Constructed in 1931 and designed by architect W. Scott Dunne, the Texas Theatre was a two-story atmospheric theater at the commercial heart of Oak Cliff and, when built, the largest suburban theater in Texas. Originally owned by C. R. McHenry, it evoked an Italian medieval structure with Venetian influences in its decorative brickwork and stone, while its interior used a Venetian court theme with sound effects, clouds, and a night sky of 118 twinkling stars in the auditorium. Its original Motiograph Deluxe sound equipment was extremely rare at the time, and its cooling and ventilating system, powered by two blowers with ten horsepower motors, was almost entirely invisible to the audience and cooled air through water in warm weather. A renovation before 1956 added stucco over the brick and stone façade, and in April 1965 the theater was extensively remodeled inside and out, with the uppermost section of the façade removed and its vibrant designs sealed under stucco. On November 22, 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended in the auditorium, bringing the theater international attention. United Artists closed the theater in 1989, it was used in the filming of the movie "JFK" in 1991, the Oak Cliff Foundation bought it in 2001, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, and Aviation Cinemas reopened it in 2010.

Photo: J Frye