Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 11, 1894, George Leighton Dahl was the son of Norwegian immigrant parents Olaf and Laura Dahl. He served as a military pilot during WWI, often taking photographs from planes during flights. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1920, Dahl furthered his education at Harvard, graduating in 1922. Dahl would spend the next two years studying throughout Europe as a fellow at the American Academy in Rome.
It wasn’t until 1926 that Dahl settled in Dallas to work for Herbert M. Greene, designer of the Dallas National Bank Building. While working for Greene, Dahl designed around two dozen buildings for the master plan of the University of Texas at Austin. During the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition at Fair Park in Dallas, Dahl oversaw the process of designing twenty-six Art Deco buildings over nine months. The projects, designed by ten firms, incorporated Texas influences in the designs, which Dahl named “Art Deco Texana.” The project is considered one of the best and most well-preserved feats of Depression-era architecture and was named a national historic landmark in 1986. In 1936, Dahl was also an architect for the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park. In 1938, Dahl designed the first-ever drive-through bank, Hillcrest State Bank, in University Park.
By the time he retired in 1973, he had designed 3,000 buildings, including 100 in Texas. Arguably the most well-known Dallas architect of the 20th century, Dahl was described by critic David Dilon as a “stylistic chameleon,” with designs ranging from Renaissance Revival to Second Empire and Spanish Colonial. Notable works include the 1927 Neiman Marcus store on Main Street and the 1928 Titche-Goettinger building on Elm Street.
When Dahl founded his practice, George Leighton Dallas, Architects and Engineers, Inc., in 1943, he was one of the first Texas-based architects with a national practice. He also helped pioneer a fast-track building construction strategy, which allows for project construction to begin before the design is completed. Some of his best-known Dallas works include The Dallas Morning News Building, the LTV Aerospace Center, Dallas Methodist Hospital, Old Dallas Central Library, SMU Owen Art Center, First National Bank Tower, and the Earle Cabell Federal Building.
His granddaughter is architect Adrienne Faulkner, CEO of Faulkner Design Group, who hired a team to catalog her grandfather’s early artworks in 2001. Faulkner calls her grandfather a “Renaissance man” and has made it her mission to preserve his work and personal collections. A wall of masks collected by Dahl throughout his life can be found in the Faulkner Design Group office in Dallas. According to Faulkner, the masks were collected from across the globe during his travels and reflect Dahl’s fascination with faces and the various roles people play in life.
“I feel very strongly that I need to educate people out there about the impact he’s made and to honor some of that, but also to continue his spirit of innovation and thinking outside the box,” Faulkner says. “People want to be safe in this world, and if you don’t try something, how are you going to move that needle? I’d like to see more younger people being that type of having that type of spirit.” He was 93 years old when he died in July 1987.
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