ORG XMIT: *S0426581395* PUBLISHED May 29, 1988 SHOT April 29, 1988 From left: Richard and Caroline Brettell and Ann and Vincent Carrozza are seen in this Fete Set photo.
JOE LAIRD – STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Vincent A. Carrozza, a decorated World War II combat veteran who developed some of the city’s most prominent towers in the latter half of the 20th century, died Tuesday evening in Dallas, his family announced.
Carrozza, one of the few remaining front-line combat soldiers from the global conflict, was best known in Dallas for his contributions to the city’s well-being and its skyline. He developed One Dallas Center (350 N. St. Paul St.), One Main Place (1201 Main St.), and One Energy Square (4925 Greenville Ave.).
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Born in New York City, Carrozza was the son of Italian immigrants Barbara De Luca and Rocco Carrozza. Vincent entered Columbia University in 1942 and was inducted into the U.S. Army infantry two months later. The young Carrozza served in Gen. George Patton’s Third Army in Germany as it pushed through the Saar Valley. His unit, the 259th Infantry, suffered heavy casualties as the men attempted to breach the concrete pillboxes of the Siegfried Line.
His unit would go on to advance further east than any other U.S. military unit on the continent, and Carrozza was among the first American soldiers to discover the Mauthausen concentration camp before its liberation in May 1945.
U.S. Army records credit the 41st Allied Reconnaissance Unit of the Third Army with disarming and liberating the camps. No mention is made of the role Vincent’s squad played in first liberating the main camp. Carrozza received the Bronze Star and other decorations for his service.
Carrozza returned to Columbia University in 1946 and graduated in 1949. He and his family settled in Dallas in 1958. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen the city. His first introduction to Dallas came when he was stationed as a young soldier at Fort Hood in 1943. He’d come to the city on weekends.
In 1962, Carrozza joined the Murchison-Overton Group in the acquisition, planning, construction and leasing of 10 acres in downtown Dallas. The end result was the 34-story One Main Place. The building, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill with collaborator Harwood K. Smith, was completed in 1968. Carrozza handled property management, planning, project relations and leasing.
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In 1964, he acquired a 40-acre tract from The Dallas Morning News and Cotton Belt Railroad. The property was later sold to Wes Grogan Partnership and is now the site of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and the Omni Dallas Hotel.
Carrozza was part of a joint venture with DeGolyer and MacNaughton in 1974 that developed One Energy Square, a 14-story office building on Greenville Avenue near SMU.
Carrozza’s most notable Dallas project was One Dallas Center. Longtime Dallas Morning News real estate editor Steve Brown wrote that the “metal and glass-clad, diamond-shaped building helped set a trend in downtown Dallas starting in the late 1970s to use world-class architects.”
After I.M. Pei designed Dallas’ new city hall, Carrozza hired the firm in 1977 to work on this big project at Live Oak and St. Paul streets. The 30-story building was part of a planned three-building project. One Dallas Center was finished in 1979, but none of the other buildings were built.
Dallas wasn’t the only city where Carrozza made his mark. He spent the early 1980s working in Oklahoma City, where the 31-story Oklahoma Tower was among his projects. From the late 1960s through the 1990s, his firm developed more than 4 million square feet of high-rise office space.
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Carrozza was involved in Dallas civic life. He was a member of Mayor Eric Johnson’s Goals for Dallas, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Blue Ribbon Committee and a founding director and board member of Theatre Three. He served on the boards of the Dallas Symphony, Dallas Civic Opera and Hockaday School. He was a trustee of the Dallas Museum of Art for 20 years.
Carrozza was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, Virginia Anne Reeves. He is survived by three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A private family service will be held at Sparkman Hillcrest Funeral Home.