Walk the only intact pre-1950s world's fair site in the country
277 acres, built in one go in 1936
A long formal esplanade with a reflecting basin, flanked by murals, sculpted portal figures and exposition halls, all built to one design in the middle of the 1930s and still standing.
Why it's unique
Fair Park was rebuilt in 1936 for the Texas Centennial Exposition, when George Dahl put an entire 277-acre park under a single art deco scheme rather than a building at a time. More than fifty buildings went up for it.
It holds the largest collection of 1930s art deco exposition architecture in the United States, and it is the only intact and unaltered pre-1950s world's fair site in the country. Every other American fair site of the period was dismantled, redeveloped or lost; this one was simply kept.
Before you go
Come on a day the State Fair is not running, which is most of the year. During the fair the architecture disappears behind stalls and crowds, and the thing you came for is invisible.
The Esplanade is the centrepiece and is free to walk at any time. Go inside the Hall of State if you go inside anything; the Great Hall is the best interior on the site. The grounds are large and hot, so it is a morning walk rather than an afternoon one.