The Belo Mansion is being renamed to the Arts District Mansion.
The Dallas Bar Association, which houses its headquarters in the historic downtown Dallas building, announced the name change Tuesday due to the "namesake's ties to the Confederacy."
"We are excited to unveil our new name, Arts District Mansion, Home of the Dallas Bar Association," Aaron Tobin, president of the DBA, said in a press release.
General Alfred Horatio Belo, who died in 1901, was a Confederate Colonel in the Civil War and founder of the Dallas Morning News.
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In similar name changes, the Belo Corporation renamed itself the Dallas News Corporation in March. The University of Texas at Austin also renamed a communications building from Belo Center to G.B. Dealey Center in June.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Belo, a native of North Carolina, volunteered to serve in the Confederate Army. His family owned slaves, but Belo never did.
"We are keenly aware that the relationship of our company’s name to a person who figured prominently in the Confederate Army is the source of discomfort, even pain, for many of our fellow citizens,” Robert W. Decherd, the company’s chairman, president and CEO, said during a call announcing the corporation's name change. “And that is intolerable to the leaders of this enterprise.”
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The DBA unanimously voted to change the name in April after a review began during the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd, the association said.
The new Arts District Mansion title is a reference to the location of the building in the Dallas Art District at 2101 Ross Avenue.
"This name embraces the Dallas Bar's longstanding history in the district, while looking forward to many decades of our members and our friends in the community gathering, collaborating, and celebrating in our home, which is in the heart of Dallas' most vibrant neighborhood," Tobin said.
The DBA moved into the Arts District Mansion in 1979, according to the press release.
The building was previously owned by the Belo family after it was built for Alfred Horatio Belo.
