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Contributed by the Alexander Architectural Archive, University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas: Anchor
In 1943, Dahl founded his own company, George Leighton Dahl, Architects and Engineers, Incorporated. It was during his time that his career reached soaring heights. Upon his retirement in 1973, he had produced some 3,000 projects throughout the country that are estimated to be worth $3 billion. After 1973, Dahl continued to make appearances at architectural events in Dallas and lived to see his most famous project, Fair Park (1936), fastidiously restored and named a National Historic Landmark.
Dallas buildings that he designed include the Methodist Hospital, the Earle Cabell Federal Building, Owen Fine Art Center at Southern Methodist University, The Dallas Morning News building, Jesuit High School, the Dallas Public Health Center, Mrs. Baird's Bakery, and Sears on Ross Avenue. Outside Dallas, he designed 26 buildings for the University of Texas at Austin, 32 stores for Sears, Roebuck and Co. and 15 prisons for the Texas Department of Corrections. His firm also worked on projects for the Federal government, the Navy, the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Army Engineers, General Services Administration, and the U.S. Air Force. Other works include banks, office buildings, churches, department stores, schools, hospitals, stadiums, and shopping centers. He also designed, managed, and owned Gold Crest Apartments, the apartment building in which he lived until his death in July of 1987.
Dahl was active in professional organizations. He was one of the founders of the Texas Society of Architects and served as the Society's second President. Dahl was also President of AIA Dallas in 1959, and was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. He was admired by the people who worked with him. David Braden, who was a partner in the firm for which Dahl was consultant after his retirement, admiringly summed up the true legacy of his mentor, "While the public will remember his buildings, his professional colleagues will remember him as an innovator and organizer.... He spent most of his professional life pioneering activities which are now common in the profession, but which were unheard of or strenuously resisted by his colleagues at the time."
Dahl, who was survived by his wife Joan, was an active contributor to the Dallas community as well as the skyline. He provided leadership and support for numerous Dallas organizations including the Hella Temple Shrine, Louis Preister Masonic Lodge, and Scottish Rite, and the Rotary Club.
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The American Institute of Architects Archives
Membership file contains membership application, unsuccessful Fellowship nomination (1953), successful Fellowship nomination (1958), biographical outline, request for emeritus (retired) status, and obituaries.
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