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Texas: East, North Central, Panhandle and South Plains and West » North Central Texas » Fort Worth (Tarrant County) » Downtown District » Knights of Pythias Castle Hall

Knights of Pythias Castle Hall

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1901, Sanguinet and Staats; 1920 addition; 1981 restored, Thomas E. Woodward and Associates. 108 E. 3rd St.

Castle Hall, the lodge of the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization, replaced a predecessor that burned in 1901. The castle’s architectural form evokes a northern European Renaissance guildhall. Stepped gables, vertical proportions, and transverse side gables contribute to its stylistic identity. The assembly hall is on the third floor and is accessible by a staircase at the southeast rear corner of the building.

A Club Building was added to the Hall in 1920. A large oriel window centered on the west front of the building, a nod perhaps to its late-nineteenth-century context, and other details caused historian Jay C. Henry in his book Architecture in Texas: 1895–1945 (1993) to call this “one of the most unusual buildings of its date in Texas” The castle was rehabilitated in 1981 as a component of Sundance Square (FW5).

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Sundance Square Plaza
Land Title Block Building
Western Union Telegraph Building
Burk Burnett Building (State National Bank)
Sinclair Building

Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "Knights of Pythias Castle Hall", [Fort Worth, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-02-FW7.

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, 203-203.

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