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Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains and West » North Central Texas » Fort Worth (Tarrant County) » Downtown District » Sinclair Building

Sinclair Building

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1930, W. G. Clarkson and Company; 1990 restored, Ward Bogard and Associates. 512 Main St.

Richard O. Dulaney pursued both real estate and oil exploration with his Planet Oil Company, founded in 1917. Dulaney moved to Fort Worth in 1919, built a house (FW48), and, on purchasing this site in 1929, stated his intention to build “one of the finest office buildings in the state.” Dulaney, Fort Worth architect Wiley G. Clarkson, and contractor Harry B. Friedman studied modern structures in many cities in preparation for Clarkson’s design of this Art Deco building. Limestone panels with zigzags in relief form a frieze below second-floor window sills. This frieze frames sidewalk-level display windows in a step-corbeled pattern, infilled with flamboyant Minnesota red and black granite sheathing. Fluted spandrel panels of dark green cast stone recede between buff brick piers above second-story windows, giving the building a strong vertical emphasis furthered by setbacks at the fourteenth- and fifteenth-floor levels. Dulaney named the building for its primary tenant, the Sinclair Oil Company. Much of the original Mayan decoration and Monel (an alloy of nickel and copper) grille work at street level has been removed, but the Sinclair Building maintains its essential dignity and is a strong contributor to Main Street and Sundance Square.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Burk Burnett Building (State National Bank)
Courtyard by Marriott (Blackstone Hotel)
Land Title Block Building
Knights of Pythias Castle Hall
Sundance Square Plaza

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Sinclair Building", [Fort Worth, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-FW12.

Print Source

Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains, and West, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019, 204-205.

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