Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

Here's a good article about the current state of the Kalita Humphreys Theater. It's a building that deserves restoration and preservation. There is a new conservancy that was formed to start a dialogue between all involved operators and oversee a future $40 million complete restoration of the theater to Wright's original design conception.

https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/archite ... ys-theater

KERA Art & Seek Interview with Mark Lamster:

http://artandseek.org/2018/01/05/will-f ... -be-saved/

Never knew this place existed.

It could use some freshening up, but it's a great theater venue.

"New plan unveiled to restore Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kalita Humphreys Theater
The architects of New York’s High Line, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, propose a new arts complex along the Katy Trail."
(DS+R)

In addition to the restoration of the Kalita, the plan would introduce four new buildings into Dean Park: a new proscenium theater with seating for 250, a black-box theater with seating for 100, a “multipurpose” building and a five-story tower with rehearsal and education space. These facilities would largely sit on what is now surface parking. A pair of underground garages would be introduced to accommodate cars.
. . .
The centerpiece of the plan is the restoration of the Kalita, which would begin with the removal of a 1968 addition that plopped an ungainly rehearsal space (incongruously known as Frank’s Place) directly above the lobby on what was originally a roof terrace. That function would be restored.

- Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/architecture/2022/12/08/new-plan-unveiled-to-restore-frank-lloyd-wrights-kalita-humphreys-theater/
There are more renderings in the article.

They still need to secure funding, but this blue-sky masterplan for the site looks great. It's one of the city's great architectural shames that this theater is as neglected and unknown as it is.

I was having a sense of deja vu:

https://www.peoplenewspapers.com/2020/0 ... d%20Wright.

Was this delayed by the pandemic?

Has anyone seen a price estimate for this master plan?

How did this place fall into such rapid disrepair? It was a completely fine and funcitoning theater through the mid 2010s. Even after the Wyly opened, Dallas Theater Center would still host perfermances that I attended. While the theater was showing its age it was still fully functional and a nice place to see a show.

Even if it fails as a theatre, looks like it's still in good enough condition for us to defend Dallas against the Krauts. And I thought the school/prison quiz was tough. Theatre or bunker is giving it a run for it's money.

homeworld1031tx wrote:How did this place fall into such rapid disrepair? It was a completely fine and funcitoning theater through the mid 2010s. Even after the Wyly opened, Dallas Theater Center would still host perfermances that I attended. While the theater was showing its age it was still fully functional and a nice place to see a show.

I don’t know. The last 2 times I went, the roof leaked and the AC didn’t work.

It's somewhat functional, yes, but many of its systems are very out of date and failing. The DTC just raised the price to rent it for shows too as the pricing has been very affordable, which is good for smaller artist groups like the Uptown Players but goes very short in paying for the theater's upkeep. The carpets and overall internal finishes are worn out and not matching with the architectural style it was built in. Previous renovations just nipped and tucked but were just mild upkeep projects that kept the building from becoming an empty building. The interior is a miss mash of repairs and changes made to accommodate things like ADA, the landscaping needs an overhaul in addition to connecting it to the trail would be nice, and for being an architectural gem, a lot of its historical architecture needs major restoration work to stabilize the building from rotting away further.

Ultimately I would say it was purposefully run down because they built the Wyly and the Moody Performance Hall. Moody hasn't seemed successful in attracting some of the smaller arts groups cause those groups don't see a lot of success paying large prices to move shows Downtown and trying to convince their ticket buyers to leave the quaint atmosphere of the Kalita Humphreys. The Moody was built to attract the smaller arts groups but noticed the DTC isn't proposing they finish the additional phases of Moody which would have added more venues to replace the Kalita.

The problem seems to be the DTC wants to build out the Kalita complex as a second Arts District and add additional venues to generate revenue from renting to weddings, conferences, parties, etc. The Laita has been limping along for decades but I am not sure all these changes are likely or needed but are more of a wishlist that the DTC would love to get done.

This is so Dallas. In their desperate attempts to save downtown Dallas, city council moves the performing arts from Fair Park to downtown, moves the sciences museum from Fair Park to downtown, and moves the DTC from the Kalita to downtown (and then throw them in to an "arts district" that does little to actually help downtown . . . but Pritzker Prize winning architects!). Then, surprise! they discover that no one is visiting Fair Park/Kalita, so we have to spend hundreds of millions more to find ways to get people to return to those sites.

Tucy wrote:This is so Dallas. In their desperate attempts to save downtown Dallas, city council moves the performing arts from Fair Park to downtown, moves the sciences museum from Fair Park to downtown, and moves the DTC from the Kalita to downtown (and then throw them in to an "arts district" that does little to actually help downtown . . . but Pritzker Prize winning architects!). Then, surprise! they discover that no one is visiting Fair Park/Kalita, so we have to spend hundreds of millions more to find ways to get people to return to those sites.

Facts. That’s the way I see it too.

As the Arts District was built out in its final phase I was in planning school and started to see the cracks in the walls in the plan. You could easily argue that City Hall and the 1% took even more access to better education and the arts away from South Dallas by moving those museums and arts venues to Uptown. The check writers who donate to these museums and arts programs want their names on slick buildings not historical structures. I can not wait till THe Winspear and the Wyly becomes old hat and we start discussing replacement...

Good article on the state of Kalita Humphreys.

Frank Lloyd Wright Designed Just One Theater. Dallas Has Let It Fall Into Disrepair.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/style/kalita-humphreys-theater-dallas-preservation-frank-lloyd-wright/

Dallas should be ashamed to allow such a magnificent building to fall into such a sad state of disrepair. This is inexcusable.

It’s also shameful that we just can’t fix the building without spending another $100M on crap like a parking garage. Just fix the damn building.