Filmmaker captures $14.4M restoration of Hall of State — and the crushing winter storm that followed

Sometimes you just can’t take a break. Literally, the $ 14.41 million restoration of the Hall of State – which returned the landmark to a majesty not seen since it opened in 1936 – had the paint barely dried when the storm arrived last month, which could easily climb to $ 3 million in repair.

Broken pipes spewed more than four feet of water into the hall’s boiler room, with flooding and moisture causing damage throughout the building and to the valuable historical documents inside.

A small silver lining: This extraordinary duplication of work – the restoration and then the restoration of the restoration – has been documented by the filmmaker Mark Birnbaum from Dallas in two films, Hall of State and Hall of State Redux, and both are freely available online.

The first tells of the immense work to restore the hall to the splendor of its heyday; the second tells at least the story of the storm and the beginning of the work to make the building the original heart of the Fair Park again.

Phoenix 1 Restoration contractors have begun scraping off loose paint in the East Texas Room, where water damaged the Hall of State building in Fair Park, Dallas.

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