Editing Hall of State

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Hall of State
| nrhp_type = cp
| partof = [[Fair Park|Texas Centennial Exposition Buildings (1936-1937)]]
| partof_refnum = 86003488<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref>
| image = Hall_of_State_during_the_2021_State_Fair_of_Texas.jpg
| caption = Exterior of the Hall of State
| location = 3939 Grand Ave.,<br />[[Dallas, Texas]]
| coordinates = {{coord|32|46|51|N|96|45|40|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Texas#USA
| map_label = Hall of State
| locmap_relief = yes
| built = {{Start date|1936}}
| architect = [[Donald Barthelme (architect)|Donald Barthelme]], Adams & Adams, et al
| architecture = [[Art Deco]]
| designated_nrhp_type = September 24, 1986
| designated_other1 = TSAL
| designated_other1_date = January 1, 1984
| designated_other1_number = [https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/8200000213 8200000213]
| designated_other1_num_position = bottom
| designated_other2 = RTHL
| designated_other2_date = 1981
| designated_other2_number = [https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/5113006732 6732]
| designated_other2_num_position = bottom
| designated_other3_name = [[List of Dallas Landmarks|Dallas Landmark]] Historic District<br />[[Contributing property|Contributing Property]]
| designated_other3_abbr = DLMKHD
| designated_other3_color = #F5DEB3
| designated_other3_date = March 4, 1987<ref name="DalOrd">{{cite web|title=Ordinance No. 27079|url=http://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/DCH%20documents/pdf/FairParkOrdinance.pdf|year=2008|publisher=City of Dallas|access-date=August 16, 2018}}</ref>
| designated_other3_number = [http://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/Pages/landmark_districts.aspx H/33] ([[Fair Park]])
| designated_other3_num_position = bottom
}}

The '''Hall of State''' (originally the '''State of Texas Building''') is a building in [[Dallas]]'s [[Fair Park]] that commemorates the history of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Texas]] and is considered one of the best examples of [[Art Deco|Art Deco architecture]] in the state.  It was designed and built for the [[Texas Centennial Exposition]].

==History==
Built in 1936 at the astronomical (especially during the [[Great Depression]]) price of [[United States dollar|$]]1.2 million, the building was the most expensive per unit area of any structure built in Texas.  It was designed for the centennial of the [[Republic of Texas]] by architect [[Donald Barthelme (architect)|Donald Barthelme]]<ref>[http://www.dallashistory.org/about/hos_faqs.htm Hall of State FAQs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512000225/http://www.dallashistory.org/about/hos_faqs.htm |date=2008-05-12 }}, Dallas Historical Society</ref> in the [[Beaux-Arts architecture|beaux arts]] style and is considered one of the most representative examples of [[art deco]] architecture in Texas.  According to documents from the Dallas Historical Society Centennial archives collection, John F. Livers designed and manufactured the majority of the Art Deco ornamental metalwork at his Livers Lighting and Bronze Company in Kansas City, Missouri, including the light fixtures. The Hall of State is the culmination of the {{convert|1500|ft|m|adj=on}} long Esplanade of State which is flanked by six exhibition pavilions and features a long [[reflecting pool]].  It was built using Texas [[limestone]] and features memorials to many of the heroes of Texas history.

==Current==
The [[Dallas Historical Society]] has been responsible for managing the Hall of State since 1938.  The Hall of State is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as a part of [[Fair Park]]. In 1986, the building was restored at a cost of approximately $1.5 million, and the G.B. Dealey Library was opened.

The '''G.B. Dealey Library''', located in the [[West Texas]] room of the Hall of State, holds more than ten thousand bound volumes and three million historic documents, including [[Sam Houston]]'s handwritten account of the [[battle of San Jacinto]].

The Dallas Historical Society rents the Hall of State for events and provides guided tours to school groups.

The structure became a [[Recorded Texas Historic Landmark]] in 1981.<ref name="Atlas">{{cite web|title=Texas Historic Sites Atlas|url=http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/index.asp|publisher=Texas Historical Commission|access-date=17 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713021658/http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/index.asp|archive-date=13 July 2012|df=}}</ref>

[[The American Museum of the Miniature Arts]] was previously located at the Hall of State.

==Architecture==
[[Image:State Fair Hall of State.jpg|thumb|300px|The curved exedra at the entrance of the Hall of State]]
[[Image:Dallas Fair Park Hall of State inside 2.jpg|thumb|300px|Interior Great Hall]]
[[Image:State Fair HoS Heroes.jpg|thumb|300px|The exterior frieze of the Hall of State honors 59 Texas historical figures. Displayed here are John Reagan, Anson Jones, James Fannin, Gail Borden, William H. Wharton, Peter Bell, Jose Navarro and Elisha M. Pease.]]
The curved [[exedra]] at the entrance to the Hall of Texas features {{convert|76|ft|m|adj=on}} tall limestone pillars sit in front of blue tiles designed to evoke the state's flower, the bluebonnet (''[[Lupinus texensis]]'').  In the center, above the entrance is an {{convert|11|ft|m|adj=on}} [[bronze]] with [[Metal leaf#Gold leaf|gold leaf]] statue by [[Allie Tennant]]<ref>Hendricks, Patricia D. and Becky Duval Reese, A Century of Sculpture in Texas: 1889-1989, University of Texas, Austin,  1989 p. 45</ref> of the "Tejas Warrior": an [[archery|archer]] holds high a bow without an arrow, meant to symbolize peace.

Inside the Hall of State is the Hall of Heroes, which features six bronze statues of [[James Fannin]], [[Mirabeau B. Lamar]], [[Stephen F. Austin]], [[Sam Houston]], [[Thomas Jefferson Rusk]] and [[William B. Travis]].  There are also bronze plaques that commemorate the [[Battle of the Alamo]] and the [[Battle of San Jacinto]].  Outside, a statue of [[Robert L. Thornton]], benefactor of the State Fair of Texas and former [[List of Dallas mayors|Mayor of Dallas]] stands, overlooking the esplanade.

On the exterior [[frieze]], the Hall of State commemorates 60 prominent historical figures in Texas' history:
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

* [[Edward Burleson]]
* [[Branch Tanner Archer]]
* [[Thomas Jefferson Rusk]]
* [[William B. Travis]]
* [[James Stephen Hogg]]
* [[Richard Ellis (Texas politician)|Richard Ellis]]
* [[Mirabeau B. Lamar]]
* [[Ben Milam]]
* [[David G. Burnet]]
* [[John Coffee Hays|John Coffee "Jack" Hays]]
* [[James Smith (Texas General)]]
* [[Albert Sidney Johnston]]
* [[Stephen F. Austin]]
* [[James Bonham]]
* [[Davy Crockett]]
* [[Sam Houston]]
* [[James Pinckney Henderson|J. Pinckney Henderson]]
* [[Oran M. Roberts]]
* [[Lorenzo de Zavala]]
* [[James Bowie]]
* [[John Reagan]]
* [[Anson Jones]]
* [[James Fannin]]
* [[Gail Borden]]
* [[William H. Wharton]]
* [[Peter Hansborough Bell|Peter Bell]]
* [[José Antonio Navarro]]
* [[Elisha M. Pease]]
* [[Samuel May Williams]]
* [[Benjamin McCulloch|Ben McCulloch]]
* [[James W. Robinson (Texas and California)|James W. Robinson]]
* [[Mathew Caldwell|Matthew Caldwell]]
* [[James Collinsworth]]
* [[John Hemphill (politician)|John Hemphill]]
* [[George Childress]]
* [[Thomas Green (general)|Thomas Green]]
* [[Rotal Tyler Wheeler|R.T. Wheeler]]
* [[William B. Franklin]]
* [[Henry Wax Karnes]]
* [[Moseley Baker]]
* [[Walter P. Lane]]
* [[Patrick Churchill Jack]]
* [[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado]]
* [[Alonso Alvarez de Pineda]]
* [[Alonso de León]]
* [[Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca]]
* [[Hamilton Prieleaux Bee]]
* [[William Read Scurry]]
* [[Memucan Hunt Jr]]
* [[Frank W. Johnson|Frank Johnson]]
* [[Samuel Price Carson]]
* [[Sidney Sherman]]
* [[Abner Smith Lipscomb]]
* [[George Washington Hockley]]
* [[Henry Weidner Baylor]]
* [[Robert McAlpin Williamson]]
* Menefee (either [[William Menefee]] or [[John Menefee]])
* [[Thomas Jefferson Chambers]]
* [[Isaac Van Zandt]]
* [[Thomas S. Lubbock]]
{{div col end}}

==See also==
{{Portal|National Register of Historic Places|Texas}}
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Dallas County, Texas]]
*[[List of Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks (Cameron-Duval)#Dallas County|Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks in Dallas County]]
*[[List of Dallas Landmarks]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Hall of State (Fair Park, Dallas)|Hall of State}}
*[http://www.hallofstate.com/ The Hall of State at Fair Park]
*[http://www.watermelon-kid.com/places/FairPark/hh-tour/hh-hos.htm Hall of State Tour]

{{Neighborhoods in Dallas}}
{{NRHP in Texas}}

[[Category:Fair Park]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Dallas]]
[[Category:Art Deco architecture in Texas]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1936]]
[[Category:Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks]]
[[Category:Museums in Dallas]]
[[Category:World's fair architecture in Texas]]