By Design: Stunning Theatres in Dallas
Two of Texas’ architectural highlights happen to be the best places to take in a show.
The place: The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, Dallas
The backstory: Dallas had no facility with the scale and backstage space to comfortably accommodate travelling Broadway musicals and other grand spectacles like opera and ballet.
The beauty: The glittering, lipstick-red oblong of the auditorium is enclosed in a glass jewel-box lobby. Extending outward in all directions is a vast canopy of louvres held up by slender columns. It creates a sense of enclosure, and a functional sunscreen, for the surrounding three acres (1.2 hectares), an area that serves as both park and outdoor performance venue seating up to 2,400.
Fun fact: Before resettling in Dallas in 1975, Canadians Margot and Bill Winspear were major patrons of the Vancouver Opera Company, the Edmonton Opera and the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto.
And nearby, don’t miss: Dedicated in 1902, the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a rare example of High Victorian Gothic style in this ultra-modern city centre.
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