Stanley Korshak Department Store

One of our earliest AIA Architecture Award–winning projects was the Stanley Korshak Department Store in Dallas, Texas—an enduring example of how architecture and retail experience can become inseparable.

Commissioned by Caroline Hunt as the anchor specialty department store for her landmark develop-ment, The Crescent, the project was conceived as the grand entrance to this visionary destination just outside downtown Dallas. Designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, the building’s monumental neoclassical façade is defined by soaring three story limestone arches, originally envisioned to frame multiple retail storefronts.

When we were engaged, the vision evolved. The entire 40,000 square foot structure was leased to a single tenant: our long standing client, Stanley Korshak, the women’s luxury specialty store. Ms. Hunt had seen our earlier work in Chicago and selected it as the centerpiece for The Crescent—reimagined at a scale befitting Texas, fifty percent larger.

Our challenge was to translate Johnson’s powerful limestone architecture into the language of the interior. We shifted away from non-architectural themes and instead developed a design vocabulary rooted in materiality, proportion, and craft, responding directly to the building’s stonework and refined detailing.

The result is most vividly expressed in the store’s iconic three story circular stair, a sculptural composition of steel and terrazzo that appears to float within translucent glass walls—both a functional centerpiece and an architectural statement.

Nearly four decades later, the Stanley Korshak store continues to resonate, earning recognition as one of America’s ten most beautiful specialty department stores—a testament to the enduring power of thoughtful, architectural driven design