Welcome to Fort Worth, Texas! I haven’t posted a thread on my fair city in a long time, so I thought I would show you some random pictures that I took with some commentary and provide you with some of the city’s history, as well.
In downtown, we have three new buildings under construction in Sundance Square. Their sites are not much to look at because they have just been clearing the parking lots away to start building. Here are two of the construction sites of a 6 story and a 5 story building. Along with the two buildings will be a real “Sundance Square”, a one block public plaza centered on Main Street. The two buildings will be bookends to the plaza.
Last year, the owners of the Tandy Center, now called City Place demolished the old Tandy Center Mall and are now building two new structures between the two towers. One is a parking garage/retail building, and the other is a new entrance pavilion/retail addition to the south tower. After the new construction is finished, the south tower will be upgraded to match the already renovated north tower. Here’s a shot of the new construction.
Tarrant County College finally opened a downtown campus last fall with two locations. One is the old RadioShack Corporate Campus, west of the Courthouse, and the other is the Trinity River East Campus, designed by Bing Thom out of Vancouver, B.C.
117 years of construction in this photograph:
The Courthouse was restored from the roof downward in 1983. At that time, they did not have enough money to restore the dome. That work was finally done earlier this year. In April, the scaffolding was removed and it revealed a new copper dome on top of the building, and a restored clock. Here’s a shot of the Horse Fountain and a better view of the new copper dome.
Back in the late 1800’s several horse watering troughs and decorative fountains were built throughout the city. On the opposite end of downtown, there is another that honors Al Hayne, who died saving others at the Spring Palace Fire in 1890.
Just a little north of where the Spring Palace was located, the Texas & Pacific Railway Terminal was built in 1931. This was originally part of a three building complex (all three buildings are still standing), and it had bustling railroad station on the ground floor with offices on the upper floors. The station portion now serves as a commuter rail station and the upper floors have been converted into lofts.
The building is fairly impressive, but the lobby is just fantastic. It is now used as a meeting room/function space, but when it is not being rented, you can still come in the front door to access the commuter train called the Trinity Railway Express.
The concourse between the lobby and the trains is now used as seating for a restaurant called the T&P Tavern.
The restaurant itself is inside the old diner of the train station. When the restaurant leased the space, nothing had changed since the last time the restaurant was in operation in the late 1960’s. Here’s a view inside the dining room.
The T&P Tavern is a popular hangout for the urban cyclists in Fort Worth. One of the city’s smaller bicycle shops relocated their store to Sundance Square.
The Flying Saucer is relocating within downtown and they have a fancy new neon sign.
If you want to eat barbecue in downtown, Riscky’s is the place. They have been in operation in Fort Worth since 1927. Their main store is still just west of the Stockyards in North Fort Worth, but the downtown location is a popular spot.
In 1921, the Farmers and Mechanics National Bank opened as the city’s tallest building at 24 stories and a height of 307 feet. Over the years, the base had been modernized twice. Each modernization had been built over the previous one. When they started the restoration, you could see all three facades inside the walls. Below is a view of the building after restoration.
Here is a detail of the new base:
It is also illuminated at night:
While I was walking around downtown the other evening, I noticed this pigeon sitting on top of a sign. The sign had spikes on it to keep the birds away. I don’t think it was doing its job.
On Thursday nights, a movie is run after sundown in a parking lot. You can bring your lawn chair and watch a free movie.
I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of Fort Worth. I will be adding photographs here in the next few days.
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