Next up in our Nevermore series – one of the earliest ‘skyscrapers’ in Dallas history.
This may look like a fairly typical tall building from the turn of the last century, but it has a secret. In 1910, this building was a mere 2 stories and was originally the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Building. Lang & Witchell were the architects behind those two stories. They created the building with the foresight to allow for many floors to be added in the future.
Our humble but sturdy two story building stood that way for 8 years until 1918 when the Southland Insurance company bought it. The promptly put those two base floors to use and added on eight more! They also added fancy bonuses like hot and cold running water in each office, three elevators and a rooftop garden plus mahogany woodwork throughout. Ten floors in 1918 put this building as one of the very tallest in Dallas.
*Lang & Witchell may sound familiar – Otto Lang and Frank Witchell were also responsible for the design of Exposition Hall at Fair Park, the Sanger’s Brothers Department store and their lovely Art Deco Dallas Power & Light building along with several others. The Dallas Power & Light building is still standing and is shown here. The Southland Insurance building was not so lucky and was razed in 1980.
