nasher Sculpture Center 

Photo credit: Andreas Praefecke

“The Nasher is elegant yet welcoming, spacious but not overwhelming, and fits beautifully into the Dallas Arts District.” 

Craig Holcomb, executive director, Trinity River Commons Foundation 

“Perfect proportions, engages the street, awesome roof, clean details throughout.” 

Julien Meyrat, AIA, Gensler 

Cistercian Abbey 

Photo credit: Christopher Mann

“I like Cistercian Abbey in Irving because it is so rough and crude on the outside, but the interior is so much more beautiful. Nothing says wood like that ceiling. You feel so safe under that roof and between those walls.” 

Christopher Mann, photographer 

Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden 

Photo courtesy of Valley House Gallery

“A Modernist art gallery and four-plus acre sculpture garden surround a midcentury Modern home located in its original North Dallas location, providing a perfect place to escape the busy city.” 

Cris Jordan, DCFA board member, and Scott Potter, CBRE 

The Pump House 

Photo credit: James Wilson

“The Pump House, Willow Wood Street: an example of preserving what was once considered a defunct 1920s-era water pump station and repurposing the structure into something useful, handsome, and relevant for today.  

Meg Fitzpatrick, MMF Strategies 

Thanks-Giving Square Chapel 

Photo credit: Peter Calvin

“The Philip Johnson-designed Thanks-Giving Square Chapel is not only beautiful, but more importantly symbolic of one of the most necessary actions we can do … give thanks!” 

Christian Yazdanpanah, manager of strategy, United Entertainment Group 

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth 

Photo credit: Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau

“The detail of the carefully crafted concrete is almost impossible to imagine, along with the massive size of the structural elements.”  

Shannon Carpenter Bearden, AIA, associate, Gensler 

Kalita Humphreys Theater 

Photo credit: Charles Smith, AIA

“As a late Frank Lloyd Wright building, it feels slightly less prescriptive than some of his other work. It's also an appropriate scale for the neighborhood and it's sited beautifully.” 

Kate Aoki, Assoc. AIA, DSGN Associates 

View more here.

The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge 

Photo credit: Gus Rios

“The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge … has grace and elegance, is iconic, and it sets a progressive tone for new development in South Dallas and areas near the parkway.” 

Chris Callegari, AIA, Gensler 

View more here.

Fort Worth Water Gardens 

Photo credit: Chad Davis, AIA

“Despite its history of tragedy, the Fort Worth Water Gardens remains a compelling and frustrating public space that rewards repeated visits to watch [people] navigate through its precarious waterscapes.” 

Kate Holliday, Ph.D., associate professor, director, David Dillon Center for Texas Architecture, University of Texas at Arlington 

View more here.

Federal Reserve, Dallas 

Photo credit: Andreas Praefecke

“The Federal Reserve Bank is a simple, well-designed building. It’s not flashy or trying to grab a lot of attention, but it has some elegance and character which makes it much nicer than a lot of the other buildings in [that] area.” 

Charles Brant, AIA, project manager, Perkins+Will 

Swine Building  

Photo courtesy of Dallas Historical Society

“The Swine Building (historic name: Livestock Building No. 2) by George Dahl for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. It is designed perfectly for its purpose.” 

Nancy McCoy, FAIA, partner, Quimby McCoy Preservation Architecture 

View more images here.

Fountain Place 

Photo credit: Peter Calvin

“Fountain Place is truly timeless.  Its design remains fresh, as if its construction could have been completed last week.”   

Joe Don Holley, AIA, associate principal and senior vice president, HKS Inc. 

View more images here.

The Hall of State at Fair Park 

Photo credit: Peter Calvin

“The Hall of State at Fair Park and the South Texas Room (aka Aluminum Room) because it is a combination of technology and a declaration of love for Texas. The decorative features and the paintings are amazing.” 

Olivier Meslay, associate director, curatorial affairs, Dallas Museum of Art 

Kimbell Art Museum 

Photo credit: Robert Laprelle

“Kimbell Art Museum by Louis Kahn. I’ve always loved how the mathematically complex cycloid vaults capture the light and illuminate the gallery space.” 

Briar Hannah, AIA, principal, studio b architecture 

First Presbyterian Church 

As a traditionalist, I continue to marvel how beautifully the First Presbyterian Church navigates the obtuse-angled intersection of Wood and Harwood Streets in downtown Dallas. This is a difficult feat to do, especially when dealing with two monumental porticoes, and the architect, C.D. Hill, managed it with finesse and confidence. Moreover, there is an exquisite balance and tension between the ambiguity of two equal entrances and the unquestioned hierarchical status of the dome that crowns the composition. Combine this compositional mastery with the rich architectural vocabulary of classicism, and the result is a building that architects working within the impoverished vocabulary that has arisen since the advent of Modernism can rarely equal. 

Douglas Klahr, associate professor, University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture