Sep 23, 2009
Sculptures Return To 714 Main
By: Kevin Buchanan
XTO’s ongoing restoration of the original base of the former Transport Life Building at 714 Main keeps moving along. One piece of the original base that we were hoping would get restored were the sculptural pieces at the top of each arch, which have been gone from the building since the first remodeling in the ’50s.
The sculptures were of the heads of Roman-esque guards or soldiers, looking down from the tops of the arches onto 7th and Main below. They can be seen in the Jack White Collection photo below, on the left:
We can confirm that the pieces you see in our present-day photo at top, covered in protective canvas, are replicas of the original sculptures. When XTO uncovers them, we can’t wait to see how they look on the building.
I saw them walking by the other day. They look awesome. They were visible from the 7th St. side.
I was walking, not the sculptures.
Whether you’re for or against Barnett Shale drilling, XTO, despite its parking lot downtown (even that’s been dressed up), has added a helluva lot more value to DT FW than Chesapeake has.
Doug, that’s very true. Whatever your feelings about gas drilling, XTO has done extremely commendable work in preservation. None of the buildings they have remodeled needed such meticulous work (except for maybe the Swift building in the Stockyards). All their Downtown buildings were usable as they sat. XTO took the effort and spent the cash to tear them apart and reconstruct their original facades anyway.
I’ve heard that XTO has plans to eventually add retail to most of their Downtown buildings’ ground floors, some time in the future after they are able to relieve their shortage of office space.