mark lamster
banner
mlamster.bsky.social
mark lamster
@mlamster.bsky.social
architecture critic of the dallas morning news. author of “the man in the glass house.” www.marklamster.com
Pinned
Friends: Please join me in the fight to save Dallas City Hall. Spread the word. 
www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: Keep your hands off Dallas City Hall
Why demolishing I. M. Pei’s iconic building would be a financial boondoggle and an architectural travesty.
www.dallasnews.com
Reposted by mark lamster
Our piece on single stair: a crucial change that is slowly coming to Canadian cities

By me and @johnlorinc.bsky.social
January 17, 2026 at 2:35 PM
my latest on how to save downtown dallas: it ain’t a convention center, it ain’t an arena, and it certainly ain’t tearing down city hall. it is reversing generaitons of auto-centric urban planning.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: How to fix downtown Dallas
What is the future of downtown Dallas? Even for a place that is persistently described as “at a crossroads” and “in crisis,” the present moment seems fraught...
www.dallasnews.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:09 PM
thanks!
I have added some more accounts to my Starter Pack on Architecture and The Built Environment, among which
@mlamster.bsky.social, @paulgoldberger.bsky.social and other people.

Please take a look:
go.bsky.app/PqAqtFD
January 12, 2026 at 5:28 PM
with city hall on the block, here’s my list of the 20 most significact demoliions in dallas history. list could have been 10 times as long and still inadequate.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: The 20 most significant demolitions in Dallas history
With Dallas City Hall’s future in question, a look back at the city’s history of architectural destruction.
www.dallasnews.com
January 7, 2026 at 2:01 PM
here i am on the should-be-better-known dallas architect dan shipley’s wonderful, detail rich new library for rural marathon (pronounced: mara-thun) in the west texas desert.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: Dallas architect brings modern architecture to rural West Texas
Dan Shipley’s new Marathon Public Library fits in by standing out.
www.dallasnews.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by mark lamster
I look forward to these awards every year from @langealexandra.bsky.social @cmonstah.bsky.social and @mlamster.bsky.social!
December 4, 2025 at 6:47 PM
omg it’s the annual architecture and design awards from @langealexandra, @cmonstah, and yrs trly (with a little help from chatgpt). our 16th consecutive year! enjoy!

lamstermd.medium.com/the-good-the...
The Good, the Bad, and the Overbuilt: It’s the 2025 Architecture & Design Awards
We’re back for the 16th consecutive year of these awards. Woo-hoo! But in keeping with the times (and because we are lazy), we’ve decided…
lamstermd.medium.com
December 4, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by mark lamster
You should read this.
stop the steal: my latest on the movement to demolish i. m. pei’s iconic dallas city hall based on inflated deferred maintenance estimates and a misguided dream of economic development.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: Plans to abandon Dallas City Hall are a tragic farce
City leaders seem bent on leaving the iconic building without consulting voters.
www.dallasnews.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
stop the steal: my latest on the movement to demolish i. m. pei’s iconic dallas city hall based on inflated deferred maintenance estimates and a misguided dream of economic development.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: Plans to abandon Dallas City Hall are a tragic farce
City leaders seem bent on leaving the iconic building without consulting voters.
www.dallasnews.com
November 12, 2025 at 2:08 PM
when james magee died last year he left one of the most important but least known works of 21st century american art unfinished. what happens to it now.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
The enigmatic artist James Magee built a West Texas landmark. What happens to it now?
El Paso’s arts leaders face the challenge of preserving the work of Magee and his multiple personas.
www.dallasnews.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:52 PM
if max scherzer asks you to check out his wood chipper, run.
November 2, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Friends: Please join me in the fight to save Dallas City Hall. Spread the word. 
www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: Keep your hands off Dallas City Hall
Why demolishing I. M. Pei’s iconic building would be a financial boondoggle and an architectural travesty.
www.dallasnews.com
October 16, 2025 at 12:59 PM
if omly there was an organization dedicated to classical architecture that could fight this monstrosity!
September 26, 2025 at 3:03 PM
thanks brian!
September 8, 2025 at 2:52 PM
here i am on the cynical, hypocritical and un-american trump executive order mandating classical federal architecture. www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
Lamster: How not to make American architecture great
The Trump executive order on federal building is a terrible, Soviet-style mistake.
www.dallasnews.com
September 8, 2025 at 12:35 PM
always good to be on the cover!

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
September 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
icymi, here’s what happens when you take the farnsworth house and the glass house and mush them together. like chockolate and peanut butter, two great tastes that taste great together. www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
How a Dallas sculptor turned RedBird Mall scraps into an homage to modern architecture
George Tobolowsky’s “Recycled Glass House” fuses works by Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson.
www.dallasnews.com
August 28, 2025 at 4:07 PM
what happens when you combine mies’s @edithfarnsworth house and philip johnson’s @PJGlassHouse using steel recycled from a dying mall? this: www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
How a Dallas sculptor turned RedBird Mall scraps into an homage to modern architecture
George Tobolowsky’s “Recycled Glass House” fuses works by Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson.
www.dallasnews.com
August 27, 2025 at 1:05 PM
the @DallasMuseumArt has a new director. brian ferisso arrives from portland, and will now be tasked with getting the museum’s expansion by nieto sobejano built. www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
At ‘transformative moment,’ Dallas Museum of Art appoints new director
Brian Ferriso, director of the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, will be tasked with leading the DMA through an expansion of the downtown building.
www.dallasnews.com
August 20, 2025 at 5:52 PM
listicle time! following up on my story on amazing st. stephen of mesquite, here are my 15 (+1) favorite sacred buildings in/around dallas.

www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
15 must-visit sacred buildings in and around Dallas (plus a bonus)
Dallas Morning News architecture critic Mark Lamster lists his favorite religious buildings in North Texas.
www.dallasnews.com
August 13, 2025 at 12:40 PM
how one of the most radical churches, in architecture and politics, wound up in a dallas suburb. the story ot st. stephen of mesquite, part ronchamp, part pueblo, from the most inventive archittecture firm you’ve probably never heard of.
www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...
What is that?! The most radical church in Texas gets a facelift
Mesquite’s St. Stephen United Methodist Church, an icon of organic modernism, is restored to its original grandeur.
www.dallasnews.com
August 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
i have no baseline issue with tall buildings but i certanly never said anything like this baloney.
"Lamster and practicing architects all rightly agree that taller buildings allow for better architectural shapes and superior design.”

www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...
Cothrum: Stop thinking small, Dallas
Dallas Cothrum: Why is Dallas afraid of tall buildings? I hope citizens can be taught that height creates better buildings in design, sustainability, and with...
www.dallasnews.com
August 8, 2025 at 3:40 PM
LATEST: never thought i’d be arguing to preserve this architectural peaen to reaganomics but…https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/architecture/2025/07/28/i-wrote-a-book-on-philip-johnson-his-dallas-skyscraper-does-not-need-a-tacked-on-garage/
July 28, 2025 at 12:44 PM