Dallas’s City Hall, an inverted pyramid of concrete and glass designed by the famed architect I.M. Pei, is a striking monument to municipal government in a state where government is rarely celebrated. Its imposing structure has attracted admirers and detractors since it opened as a futuristic marvel nearly 50 years ago.
So it came as a surprise to many in Dallas when city elected officials voted last month to consider moving out of the building and into office space downtown — and, at the same time, to explore the economic benefits of redeveloping the site.
“Unfortunately, I believe it is a goner,” said Willis Winters, an architect and former director of the city’s parks department, who worked in City Hall for nearly three decades.
Dallas is not a city that gets overly nostalgic about its buildings. Homes are routinely torn down and replaced with bigger ones. Developers hold sway. The city has had several different City Halls already in its history.
The current seat of municipal government is angular, austere and beige in the Brutalist style of architecture that for many has gone out fashion.
Mayor Eric L. Johnson offered a withering assessment of his work home. “Is this inspiring to you?” he asked, walking the hallways that surround City Hall’s interior atrium. “This feels like what you think would be a regional satellite office of the Social Security Administration.”
But talk of abandoning the building brought swift opposition from preservationists, architecture experts and many residents, who became immediately concerned that the unique structure once featured in the 1987 film “RoboCop” was being placed on a path for demolition. Several residents voiced opposition before the City Council vote, and scores more packed into a town hall last month organized by two Council members who opposed the measure.
“It came out of nowhere,” said Melanie Vanlandingham, a landscape architect and neighborhood advocate who addressed the council last month. “Many of us feel the fix is in.”
Critics fear — and supporters hope — that the city is open to redeveloping the land, possibly as part of an entertainment district or a new stadium for the Dallas Mavericks. Miriam Adelson, the Republican megadonor and casino magnate, owns the team and her company, Las Vegas Sands, has made no secret of its desire to create a large casino resort in Dallas, if Texas legalizes gambling. The Mavericks chief executive, Rick Welts, said in a statement that the team was “exploring potential locations” for a new stadium in the city of Dallas.
Local business groups and developers have appeared eager for the city to free up the 12 acres of city-owned land by leaving behind the more than 800,000-square-foot building at its center. Proponents point to the example of nearby Fort Worth, which moved its city offices into a retrofitted office tower this year. A pair of former Dallas mayors have argued that the building is “falling apart” and that moving out would help revitalize the city’s struggling downtown. Some have suggested demolition.
“Let’s take down City Hall,” a real estate investor and developer, Shawn Todd, wrote in The Dallas Morning News.
Mayor Johnson said in an interview in his fifth-floor office that he welcomed interest from developers.
“This whole plaza is essentially prime-located and underutilized space,” he said.
The mayor listed problems with the building’s plumbing and heating systems — “I’m tired of using a space heater at my desk,” he said — and described his dislike of its design. He said he preferred traditional government buildings like the Texas Capitol, where he once served as a state representative.
The idea for an architecturally significant building to house Dallas’s city government came from Mayor J. Erik Jonsson — no relation to the current Mayor Johnson — who oversaw the city’s efforts to pull itself out of its deep malaise and self-doubt after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. He wanted a building for the city’s future, rather than its past.
Liane Pei recalled how her father, Mr. Pei, had been approached by the mayor about the project after the assassination. “I remember him telling me how meaningful it was,” she said, adding that he would go on to design several other buildings in Dallas. (Mr. Pei died in 2019.)
The building received national attention ahead of its opening in 1978. The architecture critic of The New York Times called it “a turning point for the city” that, along with the similarly modern Boston City Hall, “was among the most interesting urban constructions of the 20th century.” Both structures feature Brutalist design, which in more recent years has attracted many critics.
And in Dallas, the passage of time and the functions of city government have rendered the space less awe inspiring.
Sections of a large common area on the second floor, which sits at the foot of a soaring atrium, have been partitioned into cubicles. The roof needs repairs. Some complain that the offices in parts of the building are too cold, while others across the building become sweltering in the afternoon sun. Water commonly collects in areas of an underground garage.
In its presentation to the council, the city manager’s office said the cost of making repairs could reach as high as $345 million, a large percentage of which would go to fixing the garage.
But in the debate over the building’s future, some have said the extent of the disrepair was being exaggerated.
“I have seen absolutely no evidence of any structural problems,” Councilman Paul Ridley, a retired architect, said in an interview in his City Hall office.
Far from crumbling, “it would be the first building I would go to in the event of a tornado warning,” he said.
Mr. Ridley said he believed the city’s cost estimates were overstated — a 2018 assessment put the repair costs far lower, around $93 million at the high end — and he wondered why the process appeared to be on a fast track. The Council directed the city to produce a report by the end of February.
“It makes no sense, unless there is someone who is pushing the city to vacate this property,” he said.
Councilman Chad West, who chairs the finance committee, described City Hall as “extremely iconic” but also as “not a great place to work.”
“I do not see anyone on city staff advocating for us to stay,” he said.
Still, officials were waiting for the results of the report before rendering any final judgment.
Mr. Winters, the former parks director, said he “found it an absolute joy to work in that building,” though he conceded the concrete walls sometimes interfered with WiFi connections.
But sounding resigned, he said all signs pointed to its end.
On a recent weekday, the large round fountain outside City Hall reflected the sun as workers readied the plaza for its role as the start, and finish, of the Dallas Marathon. Out-of-town runners visited the building for the first time. A group of teenagers snapped pictures.
“It looks a little dated, but I like the design,” said Ron Marshall, 54, who came in from Charlotte, N.C., to run in the marathon.
“A little 80s,” his wife, Liz, agreed.
Monqice Johnson, 58, who moved to Dallas from New Orleans and works security in the area, said she loved the building. She even texted pictures of it to relatives back in Louisiana to show it off. “They said, ‘What is that?’ And I told them, ‘It’s the City Hall,’” she said.
She had not heard much about the debate over its future but favored saving the building. “Keep it like it is,” she said. “Everything doesn’t need to be done over.”
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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