Terminal Annex Federal Building Murals – Dallas TX

Description

The Terminal Annex Federal Building contains two oil on canvas murals by Peter Hurd: “Pioneer Home Builders” and “Airmail Over Texas.” They were painted in 1940-1941 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. From an entry on the website Unvisited Dallas by Noah Jeppson:

Soon after the Terminal Annex was completed, three murals were commissioned and a national design competition was held. From an entry field of 149 applicants regionalist painter Peter Hurd — who rose to national fame in the 1930s — won the anonymous competition (the winning designs were displayed with all other entries at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in 1949).

Hurd was paid $7,200 for the murals and completed them over an 18 month period beginning in 1940. The smallest of the murals was executed first, and a larger wall was painted a year later when building alterations were complete. “Airmail Over Texas” filled the smaller space while “Pioneer Homebuilders” filled a large wall at the north end of the lobby. “East Bound Mail” — a third smaller mural — was never executed due to the termination of the Section of Fine Arts in 1943, before the lobby’s south expansion (and a place for the mural) was complete.  (https://www.unvisiteddallas.com/archives/2350)