The Dallas Symphony Is Making a Generous Offer to Take the Meyerson Off the City's Hands

The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center is a dump. All due respect.My mom, a docent there since the beginning and still the volunteer coordinator in the gift shop, is going to kill me for saying so. And, fine, the place is nice enough for an I.M. Pei-designed joint that cost $106 million in 1989. But have you really looked at it lately? Given it the long, hard stare? Have you walked in and just looked up?In various spots throughout the lobby, the ceiling is a nasty shade of water-damaged. The problem appears particularly bad on the east side, above leaky windows that overlook the Winspear Opera House. And it's no better on the west side, where the windows and roof occasionally leak near diners who expect something fancier than a dampening drip-drip-drip at mealtime. Walls, too, are streaked with echoes of leaks past — even above artist Ellsworth Kelly's Dallas Panels, now protected by a clear shelf to keep the wet away.  Continue reading...