Fodor's Expert Review Texas Memorial Museum

French architect Paul Cret's 1936 plans for Texas Memorial Museum called for north and south wings to extend from a central building, a tailored limestone box with subtle art deco flourishes. The wings were scuttled because of funding difficulties, leaving only Cret's alabaster midsection. But the chic interior, with brass doors, glass embellishments, and blood-red marble walls, floors, and ceilings, mitigates any sense of abridgement. Among the popular draws at the museum are the dinosaur models (including a 30-foot-long mosasaur and a 40-foot-long pterosaur) and the life-size dioramas, which depict buffalo, roadrunners, cougars, mountain lions, and flying squirrels.