DTD: Old Red Courthouse Restoration

[metrosteve]

Anybody have any new information on this project? When will the clock tower be back in place? Understand that it will be one of the elements of this redo. What a great old building!!

[crescentboi]

Does anyone know what the courthouse is supposed to look like once the clock tower goes back on top? Are there any renderings? I think that it would add a wonderfull piece of character to that area!

[UrbanLandscape]

Are they doing that this time around? If so, just look up some historical photos of it. From what I understand, it will be the same.

[freewaytincan]

Yes, I would like to see the clocktower renderings! Until then, I can be somewhat satisfied by old pictures.

[boozo]

I rode by and took this picture off of the restoration sign for you.

[boozo]

smallerhttp://www.essworksafe.com/greg/ClckTwr.jpg

[boozo]

http://www.essworksafe.com/greg/gargoyle.jpg

[bloodandpopcorn]

GOD that is sucha beautiful building! When is restoration due to be complete? I really think it could prove to be yet another tourist center for Dallas. If the museam is good enough, Dallas could shoot up the charts, because it will be as if we 'instantly' got history! It really is a shame how the city's history is essentially unknown to most everyone right now... and how great it will be to have it housed in such a beautiful building.

[gc]

....from the Downtown This Week Newsletter

Renovation of the 1893 Old Red Courthouse on Houston Street includes restoration of a four-story-high great hall and the original clock tower. Illuminated glass dials, each measuring 9-1/2 feet in diameter, on four faces of the clock tower and a 4,500 pound bell, which will tuned to sound the hour and half-hour, are also part of the plan to return the Romanesque Revival building to prominence among Victorian courthouses in Texas.

[INTX dave]

Wow! I am excited to hear that the clock tower is part of this renovation. I had always heard/read that it was more of a wish list/"nice to have item". If it is restored, it will really give this building the prominence it deserves!

[gc]

Courthouse dispute: Devil's in the details
Old Red restoration pits Dallas County vs. state historical panel
03:17 AM CST on Monday, December 1, 2003
By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/city/dallas/stories/120103dnmetcourthouse.69dc7.html

If its handsome red stone is the signature of the Old Red Courthouse in downtown Dallas, then surely one of its flourishes are the stained-glass lunettes that crown its long windows.

But those lunettes are not part of the original courthouse, or so says the Texas Historical Commission.

James Pratt, the Dallas architect who is directing its restoration, said that colored windows were features of the original building but were removed in the 1960s.

And so goes the debate between the state and Dallas County over dozens of features of Old Red, which is being restored to its original splendor of 1893. Dallas County would like to reopen the courthouse in 2004, but it must first reach consensus with the commission on the disputed points.

Although the state has provided relatively little toward the $22 million cost of Old Red's rebirth, the commission has the authority to approve plans for historic courthouses.

Mr. Pratt said the commission had recently nitpicked the county's plans and contradicted direction it gave in the 1990s.

"Our friends in Austin have such a narrow view, they do not really look at function along with the aesthetics," Mr. Pratt said this week. "He [the commission's project reviewer] really isn't that skilled or knowledgeable about architecture or construction."

Mark Cowan, the project reviewer, said the county had tried to introduce architectural features that look striking but were not part of the original building.

"There is a natural tendency for people to be too enthusiastic about architecture, and that is really nice," Mr. Cowan said. "But at the same time there is a line we do not want to cross."

The problem, county officials said, is that Old Red's original plans do not exist. The county also does not have photographs of the building's interior taken before 1925.

To learn more about the original courthouse, Mr. Pratt and his team have interviewed people who worked in the building and arranged laboratory analyses of existing samples of paint and shards of building materials.

The team also has consulted officials in Little Rock, Ark., where M.A. Orlopp, the architect of Old Red, built the county courthouse.

"The dilemma is how do you prove what was and was not there?" said Dan Savage, the county's assistant administrator for facilities. "The historic record is kind of sketchy, and it does require some interpretation."

The history of Old Red is that of an oft-adapted, much-abused building that has meant different things to different generations of Dallasites.

In the 1890s, when it was built, it was a crown jewel of a public building designed to withstand the fires that claimed earlier courthouses. It had a clock tower and cupola, and The Dallas Times Herald called it the "best equipped public building in the state, the state Capitol always excepted."

The clock tower has not been around since 1919, when it was removed because it could not withstand the winds that blew through and against it.

Although Mr. Pratt and the county are restoring the building to its 1893 standard, Old Red also is remembered for how it looked the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated two blocks away. The Dealey Plaza National Historic Landmark District, which takes 1963 as its flashpoint, includes Old Red.

That has led to the occasional question about whether the clock tower should be reintroduced at all. Mr. Pratt said that during a visit to the city of Dallas' Landmark Commission, one member asked whether the clock tower should be put back considering it was not there in 1963.

And now Mr. Pratt is fighting off similar questions from the state historical commission.

He said he was trying to fix past mistakes that were made as the county adapted the building through the years. He has, for example, designed brick arches for the newer, squared-off openings that have been created.

'Strange and confusing'


"You are trying to make this building communicate the past, and to leave it in the condition they have proposed would ... be strange and confusing for the public," Mr. Pratt said.
But the commission said that building new arches would add features that did not exist in 1893.

Mr. Cowan has made similar points about the color of the wood trim of doors and the finish of doorknobs. He said the county has proposed colors that do not match those typically found in Romanesque courthouses.

"It is noticeable to a person who goes to a courthouse to look at the courthouse," Mr. Cowan said of the details. "You are reaching folks who are more aware of their history and architecture."

Commission rejection


The commission also rejected an idea to add a glass orifice that would allow visitors to see the tower's intricate steel latticework.
"The answer I got in Austin was: 'If we let you do that, every other courthouse in Texas would want to do that,'" Mr. Pratt said. "That was their reason for not allowing people to see it."

The county and Mr. Cowan have compromised on many points, the county's Mr. Savage said.

If the sides cannot agree on other points, the county could appeal to the full board of the historical commission in January or February.

Mr. Savage said he believed that an appeal wouldn't be necessary.

"I think we've made good headway so far," he said. "We are not going to hold up construction. If they stick to their guns, we will deal with that."

E-mail dmichaels@dallasnews.com

[freewaytincan]

You know, it's so funny that I actually like Old Red. I honestly despise much of the Victorian style, particularly the interiors. So much of it seems gaudy and overdone, and all the details make it too visually busy. The courthouse is certainly an exception, perhaps because it's fairly unique.

[mikedsjr]

The buildings of the 1800s and early 1900s have so much more character to them than what is built in 2003.


Old Red is an awesome building. Restored or not.

[jammin]

I found this picture of the courthouse...any word on the progress going on? I love the tower...

http://images.goantiques.com/dbimages/OGS2700183096.jpg

[gc]

Wow, the tower adds a whole new dimension. Thanks for posting that.

[tamtagon]

The clock tower has not been around since 1919, when it was removed because it could not withstand the winds that blew through and against it.

Times, they are a-changin [caveat: Fort Worth]

[drumguy8800]

Wow.. thats pretty interesting. I wonder if the bell is going to interfere with those at Thanksgiving Square.. or maybe.. It'll sound all medieval with a buncha bells ringing everywhere. Very cool. Maybe after we redo this building, we can get the tower on top of the Mercantile redone, even if the building's gonna be empty for a while. That building's clock tower had some really cool features!

[Foucault]

From Downtown this Week:

Congratulations, Old Red!

Restoration of the Old Red Courthouse received a $3.5 million boost last week,
when the Texas Historical Commission announced the project had won a preservation
program grant.
The project is one of several major developments taking place in the western part of
Downtown, including a $39 million expansion of the George Allen Courts Building.
In 2005, the historic courthouse will open as home to the new $37.8 million Museum of
Dallas County History & Culture. Operated in cooperation with historical societies
throughout the county, the museum will feature state-of-the-art permanent and special
exhibits. For more information, visit oldred.org.

[crescentboi]

Ok, that's great, but now I want to see the clock tower go back up on it! Does anyone know when this is supposed to happen? That will be the piece de resistance! (i know horrible spelling! :p )

[Foucault]

Actually, it was perfect (sans accents). :)

[crescentboi]

I though y'all may like this...found it on Old Red's webiste.

State support for Old Red: $3.5-million
The State of Texas–Texas Historical Commission granted support of $3,537,500 for restoring Old Red
Courthouse, announced the Commission at its May meeting.

This funding will assist the completion of the courthouse and the reinstallation of the courthouse clock tower. The tower, officially a “Phase III” project, will be rebuilt concurrent with Phase II, soon to
commence.

Old Red, the second County Courthouse to boast a clock tower, opened in 1893. By 1919, it had
become obvious that the clock tower was decaying and wreaking ruin on the rest of the courthouse. Cracks had appeared in the tower walls, rock had fallen off, and the mortar was crumbling. The bid to remove it was let on March 10 and demolition began the following week. The bell was carved into pieces to facilitate removal, and sold, along with the clock, for $300.

Not weight so much as wind doomed the tower, according to architect James Pratt. “We have had extensive
studies made by our staff and engineers, showing that bending from wind loading, not weight, was the culprit,” said Pratt, who is designing a reinforcing collar to bolsterthe new tower.

The clock tower’s restoration is significant to each aspect of the project and the community. For the courthouse, it means the building’s appearance will present, for the first time since 1919, the vision of
our young community during an exciting time of development.

The impact of the restored tower may be difficult to visualize. Photographs of the period, most from
street level, rarely convey the size of the tower. Its reconstruction will add nearly 90 feet, almost threefourths again the height of the building. It will effect a dramatic change to the building and its environs.
For Old Red Museum, the tower completes the restoration of one of County history’s most significant artifacts, a courthouse built just as the modern era supplanted the Wild West. The clock itself speaks of an era when a county courthouse was looked to for standards, not only in law and civil dispute, but also in such practical needs as displaying the correct time. Those visiting the county seat would set their pocket watches to the clock and convey that accurate time back to their homestead. National time standards weren’t established till 1918, nor broadcast over radio until the 1920s. (Rail systems adopted standard time in 1883, but it was many years before such time was actually used by the people themselves and codified.)

For the community, restoring Old Red’s clock tower will be a signal event, an act of preservation visible
to hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown Dallas. Such public construction ensures that the return of Old Red to activity will be heralded by a visible and dynamic change to the skyline.

Said County Assistant Administrator Dan Savage, “The clock tower reconstruction work will be the
capstone on the overall effort to restore Old Red. It will also be the visual centerpiece in the County’s
revitalization of its downtown government center campus.”

The 1940s WPA Dallas Guide and History notes that Contemporary newspaper accounts record that visitors
came from far and near to admire its grandeur and hear its massive two-ton bell boom out the hours. Thanks to the support of the State of Texas, that day will come again, and more quickly than we had hoped.

[freewaytincan]

When?!

[tamtagon]

I though y'all may like this...found it on Old Red's webiste.

Its reconstruction will add nearly 90 feet, almost threefourths again the height of the building.

I like it, and I hope it generates more support to restore other historic and not-quite-yet historic structures in Dallas, especially in the CBD.

So, is my math right that the eventual height will be about 210 feet?

[Foucault]

Well, they redesigned the website (http://www.oldred.org)...must be getting closer to completion!

[VK1]

Ran into this article this morning... Will be a great addition to downtown.

Old Red's clock tower to be rebuilt





09:07 PM CDT on Friday, October 22, 2004

By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News

The newest tower on Dallas' skyline will also be one of its oldest.

Dallas County next year will begin rebuilding the Old Red Courthouse clock tower, which was dismantled 85 years ago, leaving the structure with its present stubby top.

<!-- image starts here --><!-- click icon starts here -->http://www.dallasnews.com/bi/images/clikEnlarge.gif <!-- click icon ends here -->http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/v3/10-23-2004.OldRed_OldDrawing.jpg.GFV1ESS72.1.jpg
The former courthouse will soon house the Old Red Museum.

<!-- image ends here -->When finished late next year or early in 2006, the 90-foot addition will give the former courthouse the profile of a 20-story building.

While reconstruction of the tower has long been on the county wish list, the project became reality only after the Texas Historical Commission granted the county $3.5 million for restoration in May.

County officials are hoping to approve bids for the project after the first of the year. Construction is expected to take about eight months, said Dan Savage, the assistant county administrator overseeing the project.

"If you're a passenger in a car on I-35, it is really going to change the appearance of downtown," he said. "It's a magnificent addition to the skyline."

When Old Red was completed in 1893, the tower, which sat atop the 120-foot body of the courthouse, made the building among the tallest structures in the state.

But the tower was susceptible to high winds, jeopardizing the integrity of the entire building. A quarter-century after it was built, the tower was afflicted with cracks, crumbling mortar and falling rock.

It was dismantled in 1919, its clocks sold and its 4,500-pound bell cut into pieces.

"It's going to complete the restoration of one of our most significant artifacts," said David Schulz, executive director of the Old Red Museum of Dallas County History & Culture. "There have been whole generations who have never seen the building as the original architect intended."

Tower restoration had been envisioned as "Phase III" of the ongoing rehabilitation of the old county courthouse and was to begin only after completion of the Old Red Museum in the building's base. The museum, part of "Phase II," is scheduled to open next spring.

The infusion of Texas Historical Commission funds, however, means the two phases will proceed concurrently, Mr. Savage said.

The new tower will be engineered to avoid the structural problems of its predecessor. Mr. Savage said that part of the tower stub will be removed and a reinforcing collar installed before the erection of the new tower begins.

The Pecos red sandstone used in the original tower is no longer available, so the red stone in the tower will come from Utah. The Arkansas blue granite that had been used for trim will be represented by granite from a New England quarry, Mr. Savage said.

Because the original blueprints have been lost, the tower will be designed using period photographs, he said. Planners have also decided to replicate the mechanical clock and 4,500-pound bell.

The tower's return will help restore the courthouse to some of its former prominence, Mr. Schulz said.

"People forget how important the county courthouse was in the lives of people," he said. "Really, the building has been unfinished without it."

Although dwarfed by modern downtown skyscrapers, such as the 72-story Bank of America Plaza building, the finished Old Red Courthouse will tower over the nearby George L. Allen Sr. Courts Building, which is 12 stories high.

The tower's stone profile will stand out on the glass-dominated skyline and again make the courthouse a local landmark, said Dwayne Jones, executive director of Preservation Dallas.

Reconstruction of a defaced historic building is unusual after so many years, said Mr. Jones, who hailed the plans as "an extraordinary achievement."

He said the finished structure will be striking.

"When it gets rebuilt, the tower is going to amaze people with its presence and prominence," Mr. Jones said.

"It's going to be among the strongest elements on the skyline."

[crescentboi]

This is great! I was wondering when they were going to be starting this. That certainly will be a large impact to that side of the skyline.

[texman]

This is so cool. Good thing this isnt a city project or it would be taking 10 years to get this off the ground. I always thought it looked sorta funny without any clock tower on it or anything.

[drumguy8800]

This is so cool. Good thing this isnt a city project or it would be taking 10 years to get this off the ground. I always thought it looked sorta funny without any clock tower on it or anything.

On the contrary, this project has taken a good while to get off the ground. The first mention on the forum is September of 2002: http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/showthread.php?t=259

It will certainly be beautiful when its finished.

Here's the rendering Old Red put up on a sign:

http://www.essworksafe.com/greg/ClckTwr.jpg

[Foucault]

Will the difference in stone be visible?

[jsoto3]

http://www.wfaa.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.wfaa.com/041207_1800oldred_am.wmv

[crescentboi]

Spring 2006 huh? That seems kindof far off to me. But does that also include the finishing of the bell tower as well? But I am glad that this is happening and this its a priceless item for downtown.

[gc]

^ thanks for posting jorge. There was an article about this in the DMN the other day and I forgot to post it.

[gc]

Old Red museum plans to tell county's 'fascinating' story
10:16 PM CST on Tuesday, December 7, 2004
By BRAD WATSON / WFAA-TV
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/localnews/tv/stories/wfaa041207_am_bigred.1c506ec7.html

Dallas County commissioners got the first public glimpse Tuesday of what the county's history museum will look like as part of the Old Red Courthouse. Restoration of the 104-year-old courthouse is almost complete, so now the non-profit Old Red Foundation is ready to start on the county Museum of History and Culture. A building that became part of history will now present it. "The overriding principle behind all of this is to get more people to understand the story of this community, because it's a fascinating and great story," said David Biegler of the Old Red Foundation.

The foundation showed county commissioners how the museum will display hundreds of pictures and artifacts, beginning with early settlers in the 1840s. There will be an emphasis on the obvious, like the economic expansion in the 1800s when cotton became a huge cash crop, and the railroads that led to population growth. But there will also be some not-so-obvious stories, like the tale of Anderson Bonner, a former slave who shrewdly bought 2,000 acres of land in what is now North Dallas.

"We're going to tell the story of all the people," Biegler said. "As many of the events that we can fit in and get people to understand the whole fabric." Some of the fabric of Dallas history is stained, and the foundation vows to show it, too. For example, the museum will explain how a mob in 1910 grabbed a black man during his trial at Old Red for assaulting a white girl, threw him from a second-floor window, and lynched him. Dallas historian Donald Payton believes the exhibits will be historically balanced.

"We don't want people to ever forget that those kinds of things do happen," Payton said. Commissioner John Wiley Price said he'll be looking for an accurate telling of county history. The public can make its own judgment when the museum opens in spring 2006.

[texman]

Did you see the renderings from the video inside the museum? Their awesome!

[gc]

^ Yes, but it was not very clear.

[BigD5349]

Not sure if you guys saw this. On August 2, the County Commissioner's Court authorized a $4.4M contract to rebuild the clock tower on Old Red. The contractor is Thos. S. Byrne, Ltd.

I was glad to see this. The last I heard, the cost of reconstruction exceeded funding, but some alternatives have been suggested and now it's going forward.

Old Red will shine with the clock tower, which was removed in 1919.

[Tnekster]

cool, can't wait to see that.

[BigD5349]

Here's some more info from the County website:

* The budget overrun for the clock tower was reduced by reconfiguring the structural support

* By starting construction immediately, the contractor will save money by reusing overhead and construction crews already at the site

* It seems reconstruction of the clock tower will start very soon, and that it will be finished by June 2006

* The sandstone has already been ordered from a quarry in Utah

[dallasag00]

I wondered what was up with the tower....

[Lionel Hutz]

We need a nice clock tower downtown. Is there already one? I know there are the chimes at Thanksgiving Square, but I'm not sure if there is a clock.

[John T Roberts]

We need a nice clock tower downtown. Is there already one? I know there are the chimes at Thanksgiving Square, but I'm not sure if there is a clock.

The Mercantile National Bank Spire, when it is restored, might meet your requirements.

[BigD5349]

The Old Red Museum website (http://www.oldred.org/) says that the rebuilding of Courthouse Clocktower began on September 1, 2005, see the attached drawing.

I guess this means that we'll see the exterior work starting sometime in the next several weeks.

[RobertB]

I hope they include the "Don't Spit On Floor" sign.
http://www.oldred.org/images/oldredcourthouse/courtroom2.jpg
http://www.oldred.org/courtroom.html

[txRNGr]

^^haha strange

[boozo]

The scaffolding is going up for this tower today... Finally!!!

[Lakewooder]

"This Old House" Saturday night featured a short tour of the Harvard yard, including this tower which was replaced over 50 years after the original burned:

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~memhall/tower.html

and this more-extensive article:

http://www.traditional-building.com/palladio/pallwin1.htm

[jammin]

Awesome. Thanks for the update.

[BigD5349]

The scaffolding is going up for this tower today... Finally!!!

Yippee! thanks for the update. Finally, for the first time since 1919, this building will be whole again!

[BigD5349]

Anyone know what's up with this? Scaffolding is up in places, but not at the top where the clock tower is supposed to go...

[boozo]

There is a new crane near the where the tower is going (not associated with parking garage next door)