![5
Lincoln was advised of the order’s foundations: friendship, charity and benevolence, and
according to the order’s history:
[President Lincoln] believed that it might do much to heal the wounds and allay the
hatred of civil conflict.” Consequently, “an application was made to Congress for a charter, and
the Order of Knights of Pythias was the first American Order ever chartered by an Act of the
Congress of the United States.6
The building seen today however, is not the original structure. According to a message
etched in the building’s cornerstone, in 1881 members built the first Knights of Pythias temple in
the world. Three stories high, the upper levels were used for Pythian activities and the ground
floor was leased to merchants. Tragically, a fire in 1901 destroyed the building’s interior; it was
demolished and reconstructed later that year with a gabled roof and the castle turret seen today.
Additionally, the building was the site of an offset printing press invention that revolutionized
newspaper production. From 1947 to 1952, Staley McBrayer, owner of McBrayer Publishing
Company, worked to invent an offset press for newspaper production. In 1953, he convinced the
engineering firm of Grant Ghormley to build his experimental plans. The Vanguard Press, as it
came to be called, revolutionized the newspaper industry. 7
The building was placed in the
National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and later that decade sold to Bass Brothers
Enterprises Inc. When restoration began, stairways sagged from improper modifications and the
third floor walls were being pushed apart due to failure of the roof scissor trusses. Braces were
set against the adjacent Domino Building to correct these problems. The original stone work,
which was weathered badly, was replaced with matched stone and set by hand brick by brick. A
humorous tale surrounding the building’s restoration entails an eight-foot knight made of
galvanized iron. The knight was originally perched above the third floor on the exterior of the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/3cfc7442-20cf-4749-9ed0-e60e399e4f45-150327123148-conversion-gate01/85/Sundance-Square-5-320.jpg)
Sundance Square
- 1. Sundance Square: The Revival of Downtown Fort Worth Bradley Hasse 9 April 2011
- 2. 2 The most ambitious urban development project undertaken in Fort Worth, Sundance Square has transformed downtown from a sleepy city to a central entertainment district. Over thirty city blocks feature restaurants, specialty shops, theaters, museums and art galleries, as well as home residences and office space. Beautifully restored turn-of-the-century buildings, historical landmarks, and detailed landscaping create an urban ambiance unique to Sundance Square. Unique services such as a visible private security force and free parking available in private garages provide a safe and enjoyable experience. Today, Sundance Square bustles with activity; however, thirty-five years ago none of this existed except the buildings, which lay neglected and decaying. During the 1960’s and 70’s, downtown was decrepit and dying; after World War II, the mass flight from cities to suburbs was no exception to Fort Worth. As people left, so did department stores, retail shops, and restaurants, to be replaced by pawn shops, liquor stores, and cheap bars. There was no reason to go downtown, especially when new suburban malls offered free parking, safe environments, and “free childcare.” Main Street became a haven to high grass, bums, and drunks; downtown was dead. The central business district provided the only day activity, but when city workers went home the city became silent. Eliberto Quinonez has worked downtown for thirty-five years and recalls, “for the average person working downtown in the late 1970’s, there were around a handful of restaurants to have lunch. By the start of the 1980’s, things began to change… There are so many places to eat now, it’s unbelievable.”1 Changes began when Bass Brothers Enterprises Inc. began to buy properties in the north district of downtown and along Main Street. Bass Brothers Enterprise consisted of brothers Sid, Ed, Robert, and Lee. “When Sid began the development in the early 80’s,” Ed Bass reported, “he said he thought he had the alternatives to either move his business to a financial center like
- 3. 3 New York, or make Fort Worth a place where he could attract the brightest and best people for his organization, and he chose the latter.”2 So a thirty-year adventure of development, experimentation, failure, and success began on two city blocks and spread to revive downtown Fort Worth. On March 16, 1978, during the largest breakfast meeting to date, Sid Bass revealed his major downtown restoration plan before the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. His vision included creating a pedestrian-friendly downtown environment built around an attractive urban mix of restored historical structures and new modern buildings. Restaurants and specialty retail shops were planned to attract Fort Worth’s citizens who had grown weary of visiting downtown. Additionally, providing nightlife entertainment was a major goal. “The redevelopment,” as Sid Bass explained it, “will meet the everyday needs of those who work downtown, with restaurants to take care of the lunch traffic. But we hope we would draw them downtown at night also.”3 The plan resulting from the breakfast meeting became known as City Center, a nine- block multi-use development project on the north side of downtown. Two of the three City Center projects were new construction schemes: a 510-room, 14-story hotel called The Americana, and twin glass skyscrapers, City Center Towers I & II, respectively rising 32 and 37 stories. Amidst this mega-scale construction, quietly lie two quaint city blocks, concentrated with neglected but character-filled turn-of-the-century-buildings. Rather than tear the structures down, Sid Bass planned to restore and renovate them. If these buildings could talk they would tell tales of the rough and wild Hell’s Half Acre, “Fort Worth’s largest collection of bars, dance halls and bawdy houses south of Dodge City, Kansas.”4 Cowboys driving cattle along the Chisholm Trail often visited Fort Worth for R&R. Occasionally notorious characters such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid employed Hell’s Half Acre as a hideout, which is how
- 4. 4 Sundance Square got its name. Once a rowdy cowboy town, Sundance Square would provide relief and architectural character in the heart of a developing city. Before any buildings were touched, Main Street received a makeover. Nine 200-foot- square compact city blocks run along Main Street contributing to the pedestrian appeal Fort Worth offers. The entire street, running through Sundance Square, links the courthouse to the convention center and can be walked in minutes. After announcing the preservation project in 1978, Fort Worth was awarded an urban development action grant. Aided by $3 million of federal funding, the Main Street Project, as it came to be called, repaved the street with red brick, eliminated parkways, expanded bricked pedestrian walkways to seventeen feet, and installed planters and gas-lamp street lights along the entire stretch.5 Shortly after Main Street’s makeover, reconstruction commenced on the two blocks of Sundance Square bounded by Second and Third Streets to the north and south, and Houston and Commerce Streets to the east and west. Main Street runs north and south between the blocks. Originally, restoration focused on twelve buildings facing Main Street and Houston. Restoration plans emphasized preserving their original architecture and respecting their historic details. As reconstruction began, the following buildings presented unique challenges requiring innovative solutions. On block 42, (surrounded by Main and Commerce Streets to the east and west, and Second and Third Streets to the north and south) a truly noteworthy restored structure is the Knights of Pythias Castle Hall. Referred to as the cornerstone of Sundance Square, the building is extraordinarily unique and holds distinction as the most photographed building in the square. True to the hall’s name, The Knights of Pythias were the building’s creators and first dwellers and have an interesting history themselves. The Knights of Pythias are an international fraternal order founded in 1864 in Washington, D.C. During the Civil War, President Abraham
- 5. 5 Lincoln was advised of the order’s foundations: friendship, charity and benevolence, and according to the order’s history: [President Lincoln] believed that it might do much to heal the wounds and allay the hatred of civil conflict.” Consequently, “an application was made to Congress for a charter, and the Order of Knights of Pythias was the first American Order ever chartered by an Act of the Congress of the United States.6 The building seen today however, is not the original structure. According to a message etched in the building’s cornerstone, in 1881 members built the first Knights of Pythias temple in the world. Three stories high, the upper levels were used for Pythian activities and the ground floor was leased to merchants. Tragically, a fire in 1901 destroyed the building’s interior; it was demolished and reconstructed later that year with a gabled roof and the castle turret seen today. Additionally, the building was the site of an offset printing press invention that revolutionized newspaper production. From 1947 to 1952, Staley McBrayer, owner of McBrayer Publishing Company, worked to invent an offset press for newspaper production. In 1953, he convinced the engineering firm of Grant Ghormley to build his experimental plans. The Vanguard Press, as it came to be called, revolutionized the newspaper industry. 7 The building was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and later that decade sold to Bass Brothers Enterprises Inc. When restoration began, stairways sagged from improper modifications and the third floor walls were being pushed apart due to failure of the roof scissor trusses. Braces were set against the adjacent Domino Building to correct these problems. The original stone work, which was weathered badly, was replaced with matched stone and set by hand brick by brick. A humorous tale surrounding the building’s restoration entails an eight-foot knight made of galvanized iron. The knight was originally perched above the third floor on the exterior of the
- 6. 6 building facing Main Street. Worried the knight might come to harm during construction, members of the Weatherford, Texas Order of the Knight hatched a night operation to infiltrate the building and rescue their beloved relic. When they attempted to extract the knight, it crumbled. A replica bronze knight was fashioned in March, 1983, and reclaimed the perch above Main Street. Haltom’s Jewelers and 8.0 Bar & Café are currently the building’s main tenants.8 Adjacent and northward of the Pythian Castle sit the Domino Building and the Sid Richardson Building. Both buildings are designed replicas of their original structures built before 1900. The Domino Building was originally Buck’s Domino Parlor, a popular gaming house dubbed “The Casino of the Wild West.” Butch Cassidy, Luke Short, and the Sundance Kid himself frequented the parlor.9 The original “Sid Richardson Building” was destroyed by fire in 1905, and later rebuilt using salvaged parts, including the cast iron columns in the front of the building. The buildings were attached and together display Sid Richardson’s personal collection of fine western art produced by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell and a gift shop. North of the Sid Richardson Building and last on the block, The Plaza Hotel stands three stories high and was built in 1908. Winfield Scott, Fort Worth entrepreneur, built the hotel, which contained commercial businesses, a saloon on the ground floor, and guest rooms on the upper floors. The unique building features white glazed brick with green and yellow terra cotta trim. During restoration, builders discovered an original “Pawnee Bill’s Wild West Show” poster while removing layers of stucco. Kimbell Art Museum curators were quickly hailed to delicately remove the artifact, soon after the poster was framed and hung in its original spot.10 Today the building is home to Cowtown Diner and Mercury Chop House.
- 7. 7 On the opposite block, starting at Main Street and 3rd Street, the Western Union Building, built in 1930, served as Western Union’s headquarters for 50 years. The building was in excellent condition when purchased by the Basses and little renovation was required. Razoo’s Cajun Café has operated on the ground floor of the Western Union Building for the last eighteen years. Heading north, four original walls of the Conn Building surround a new structure built inside that is home to The Dallas Cowboy’s Pro Shop. Next to the Conn Building is the original location of the White Elephant Saloon, made famous for the shoot out between Luke Short, owner of the White Elephant Saloon, and City Marshal T.I. “Long Haired” Jim Courtwright whom Short gunned down during a street duel. The saloon has since been replaced by Earth Bones, a specialty retail shop, but was relocated from the Morris Building to the Stockyards district of Fort Worth. North of the Morris Building is one of the city’s oldest structures, dating back to 1885: the Weber Building. The building’s name derives from Weber’s Jewelry and Loan, which occupied the building in the 60’s and 70’s; currently The Thomas Kinkade Gallery is the main tenant. During a remodel in 1915, cast iron columns originally used on the Weber building were removed and placed on the building next door at 300 Main. Sundance developers and architects decided the building would be most useful by donating its columns back to the Weber building. Thus, the building was destroyed and columns returned to their rightful owner.11 When work began on buildings facing Houston Street on the west side of the block, so little of the buildings were determined to be salvageable that only the rear walls facing the alley and the cast iron columns were saved. At least two facades placed over original brick covered most of the storefronts. Two of the buildings were so damaged, it was impossible to decipher their original appearance. Those two building received painted storefronts by Richard Haas, an
- 8. 8 American muralist specializing in trompe l’oeil.I His work is also featured on the Tarrant County Courthouse and the Jett Building. The Jett Building, actually located one block south of the original two-block project, displays Sundance Square’s most notable feature, “The Chisholm Trail” mural, commemorating cattle drives running through Fort Worth from 1867 to 1875. The rear of the building’s surface serves as a three-story canvas displaying the striking three- dimensional effect of the mural. The last building involving the two-block restoration project was the City National Bank Building. Erected in 1884, the building underwent reconstruction by architectural firm Thomas E. Woodward and Associates who were determined to replace the building’s fourth floor, previously removed in the early 1900’s. After workers removed layers of plaster from the front of the building, two types of brick were discovered - evidence of a past remodel. Developers diligently searched to find brick matching the originals. Eventually a match was found on a building scheduled for demolition in St. Louis and shipped to Fort Worth. Brick masons then systematically cleaned or replaced, by hand if needed, individual bricks. A specially designed red mortar, created to imitate the original, sealed every joint. After the buildings were restored, developers added a finishing touch by cutting away at the buildings’ rears which had previously been separated by a narrow alleyway. A brick and granite courtyard was carved within the core of the block, and would serve as space for outdoor dining and retail entrances. In addition to the previous buildings, Fort Worth’s first skyscraper, located two blocks south at 500 Main Street, was another Bass property undergoing restoration. The Burk Burnett Building originally housed the State National Bank, and in 1984 received a newly restored lobby with various shops and services.12 I French – meaning “to trick the eye”. The artistic ability to depict an object so exactly as to make it appear real. A heightened form of illusionism, the art of trompe l'oeil flourished from the Renaissance onward. The discovery of perspective in fifteenth‐ century Italy and advancements in the science of optics in the seventeenth‐century Netherlands enabled artists to render objects and spaces with eye‐fooling exactitude. (“Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe l'Oeil Painting”, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Past Exhibition, Oct 13,2002 – March 2, 2003, www.nga.gov. )
- 9. 9 Architecturally Sundance Square had become a rustic island amongst modern city buildings. Four new glass skyscrapers, including City Center Towers I & II, were under construction during the restoration project. Once structural, mechanical and electrical work was complete, executive director of Sundance Square, Inc., Piers Chance, intended to keep the square “unusual” by attracting the right blend of specialty retail shops, high-quality restaurants, and art galleries, as well as market Sundance Square as an excellent location to lease an office. The job was handed to Henry S. Miller Co., realtors brought in by City Center Development Co., who handled the overall City Center project. Sundance Square’s first decade of tenants was an experiment to attract not only the average Fort Worthian, but tourists as well. Some of the square’s first shops included Flowers on the Square, located in the Domino Building. The flower shop benefited from a contract with the Americana Hotel and imported tropical flowers from all over the world. Two young businessmen, Bill Bostelmann and Rick Muller, received a square shell with a dirt floor and spent $26,000 finishing the inside. Trouve, a women’s clothing boutique, occupied the ground floor of the Knights of Pythias Castle. Afternoons were busiest when local workers browsed the store during their lunch hour. Cowboy Culture, a western clothing store for men and women, specialized in selling leather belts, Stetson hats, and prairie dresses. Restaurants ranged from French cuisine to Texas-sized “Billy Burgers.” L’Oustau, an elegant French restaurant remained open late to serve espresso and dessert, but closed down after a few short years. Three more eateries, Lombardi's, Tutti Pazzi and Sundance Bar & Grill, soon followed suit; all opened and closed in the same location within five years until Riscky’s Barbeque opened its doors in 1991. The risky move to the unlucky location paid off, and Riscky’s has been smoking in Sundance Square ever since. Winfield’s ’08, a popular restaurant
- 10. 10 located in the Plaza Hotel, served a variety of salads, crepes and seafood. A house specialty, Winfield’s spiced iced tea livened with cloves, cinnamon, sugar, orange juice, and lemon juice, sold for 95 cents a glass. Winfield’s elegant Western ambience impressed restaurant critic Lanette Causey of The Dallas Morning News who wrote, “Plush surroundings -- russet velour walls, sage carpet and oak wainscoting -- make one feel like a wealthy West Texas rancher.”13 During a ceremony to commemorate Winfield’s opening, developers buried a time capsule filled with memorabilia from surrounding Sundance Square tenants. The capsule contains restaurant menus, a Polo shirt, a bottle of wine, tickets for a trip around the world, a can of Diet Dr. Pepper, and before-and-after blueprints of the Plaza Hotel. The capsule is scheduled to be open in 2082, one hundred years after the restaurant’s opening.14 Sundance Square’s most beloved, and longest lasting bar and grill was home to folklore legend Billy Miner – the gentleman train robber. Billy Miner’s reputation for decent food, good drinks, and a relaxed atmosphere at an honest price kept it a staple of downtown Fort Worth for nearly three decades. Upon opening, the saloon became the first establishment to lure people to Sundance Square at night and on the weekends. Fancy décor included red and white checkered table cloths, bare wood floors, and black and white photographs of cowboys and outlaws. A simple menu offered half-pound burgers, quarter-pound hotdogs, fries and steaks. Orders were taken at a counter, then announced over a loudspeaker for pickup - reinforcing the casual dining experience. Next stop was “Billy Miner’s Famous Relish Bar,” consisting of lettuce, tomatoes, red and white onions, jalapeno-flavored melted cheese, sauerkraut, relish, and sprouts for the health-conscious. Drinks flowed from behind a long wooden bar which dominated the cavernous room. In the early years peanut shells were shucked and thrown on the floor; however, the trademark was shunned after Lisa Placencia claimed she slipped on a shell and hurt her back.
- 11. 11 Placencia filed a personal injury lawsuit against the owners of the saloon in 1991. Regardless of the lawsuit, peanut shells found their way to the floor anyway and no more slippery peanut shells were reported to cause injury. Perhaps the reason the saloon lasted twenty seven years was because Billy’s was more than a bar and grill, it was a meeting place. “On any given day or night,” remembered long time patron Kendall McKook, “there were people of every race, every color, every social class, and every age, all there to listen, talk, and relax.”15 Sadly after the saloon’s founder Dick McMullin passed away, his wife, Peggy, decided to leave the business and retire; the legendary icon of Sundance Square closed on September 30, 2010.16 Located across the street from Billy Miner’s, but what might as well have come from another planet was an elaborate avant-garde dream house constructed in 1983. Decisions Team Ltd. (DTL), an eccentric international group of businessmen and artists, including member Ed Bass, promoted activities from preserving threatened forms of cactus life, promoting avant-garde artists and bringing renewed life to urban settings. The Caravan of Dreams, named after an Arabian Nights story, showcased artists and musicians who found rough going in the mainstream music scene, and strived to be a driving force in reviving the city, but the nightclub (or funhouse) was much more. Delightfully weird, the three-story building, constructed on 312 Houston Street, included a 350-seat nightclub with bandstand and dance floor, rooftop gardens with a desert dome, a restaurant-lounge, a dance/martial arts studio in the basement (the restaurant’s first manager doubled as the dojo’s sensei), a photography lab, a library/reference center for artists’ use, and three apartments for managers. It was written in 1983, “Building the Caravan of Dreams… was like landing an F-16 fighter in an aboriginal village.”17 Cowtown may have seemed an unlikely location for the abstract facility, but Fort Worth was chosen, explained one of the creator investors John Allen, because DTL saw Fort Worth as “a very state-of-the-art city.
- 12. 12 The entrepreneurs of Fort Worth are very state-of-the-art people. So we figure they’re actually the ideal audience for the avant-garde.”18 The Caravan became a premier performance center attracting world-class jazz musicians; fifty percent of its shows featured some of the biggest names in straight-ahead jazz, and the club was rated by Jazz Times magazine as one of the top jazz clubs in the country. For eight years the Caravan of Dreams was hailed as the North Texas jazz mecca, bringing in names such as Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Betty Carter and Wynton Marsalis. Be-bop legend Dizzy Gillespie once said, “I love the Caravan of Dreams. It’s one of my favorite places to play, I always have fun here.”19 Contrasting surrounding brick and steel, the rooftop garden was a man-made desert world complete with caves and waterfalls to mask traffic noise. Add margaritas, and the rooftop garden became Fort Worth’s most exotic place to enjoy a drink. The Desert Dome showed the evolution of unusual cacti and succulents by taking visitors through four arid climates in Madagascar, Southern Mexico, West Africa, and deserts surrounding the Sea of Cortes. Some of the species displayed were for sale in the gift shop. The Caravan of Dreams brought first rate entertainment to Sundance Square and operated as a successful nightclub for eighteen years.20 Besides restaurants and retail, small businesses filled spaces not as easily seen from the street. Piers Chance explained, “Sundance Square lends itself to the small office tenant that doesn’t want to be lost in a big high rise. It’s less frenzied and less frantic.” 21 While realtors struggled to fill 1.6 million feet of office space in City Center Towers I & II, vacant office space in the square filled quickly.22 The Bass Family also ensured Sundance Square was a safe place to visit by employing a private security force to patrol the entire City Center area and surrounding properties. After Bass Bros. spent millions of dollars to revitalize downtown, by 1987 City Center Security protected
- 13. 13 the investment with about one hundred armed and unarmed guards. The force was headed by Joel Glen, a Secret Service agent who served three presidents. The guards were trained above state standard and were also aided by as many as 150 hidden cameras. Some tenants and visitors were unsettled by the show of force and viewed the security firm as a private army. Police Chief Thomas Windham recognized the private patrol presence as “a deterrent to crime in that area” and noted “they do perform a tremendous public service.”23 Since only twenty police officers patrolled the downtown area, and nearly half of City Center Security guards patrolled 24 blocks, often the security guards were at the scene of crimes before police. This has forced City Center Security and the Fort Worth Police Department to maintain a working relationship. Security guards have patrolled on foot, vehicle, bicycle, and even roller blades, though the last mode of transportation didn’t last long. City Center Security maintains a strong presence in Sundance Square today. Many who live and work in Sundance Square claim the city blocks are the safest in America. Downtown experienced great change during the 1980’s. Architecturally, the restoration project Sid Bass set in motion was a screaming success and the streets were clean and safe. Restaurants made a respectable lunch business, but mainly tourists, conventioneers, and local office workers graced the square. Fort Worth citizens were reluctant to spend their time and money there on a regular basis. After sunset Sundance Square’s beautifully restored buildings resembled a silent Hollywood movie set not a bustling city center. Besides Billy Miner’s or a show at the Caravan of Dreams, chances were if you walked the streets at night, you did so alone. Sundance Square offered dining and shopping opportunities, but lively activity was sporadic and usually during the day. Ed Bass and Sundance developers wanted to add a third piece to the Sundance Square puzzle: residential living - but where?
- 14. 14 Ed Bass received his answer the night of December 8, 1986, when an explosion rocked him out of bed in his apartment at the Caravan of Dreams. A gas leak ignited in the kitchen of Santini’s Sub Shop located directly behind the nightclub. The explosion completely destroyed the sub shop and neighboring businesses. Luckily the only injury sustained during the blast was a guest of the Worthington Hotel (renamed from the Americana) who suffered a minor cut from shattered glass. The blast destroyed the block and left it ripe for new development. Ed Bass was ready to make his move.24 The city’s first residential development in recent history was announced in the form of a mixed-use twelve-story building combining apartments, a movie theater, and retail shops called Sundance West. An innovative urban design, Sundance West recaptured fading urban values: lively streets, apartments over shops, and multiple uses in a single building. Architecturally, the massive building was designed to appear as a collection of smaller buildings; the north and south ends have several different facades stepping out and down from the building. Red brick gables, balconies, and Old West medallions attempt to harmonize with older neighboring buildings. Fifty–nine apartments were available and ranged from 700 square feet to 1700 square feet, and were priced at the high end of the market from $1.00 to $1.15 per square foot. Marketed as the “height of sophisticated urban living,” the apartments targeted young professionals with access to special amenities such as maid and laundry service, handy-man service, interior design consultation, and valet parking in a two-level underground garage. Henry Borbola was among the first to live in Sundance Square and fondly recalls, “Living downtown was special; people would stare as I pulled onto the ramp to the parking garage and ask, ‘Where is he going?’ ”25 Borbola heard a radio announcement advertising Sundance West apartments before the building was constructed and called to sign up on the waiting list that day. Nineteen years later, he says,
- 15. 15 “I could live here forever, it’s real easy to get in and get out; I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else downtown but Sundance.”26 One year later, the upper floors of the Sanger and Fakes building above Billy Miner’s were converted into an additional fifty-nine apartments.27 Retail shops in Sundance West included a hair salon, a deli, a stock broker’s office, and Uno’s Pizzeria, but the 11-screen AMC Theater was what finally brought suburban residents and families downtown. In 1992, the first full year the theater was open, 450,000 patrons visited the theater, and retail sales in Sundance Square boosted 20 percent. The following year The AMC Sundance Cinema drew 750,000 and became the busiest of 10 theaters run by AMC in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The presence of the theater attracted Tarrant County residents in droves and marked the beginning of Sundance Square becoming an entertainment district. Within three years after the AMC cinema opened, three theatre companies. Casa Manana’s Theatre on the Square, the Jubilee Theatre, and Circle Theatre existed within a few blocks of each other. Soon to follow was Hyena’s Comedy Night-Club, and Texas Stage - hosted at the Caravan of Dreams nightclub. Casa Manana ran popular shows such as Nunsense and Shear Madness in the former Knights of Pythias Hall. Still operating today, Circle Theatre “advocates contemporary plays rarely seen in this community.”28 The Jubilee Theatre, founded in 1981, moved to their Main Street location in 1993 and seeks “to create and present theatrical works which reflect the African-American experience.”29 Speaking of the art district created, Ed Bass noted, “Bringing theater to downtown Fort Worth is not just a business decision; theater brings a type of liveliness to an area that enhances all the other businesses. It serves as an anchor and most definitely as an enhancer.”30 The eleven movie screens in Sundance West soon could not meet growing demand required by movie goers, and in 1995 Ed Bass announced plans to build AMC Palace Theatre.
- 16. 16 Nine more movie screens, a 20,000 square-foot food-and-fun venture called Big Time Texas, and an additional 54,000 square feet of office and retail space would take up the block south of City Center Tower II. Barnes & Nobles Booksellers capped the project, and extinguished months of rumors when they signed a lease to build a two-story bookstore on the northwest corner of the complex. After Pier 1 Imports, Barnes & Nobles would become only the second major national retailer featured in Sundance Square. AMC Sundance Theaters gained national attention in 1997 during a dispute over rights to the “Sundance” name between Bass owned Sundance Square and the Sundance Kid himself, Robert Redford. Redford, who played the Kid in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, used the name on his Utah-based Sundance Enterprises, Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Institute, and was planning on opening a national chain of cinemas. After hearing the Sundance name was applied to two theaters in Fort Worth, Redford demanded they drop “Sundance” from the name. The issue was brought before the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth; Redford claimed first dibs to the name after using it since 1980. The Basses claimed Fort Worth had Harry Longabaugh, the real Sundance Kid, and had continuously used the term Sundance Square and Sundance since 1981. The courthouse shootout ended in a draw: The Basses retain the right to use the name Sundance on movie theaters in Tarrant and 10 surrounding Texas Counties, along with Love and Carter Counties in Oklahoma. Redford’s Sundance Enterprises may use the name on movie theaters anywhere else.31 The same year that Robert Redford met his match in Fort Worth and rode off into the sunset the crown jewel of Sundance Square was completed in 1998. The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, named in honor of the Bass brothers’ parents, was announced to be built
- 17. 17 in 1993. Ed Bass presented gifts of $18 million on behalf of the Sid Richardson Foundation and $10 million from the Burnett-Tandy Foundation during the announcement to commence funding the project. Amazingly, after a one-year fundraising effort, supporters of the hall, backed by 4,000 donors, announced they had reached the $60 million goal for construction costs three years ahead of schedule, although the final building cost totaled $67 million. Construction began in earnest on the ten-story building after a groundbreaking ceremony held on June 2, 1995. Even during the construction phase, Bass Performance Hall was downtown’s center stage. Eighty- four thousand pieces of assembled steel made up what was described by architect David Schwarz as a “steel hulking thing”. Sixteen thousand yards of concrete were poured into curved angles, odd shapes and elevations to create clean sight lines for the audience. A 425-ton acoustic ceiling made of 9 ½-inch-thick concrete hung from a series of forty-ton steel roof trusses to keep performance sounds in and undesired sounds out. An air conditioning system, approximately one thousand times larger than one in most homes, was attached to air ducts large enough to drive a Volkswagen Beetle through. Capping construction and commanding attention from street observers, two forty-eight-foot trumpet-blowing-angels were set in the northern face of the hall. The angels were hand-carved out of limestone taken from a quarry near Austin and weigh around 360 tons. Marton Varo, born in Romania, sculpted the angels’ heads in California. Other body parts were sculpted all over Texas, and the wings under a tent at the construction site. The angels were attached piece by piece into seventy-three-feet-tall concrete walls with eighteen tons of embedded steel acting as a ballast. Above 2,056 available seats, an eighty-foot diameter ‘Great Dome’ tops the theater and completes the characteristics of a classic European opera house.32
- 18. 18 Bass Performance Hall has served as the permanent home of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Texas Ballet Theater, Fort Worth Opera, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and Cliburn Concerts. It also presents special productions of Casa Manana Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth’s “Hall Series.” While Bass Hall certainly contributed to Sundance Square, and to Fort Worth, which could now boast a world renown performing art center, the greatest impact from Bass Hall will remain to be seen as the children of Fort Worth grow older. Since Opening, more than 750,000 young students have attended Children Education Programs at the hall, provided free of charge. “Every child, every grade, every year,” students from the Fort Worth community, grades 1 through 12, experience a broad range of classical performing arts as a critical part of their education. 33 Carolyn Conklin, a retired public educator of thirty years, observed how rewarding the experience was for her students, most of whom would not have had the means to attend a live performance: Our music teacher taught etiquette as well as proper dress for a performance at Bass Hall. For example, one of our students from Meadowcreek was performing in The Nutcracker Suite for the holidays. Students studied the composer (Tchaikovsky), songs, time period in history, and watched a streamed movie of the performance to compare to the live performance they would see. Upon returning they wrote a comparative essay regarding the video and live performance. As a teacher and later an administrator I absolutely beamed with pride as our well-dressed students displayed manners and I reveled at how few discipline problems there were when our students were dressed to the nines! I guess best of all it was rewarding to see students expanding what can be possible. We had students who truly identified with music and performing on stage. Nothing like experiencing something in person.34
- 19. 19 As a five year-old at Little Teapot Daycare of Fort Worth, Dakota Putnam remembers his experience at Bass Hall: “There were a lot a French horns; it was pretty cool!”35 No longer was Sundance Square vacant at night. Crowds frequented the numerous diners, shops, and theaters into the early hours. Living downtown became trendy, and a twenty- four hour atmosphere of activity emerged. Now a multi-faceted entertainment district, Sundance Square became an after-hours destination for those bored with suburban malls and strip centers. Crowning Sundance Square’s renaissance of the 90’s, Bass Performance Hall commanded admiration and legitimized Fort Worth as an international fine arts destination. For a generation of adults who avoided downtown in childhood, Sundance Square offered a new experience. The first year of the new millennium in Sundance Square was mighty gusty. On March, 28, 2000, the most damaging of ten twisters that descended on North Texas that day ripped through the heart of downtown. In less than ten minutes, $450 million in damage was sustained as glass and debris littered the streets. Henry Borbola remembers returning to his apartment in Sundance West just after the tornado hit: “I was driving home in my SUV, lights were flashing, I had to swerve around computers thrown into the street; it looked like a movie set.”36 Luckily only one of Borbola’s windows was blown out in his apartment. Not so lucky was the Bank One Tower where wind and debris destroyed 80% of its windows. The building remained boarded up for years, a lingering symbol of the day’s destruction. As natural disasters often do, the tornado transformed the dynamics of downtown. Tenants who called Bank One Tower home were forced to relocate, further spurring residential development. Reata Restaurant, which was located on the thirty-fifth floor of the Bank One Building, also found itself displaced by the tornado and found a new home in the Caravan of Dreams building. The nightclub, which had mostly featured straight jazz, had a tough time generating mass appeal in Fort Worth.
- 20. 20 Eventually the venue steered away from its avant-garde roots and featured more mainstream artists. After the emergence of Bass Hall as the premier performing arts center downtown, the unforgettable nightclub which hosted jazz legends and endangered cacti closed in 2001, and evolved into the Western Themed Reata Restaurant.37 Although not directly stimulated by the tornado, Sundance Square’s largest office building project since the early 1980’s provided Bank One a new home. The twelve-story office building bounded by Throckmorton, Taylor, Third and Fourth streets, used to be a parking lot. A public parking garage, free on evenings and weekends, was attached to the building and would accommodate retail and restaurants planned for the ground floors of the building and surrounding Sundance Square shops. The Chase Bank Building as it would come to be called today hosts a variety of tenants on the ground floor including P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Quiznos, Taverna Pizzeria & Risotteria, Piranha Killer Sushi, and a Chase Bank. Meanwhile, the heavily damaged Bank One tower was purchased by developer TLC Realty Advisors, who renamed it The Tower and converted it into the city’s first high rise condominiums. Although not part of Sundance Square property, The Tower enjoys a marketing relationship with Sundance Square management. The following and most recent urban development project constructed in Sundance Square is the Carnegie Building, located one block west of the Chase Bank Building and across the street from the Fort Worth Public Library. The Carnegie is named and architecturally designed after the Carnegie Public Library, Fort Worth’s first public library supported by a $50,000 grant from the Carnegie foundation. Completed in 2008, the sixteen-story office building is connected to an adjacent parking garage and boasts class A office space, including thirteen-foot ceilings, high speed elevators, and the latest energy saving technology.38
- 21. 21 Sundance Square has participated in various outdoor festivities since the early 80’s. The two main annual events, the Parade of Lights, a Christmas celebration, and the Main St. Art Festival, Fort Worth’s busiest weekend and largest festival, draw thousands to the square. Professional sports became part of the outdoor scene since pro boxer Oscar De la Hoya decided to host his “Fight Night in Sundance Square.” The boxing series has become an annual event since 2004. The Chisholm Trail mural serves as a backdrop to the festive outdoor arena; the boxing matches are nationally televised and have appeared on ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights”. Speaking about establishing the event in Sundance Square, De la Hoya said, “This is not just in the heart of downtown, but there is the mural in the background, along with the trees, glass buildings and older historic buildings. It just makes it very interesting for the fans in attendance and for those watching on TV. There’s a real energy.”39 ESPN must have felt that energy too. The Chisholm Trail parking lot was chosen to be ESPN’s broadcasting headquarters during Super Bowl XLV. ESPN scouted Dallas for sites, but in the end chose Sundance Square because, according to Stephanie Druley, a senior coordinating producer for ESPN, “it met all of our needs as a great backdrop for television”40 - a major victory for a city declared dead twenty-five years earlier. During the two weeks prior to game day, Sundance Square was televised worldwide through eighty hours of Super Bowl coverage. The week leading up to the Super Bowl, an unexpected snowstorm threatened to dampen festivities and public viewing of the broadcasts. But due to the hard effort of Sundance Square management and city supporters to make the Super Bowl celebration a success, more than 106,000 people visited the square throughout the week, triple the average. Sundance Square retailers recorded their highest sales in history one day prior to the Super Bowl. The event was a perfect ending to a great decade in Sundance Square.41
- 22. 22 After three decades, Sundance Square has transformed from a grimy, unsafe area to a clean and secure entertainment and shopping district alive with residential and cultural opportunities. The success of Sundance Square must be attributed to the Bass family, whose benevolence, vision, and willingness to take risks led a revival which encouraged other developers and organizations to invest in downtown. Sundance Square has become a model achievement in urban development which other cities are studying. While most cities are not lucky enough to have generous billionaire families, the themes the Bass family and Sundance management instilled in Sundance Square may provide some direction. History is important. Instead of demolishing old buildings for brand new ones, which is the trend in most growing cities, the Basses restored them and consequently preserved Fort Worth’s legacy for future generations. The restored buildings offer character, experience, and human legacy. Mind the future. During the restoration attempt developers were also practical; they introduced modern buildings to fulfill growing needs. A mixture of old and new is a core characteristic of Sundance Square. Build an economic environment based on mixed use. Most of Sundance Square’s buildings house a mixture of restaurants, specialty shops, entertainment attractions, office space and apartments. This blend offers economic variety and maximum utilization from available space. The core of a city is people. Unless people are a living part of an urban environment, the area will most likely never reach its economic potential or become a meeting place. A city must be clean and safe. If the environment is dirty and insecure, people will not come. Sundance Square is Fort Worth’s standard for clean and beautified streets. If you are ever
- 23. 23 unsure of when you have entered or exited Sundance Square, observe the sidewalk maintenance. The level of security present is unparalleled in any other American city. People feel free to relax and enjoy themselves in Sundance Square. Free parking is cool. Consumers appreciate free parking; it provides an extra incentive to go downtown, and the money saved from free parking will be spent during one’s stay, so everybody wins. A walk down Main Street today provides evidence of development spread beyond the bounds of Sundance Square. From the courthouse to the convention center, the main artery of downtown is abuzz with activity. Further from the city’s core, other parts of downtown are experiencing success as well: nightclubs and restaurants along Houston Street, south of the convention center – the Omni Hotel and residential lofts along Lancaster Avenue., north along the Trinity River, and large scale urban development along Seventh Street. In thirty years, the face of downtown Fort Worth has changed dramatically. The urban revitalization plan Sundance developers formed was the foundation and catalyst. The history of Sundance Square is the beginning of Fort Worth’s rebirth.
- 24. 24 ENDNOTES Abbreviations and short titles in notes: DMN ‐ Dallas Morning News CF – Clipping Files FWPL ‐ Fort Worth Public Library FWST ‐ Fort Worth Star‐Telegram MF – Micro Film UTACL ‐ University of Texas at Arlington, Central Library 1 Eliberto Quinonez to Bradley Hasse, Apr. 12, 2011, e‐mail (original in possession of author). 2 FWPL, CF, Lila LaHood, “Sundance Sensation – Twenty years of effort, led by the Basses, have made business prospects attractive downtown”, FWST, June 2, 2002. 3 FWPL, CF, Edward Hanley, “Bass presents plan to restore downtown”, FWST, March 16, 1978. 4 “Sundance Square History Fact Sheet”, Sundance Square Management, 201 Main Street, Ste. 700, Fort Worth, TX 76102, April 1, 2011. 5 FWPL, CF, Larry Paul Fuller, “Urban Design in Texas – Four Projects from Around the State”, Texas Architect, May/June 1981, 46. 6 “History of the Knights of Pythias”, The Order of Knights of Pythias, http://www.pythias.org/about/about.html, April 13, 2011. 7 Jana Weed, “Walkabout – The Knights of Pythias Temple”, Fort Worth Magazine, August 1988, 50. Historical Marker, located on south facing exterior façade of The Knight of Pythias Temple, 111 East 3rd Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102, October27, 1981. 8 Alden McKay Stupfel, “Bringing History to Life – The Story behind Urban Preservation”, Heritage, Vol. 2, No. 4, Fall 1985, 25‐26. 9 Historical Marker, located on west facing exterior façade of Sid Richardson Building, 309 Main Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102, April 1, 2011. (In reference to Domino Building and Sid Richardson Building) John Roberts, “Architecture in Fort Worth”, John Roberts AIA Texas Registered Architect #12144, http://www.fortwortharchitecture.com/domino.htm. (In reference to Domino Building and Sid Richardson Building) “Sundance Square Architectural History Fact Sheet”, Sundance Square Management, 201 Main Street, Ste. 700, Fort Worth, April 1, 2011. 10 Stupfel, 26. 11 “Sundance Square Architectural History Fact Sheet” “Bradner Block/Weber Building”, Historic Fort Worth, INC., http://www.historicfortworth.org/SearchHistoricFortWorth/tabid/56/Default.aspx. April 21, 2011.