Civil Defense Museum - Virtual Shelter Tours
Old Dallas Civil Defense Emergency Operations Center
| Shelter Tours Main | Old Dallas EOC Main | Front Entry/Dormitory Room | Communications Room | Operations Room/RADEF Ops |
| Mayor's Office/Kitchen/Hallway | Mechanical Room | Air Filter System | Rear/Outside Entry |
Mayor's Office
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There's not a whole lot to see here. The Mayor's Office was so small and full of stuff that I could hardly stand in it when I visited in 2001. In 2013 the room had been cleaned out so I took the above right photo just for posterity. It was from this room where the Mayor of the City of Dallas would have (via the Emergency Broadcast System) communicated with the city. The door to the Rear Entry Hallway is on the right in the above left photo. The two Civil Defense water barrels were in the corner in 2001. The cardboard postersized drawing on the floor to the lower left of the barrels is a detailed floor plan of the Machine Room and Air Filter Room. It was by looking at this floor plan that I knew to go back and look for the Air Intake/Filter System and Escape Hatch.
Men's Restroom
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Nothing really interesting about the men's restroom; A few toilet stalls, sink and a shower stall like the women's restroom. What I did find of interest was hanging from the ceiling. It is the exhaust air blower. The duct coming in at the top left of the above left photo is the exhaust air duct. It runs along the back wall of the shelter. The gray unit attached to the duct is the exhaust blower. The rectangular air vent to the right of the blower near the wall is one of the exhaust air vents. The round air outlet next to the blower is part of the incoming air system. It appears that the two ducts are hooked together but the incoming system duct is only attached to the bottom of the exhaust system ducting. The exhaust duct goes through the far wall into the kitchen (see below) on the other side of the wall.
The outlet of the exhaust air blower goes through a duct which passes through the back wall of the shelter (to the left in the picture) and up to the exhaust air anti-blast valve on the surface. I never found a place that the exhaust anti-blast valve is accesible though. The blower outlet just goes straight into the wall.
The right photo shows the men's restroom shower stall. There are 3 toilet stalls and a small sink in this restroom. Toilet stalls are to the immediate left in the photo. Door is to left opposite the shower stall. Radef/Operations room is on the other side of the wall behind the shower stall. Exhaust air blower (in photo at left) is mounted on the silver plate seen at the top of the picture.
Rear Hallway From Operations Room To Rear and Outside Entrances.
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The above left photo shows the hallway that leads from the operations room to the rear and outside entrances. The Mechanical Room door is to the immediate right in the photo. The two large silver pipes coming out of the wall at the upper right are the generator exhaust pipes. These pipes exit the shelter through the kitchen and run up the side of the building wall above the shelter. The small hallway to the Men's Restroom is to the immediate left. The first door on the left is the Mayor's Office. The far door on the left is the Kitchen. The stairs up to the outside entrance can barely be seen through the door at the center of the end of the hall.
The above right photo was taken looking from the rear and outside entrance stairwell through the shelter towards the front entry. The open door to the immediate left is the inside door that closes the shelter off from the Rear Entry stairwell. This door closes on the inside of the rear stairwell steel door. There is also another door identical to this one at the front entry. The door to the immediate right with the trash can sitting in it is the Kitchen and the second door on the right with the light coming out is the Mayor's Office. The doorway on the left with the pipes overhead, as mentioned above, is the Mechanical Room doorway. The Operations Room is visible through the open door straight ahead.
Kitchen
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The above left photo of the kitchen was taken looking in through the doorway. This photo was taken in July of 2013 twelve years after the photo on the above right was taken. The whole kitchen was outfitted with enameled steel cabinets and a really cool old electric range. Two generator exhaust pipes pass by the right side of the big round (what I call the "Fail Safe" vent) air outlet and out through the back wall of shelter. I don't know were the exhaust pipes outlet from there. Notice in the above left photo that there is a rectangular air exhaust duct above the cabinets against the wall at the back of the room. The ducting for the exhaust goes through the wall and into the Men's Restroom which leads to the exhaust air blower.
During an early 2010 search through the Civil Defense archives at Dallas City Hall I found a letter from the manufacturer of these kitchen fixtures. The letter was expressing interest from the company in the fact the kitchen was installed in an "H-bomb Shelter."
The above right photo was taken looking back from the refrigerator corner towards the door to the hallway. I was trying to capture the ductwork and pipes covering the ceiling. Men's restroom and Mayor's office are on the other side of the opposite wall with the sink.
Go To The Mechanical Room
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Go Back To The Operations Room
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Back to EOC Main
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