Science Place I and Imax Theater (Museum of Fine Arts), 1936

DeWitt and Washburn; Herbert M. Greene, LaRoche & Dahl; Ralph Bryan; Henry Coke Knight; Paul Philippe Cret
Roscoe DeWitt, addition, 1963
Corgan Associates, renovation as Science Place, 1985
Corgan Associates, IMAX Theater addition, 1996

The museums comprising the cultural district were envisioned as the legacy of the Centennial Exposition to the citizens of Dallas.  In a single gesture, the city received the endowment of a substantial new civic center.  The most important of the new facilities was the Museum of Fine Arts, which-like the Hall of State-was designed by a consortium of Dallas architects.  This spartan building, clad in cream limestone and shellstone, was the centerpiece of the picturesque Lagoon area, and was located on axis with the plaza and entry to the stadium.  Corgan's 1996 IMAX Theater addition gave the Science Place a new monumental entry that is shifted off the Centennial axis.  Despite its mass, the theater is surprisingly contextual within this architecturally sensitive district.

Credits: Excerpts taken from The American Institute of Architects Guide to Dallas Architecture, published in 1999 by the American Institute of Architects, Dallas Chapter. The editor of this book was Larry Paul Fuller. The Fair Park Introduction and entries were written by Willis Winters, AIA.

Permission to publish these excerpts was granted by The American Institute of Architects, Dallas Chapter, in October 2002.