Automobile and Manufacturer's Building, Exhibition hall in Dallas, United States

Fair Park, Automobile and Manufacturer's Building is a large column-free exhibit hall within the Fair Park grounds in Dallas. Its long open interior can host several thousand people, while the outside retains restored Art Deco porticos and murals that face the nearby esplanade.

The structure first opened as the Varied Industries Building in 1936, then burned down in 1942. A replacement was built in 1947, and a later remodeling brought back the original look, including the porticos and the exterior colors.

The exterior murals depict electric, mining, and inventing industries, a reminder of how the place was used to present trades and new technologies to the public. Today visitors can walk along the esplanade side and compare its restored porticos with the matching front of the Centennial Building across the open space.

Plan to approach the building from the side facing the esplanade, where the restored facade and side porticos are easiest to view. Large roll-up doors make the hall useful for events with heavy equipment, and the surrounding open grounds give room to move between this building and other Fair Park structures.

Inside, there are no columns to interrupt the floor, which allows a single open room to hold around seven thousand people for a reception. The building also kept two very large roll-up doors, so vehicles and heavy exhibits can drive directly onto the exhibition floor.