The Dallas City Council is currently evaluating critical decisions regarding the future of the city's iconic modernist City Hall, designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei and Partners. Since August 2025, intense public debate has emerged over whether to repair, sell, or demolish the 47-year-old building as officials grapple with mounting maintenance costs and infrastructure deterioration. The council is expected to make a final decision by the end of 2025, with repair estimates ranging from $60 million to $345 million depending on the scope of work required.
The distinctive Brutalist structure, built between 1972 and 1978 on an 11.8-acre site near downtown Dallas, encompasses nearly one million square feet of space. The building features more than 374,000 square feet of office space, two levels of underground parking accommodating 1,426 vehicles, and public facilities including the Council Chamber, Flag Room, and Great Court. Its signature inverted pyramid design creates a striking architectural profile with six stories that progressively widen as they rise, with the cast-in-place concrete façade sloping outward at a 34-degree angle. Each floor extends approximately nine feet wider than the floor below, creating the building's distinctive geometric form.
Architects described the project as an "inseparable combination of building and park," deliberately rejecting the typical high-rise corporate model to provide substantial open public space for citizens. The building holds significant social and cultural importance as an emblem of Dallas civic identity, replacing the Old Municipal Building that previously served as both City Hall and Police Headquarters. Notably, the original building was the site where Lee Harvey Oswald, President John F. Kennedy's alleged assassin, was shot by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963, though Pei's City Hall had no connection to that historic event.
Since opening, the City Hall plaza has become integral to Dallas civic life, hosting protests, parades, and public gatherings as one of the city's first large-scale open civic spaces. The building has achieved iconic status over nearly five decades, appearing in major films including "RoboCop" (1987) and Solange's visual album "When I Get Home" (2019). Despite this cultural significance, the structure now shows clear signs of deteriorating infrastructure, with problems ranging from water leaks to failing electrical systems that have been exacerbated by years of deferred maintenance.
City staff and journalists have documented chronic underfunding for municipal facilities, with current repair estimates varying dramatically based on the scope of proposed improvements. In February 2025, members of the Dallas Landmark Commission voted to initiate local historic landmark designation for City Hall, and in March the Commission unanimously approved moving the designation process forward. However, these preservation efforts have been complicated by escalating financial concerns and competing priorities for city resources.
The formal review process began in August 2025 when the mayor directed the City Council Finance Committee to evaluate City Hall and identify the most "fiscally responsible" options for its future. In October, city staff presented updated assessments showing higher repair estimates than previously contemplated, with some projections suggesting that repair and ten-year operational costs could reach several hundred million dollars. These dramatic cost projections have intensified discussions about the building's viability and sparked broader debates about municipal spending priorities.
Some city leaders argue that selling the valuable downtown land, located adjacent to a new convention center scheduled to open in 2029, could unlock significant redevelopment opportunities. Among the possibilities under consideration is constructing a new arena for the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and Dallas Stars hockey team, both of which are exploring locations for future venues as their current leases at the American Airlines Center expire in 2031. The mayor has publicly stated his desire for both professional sports teams to remain in Dallas, adding another layer of complexity to the decision-making process.
"Doing away with a historic building to create an arena is an extremely Dallas way of doing business," historic preservationist Ron Siebler told The Dallas Morning News, highlighting the tension between development pressures and preservation priorities. Petitions and social media campaigns advocating for preservation counter these economic arguments by emphasizing the building's irreplaceable cultural importance and noting that renovation costs, while substantial, would likely remain lower than the combined expenses of demolition and new construction.
The debate reached a critical juncture in early November 2025 through a series of pivotal city meetings. On November 3 and 7, a Special Called Joint Meeting of council committees reviewed comprehensive briefings on the "State of Dallas City Hall," with staff providing detailed memoranda outlining repair costs and potential future scenarios. On November 4, the Council's Finance Committee formally recommended that the full Council evaluate alternatives to the existing building, including repair, relocation, sale, and other real estate and operational options.
The process culminated on November 12, when the Dallas City Council voted 12-3 to direct staff to pursue comprehensive evaluations of these alternatives. This decision has been widely interpreted as placing the Pei-designed landmark in serious jeopardy, triggering an immediate surge in public response from preservation advocates. The vote prompted intensified preservation petitions, opinion editorials, expert commentary, and social media campaigns, while national organizations such as DOCOMOMO-US publicly listed the building as threatened.
A petition titled "Save Dallas City Hall" continues to gather signatures, calling on council members to halt demolition plans and commission a transparent renovation study. The petition emphasizes the building's architectural significance and argues for a thorough investigation of repair options before considering irreversible actions. Meanwhile, preservationists stress the building's civic and architectural importance, while demolition advocates point to escalating maintenance costs and the redevelopment potential of the centrally located site.
The situation reflects broader challenges facing modernist architecture worldwide, as communities struggle to balance preservation of mid-century landmarks against practical considerations of maintenance costs and changing municipal needs. Earlier this year, similar debates emerged in Japan regarding Kenzo Tange's Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium, which faced demolition threats until a citizen-led campaign proposed new uses for the structure. In June, Melbourne residents successfully secured an extension for Tadao Ando's MPavilion until 2030, despite its original designation as a temporary installation.
A particularly relevant comparison exists with Boston City Hall, designed by Kallmann, McKinnell, and Knowles and completed in 1968. Once widely criticized as inhospitable and inefficient, and repeatedly proposed for demolition, Boston ultimately chose to renovate and revitalize the Brutalist structure. This precedent demonstrates how contested modernist landmarks can be successfully adapted for sustainable long-term use, providing a potential model for Dallas decision-makers.
The Landmark Commission's pending historic designation, combined with the Council's active exploration of alternatives, has created a complex legal and political situation that pits preservation priorities against fiscal concerns. The case adds to the growing list of modernist architectural icons worldwide facing uncertain futures, sparking broader cultural debates about civic heritage, public infrastructure investment, and the value of preserving distinctive examples of mid-century design. As Dallas approaches its year-end deadline for a final decision, the outcome will likely influence similar preservation battles in other American cities grappling with aging modernist municipal buildings.
