Downtown Dallas witnesses implosion of 88-year old tower.
A crowd watched yesterday morning as the eight-storey building on Wood Street in downtown Dallas imploded. With a loud bang, the building collapsed, leaving behind a huge cloud of dust. Trucks soon got to work, clearing the site of bricks, debris and chunks of facade.
For nearly 20 years, the Thomas Building has stood vacant, but it has a storied place in Dallas history. It was built by Dallas cotton tycoon Mike Thomas in the 1920s, when the cotton industry was booming. Located next to the old Cotton Exchange building, it housed Thomas’ business and other cotton brokers.
The brick and carved stone building was designed by Anton Korn, a Dallas architect who designed dozens of Park Cities mansions in the 1920s and 1930s.
More recently, the building had fallen into neglect. In 2004, it was listed as an endangered building by Preservation Dallas.
On Sunday, the building collapsed into debris under the supervision of Dallas Demolition, a family business founded by Roy Lohden.
