At 1954 Commerce Street you face George Dahl's former Dallas Public Library, the city's modern replacement for its Carnegie building. This multi-level civic structure sits on the edge of the Farmers Market District, adjacent to Main Street Garden Park, and was once part of the city’s public library system. Designed by noted architect George Dahl, it was built as the replacement for the 1901 Carnegie Library that stood on the same site; while the old Carnegie building was being razed, the Dallas Public Library moved its collections to Union Station temporarily.
When this new building opened in September 1955 it was capable of holding 800,000 volumes, though it only contained 300,000 books at the time. The building contains 120,000 square feet spread across four above-ground levels and two below-ground levels, with provisions made for two additional floors in the future. An auditorium in the second basement seated 250 people, a reminder of how civic institutions once gathered the city together.
Today the block is recognized as part of the Dallas Downtown Historic District and the Harwood Street Historic District. Your walk continues past Main Street Garden Park to the Dallas Statler Hilton next door, together forming downtown's finest block of mid-century architecture.