Preservation Dallas has launched their 2020 Summer Sizzlers season with a wide variety of virtual lectures each week until the end of September.
If you think this is just about beautiful old homes, think again. Preservation Dallas pulls out the stops every season with their Summer Sizzler lectures, offering insights into everything from ugly architecture to outlaws. There is even a lecture about the Apollo Mission Control Center restoration, which was completed just last summer.
“The Summer Sizzler series has been a tremendous program for Preservation Dallas and has been around for twenty years now,” Preservation Dallas Executive Director David Preziosi said. “It was developed to help educate our members and non-members on a variety of fun topics on Dallas and Texas history, architecture, and projects related to historic preservation.
“We bring in speakers from around the state and even take field trips to sites across the city for up-close learning. Of course, we can’t do that this year so we are taking the series virtual for the first time. We have assembled a great selection of topics and speakers this year on a variety of fun subjects and topics. It is a great way to spend an evening learning about Dallas and Texas while avoiding the sizzling heat of summer!”
The Summer Sizzler series begins tonight. Here’s a small sample of what’s coming up.
The Ugliest Building in Town: Telephone Buildings, Design, and Technology
Tuesday, August 25
Ever wondered what those windowless boxes on Bryan Street in East Dallas are for — or why they look that way? Kate Holliday, UT Arlington professor and founding director of the David Dillon Center for Texas Architecture, will talk about telephone buildings, how they are designed, and why they weren’t always the ugliest building in town. Some telephone buildings are Art Deco jewels while others are Brutalist masterpieces, but no matter what they look like, they all make our telephone calls and Internet service possible.
Outlaws and Architecture: True Stories of Dallas Outlaws, Lawmen and the Buildings Associated with Them
Tuesday, September 8
Everyone comes from somewhere — even outlaws. Preserving historic structures includes not just homes of the famous, but also sometimes the infamous. John H. Slate of the Dallas Municipal Archives will feature sites and structures around Dallas connected to well-known and lesser-known outlaws of Dallas’ past.
Held every Tuesday at 6 pm, links will be sent out the morning of the lecture. You can register here.
