As you may know, VMT uses older buildings scattered throughout a three-block area downtown, in a historical district.
The hotel where we stayed during my wife's younger daughter's wedding, Hotel Indigo, is in a building dating back to 1925, according to a cast-iron plaque in the lobby. It is a historical landmark, and has been beautifully renovated to serve as a hotel. I don't know what the building was before it became a hotel.
A look at the details inside the hotel tells of how it has been cared for: molding along the top of the walls where they meet the ceiling in the rooms, for example, and how the lobby looks like something one might see in old movies.
Of course, everything in the hotel meets modern safety standards, such as warnings to use stairwells in the event of a fire instead of elevators.
Naturally, the roof does not leak! And the second floor has a banquet hall with a kitchen equipped to quickly serve banquet-goers, hotel literature states.
The hotel reminded me of our historic structures at VMT, and how, with a little bit of care, they will continue to serve their function in education for another 18 years.
There are other matters that come into play as to why the district is considering our move, but that is a story for another day.
(Photo cutline: This is the Hotel Indigo in downtown Dallas, taken with a telephone camera on Saturday, Oct. 2. Dating back to 1925, the building has been restored for use as a luxury hotel. VMT's Harding
Building dates back to 1923, and the Urbahn Building, 1918. - Photo by Mark Webber)