Armchair Genealogy

By Melinda Cohenour

One of Dallas Texas' most famous landmarks is the Flying Red Horse known as Pegasus which sits stop the majestic old building erected by the Magnolia Petroleum Company back in 1922. Known as The Magnolia Building it is dressed with some of the most lavish interior materials. Pegasus was added in 1934.

I had the good fortune to office in that magnificent building as one of the first handful of employees of USTel, which would become the predecessor corporation of Sprint. This month's column documents my early introduction to this prominent Dallas landmark as it was being restored after being saved by the Dallas Historical Commission from the destruction process that had already begun. What incredible memories!!

When USTel was first established, the old Magnolia Building had just survived a close call with demolition, thanks to the work of devoted citizens to salvage the historic edifice. Recognizing the proximity to SWBT's downtown Central Office as key to clear telecommunications transmission, USTel had leased several floors including a group of offices on the 24th floor, the prior executive floor for Magnolia execs. The ancient yet still beautiful woodwork included wooden blinds, custom made for each window, paneled walls of exquisitely matched woods. Deep green velvet drapes still graced each window though covered in decades of dust. The elevator foyer was embellished with pale green tiles, in the center a medallion of tiles, a mosaic featuring Pegasus.

Anita Rufus and I sat on the floor, typewriters (old IBM Selectrics) perched on cardboard boxes, busily drafting up the legal documentation by which the company's Articles of Incorporation, name preservation, and other corporate necessities to meet all legal requirements would ultimately be filed.

Entering the building was quite daunting as the entry foyer housing all the elevator shafts was undergoing restoration. Sand had drifted into rows along either side. Scaffolds stood around the foyer, to provide artisans access to restore the intricate metal ceiling tiles.

That was strange, but once an elevator opened, one was faced with perhaps the scariest ride imaginable: the walls of each car were clad in plywood and many hosted dim or no lighting. One was eerily aware of the resemblance to a wooden, upright, coffin. My first ride featured a few horrific 'Steven King' style surprises. The only floor selected was 24; however, the elevator jerked its way up a few floors, the doors opened revealing the 3rd floor, the space selected for USTel's core of operations - its switch room. This floor contrasted sharply with the entry, a sterile white space of futuristic impact: raised floors, a bank of #5ESS switches, their electronic indicators flashing red and green and yellow twinkling lights. As the doors opened, an influx of chilled air cooled the car. Stark, sterile, vacant, robotic.

A few floors later the doors again flung open to reveal a partially demolished area, ceiling mostly open with huge black cables draped, haphazardly, about the space. Jackhammers had been used, apparently, to break into the walls of concrete bricks. Gaping holes, rubble, more drifts of sand. Just before the doors slid shut, I spied two huge rats!

My, my, my. The memories.

The Magnolia Building

Texas Historical Commission
April 11, 2020

The Magnolia Petroleum Company’s Pegasus, a forty-foot long and thirty-foot high red neon horse, was placed atop a 50-foot tower anchored to the roof of the Magnolia Building in 1934. At the time, the Pegasus and its 1,000 feet of neon tubing rotated every minute and a half.

It was the city’s tallest point for almost a decade and remains one of its most famous landmarks. Soon after its installation, Dallas citizens could claim that the city, still considered a provincial outpost of cowboys and cattle by the rest of the nation, was no longer a one-horse town.

The Magnolia Building was completed in 1922, at the time the 16th-tallest building in the country, and housed the offices of the Magnolia Petroleum Company.

The building’s architect, Sir Alfred Charles Bossom, British royal baron and member of Parliament, created a blend of Beaux-Arts classicism and modern 20th-century high rise in his design for the building.

Today, the building serves guests as the Magnolia Hotel, a boutique hotel in the heart of downtown Dallas. The building and its red Pegasus are listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is considered a Texas Historic Landmark.