Phoenix's architectural icons

In an earlier column, I wrote about Phoenix's influential architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Will Bruder (who decamped for Portland). Here is a gallery of the most iconic and beautiful structures from the past and present, from the McCulloch Bros. Collection/ASU Archives, Library of Congress, and Brad Hall. Click on a photo for a larger image.

The Fleming Building at First Avenue and Washington in 1938. It was completed in 1883, the most impressive building in the young town. Among its amenities: A basement bowling alley and two rooms as the first public library. It was demolished in the 1980s for the boxy Wells Fargo Building.

The State Capitol at 17th Street and Washington, completed in 1901 as the territorial capitol. The Legislature never funded a replacement statehouse, although architecturally compatible additions were made. Modernistic structures for the House and Senate were added in the 1960s, and the scene was marred by the 1974 Executive Tower behind it. The Capitol is now a museum with its copper dome.

The Center Street Bridge, first span across the Salt River connecting farmers with the city and its railroads. Completed in 1911, it was claimed to be the longest reinforced concrete bridge in the world.

The Hotel Adams, built to replace an 1896 wooden structure that burned in 1910. It was demolished in the mid-1970s for today's Renaissance Hotel (first named the new Hotel Adams).

The Carnegie Library was completed in 1908 at 11th Street and Washington, the city's first free-standing library. On June 21, 1898 the “Friday Club” opened our first Phoenix Public Library location in two upstairs rooms of the Fleming Building at Washington and First Avenue. This was the result of fourteen women recognizing the need for Phoenix, incorporated as a city in 1881, to have a free library. In 1901, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill allowing a tax to support free libraries, qualifying Phoenix to have a donated library building from Andrew Carnegie. The building was the city's library until a new one was completed at the Civic Center in the late 1950s. It's still there.

Union Station was completed in 1923 for the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads. Three years later the SP northern main line placed Phoenix on a transcontinental railroad, propelling its growth. Read more about it here.

The Government Block in the 1920s at Van Buren Street and First Avenue. It consisted of the federal building, Salt River Water Users Association (Salt River Project) building and YMCA. The handsome moorish revival buildings were torn down around 1960 for a bland federal building.

Below: the 1920s boom created the city's best (mostly) Art Deco buildings. The City-County Building, Luhrs Building, Luhrs Tower, Professional Building, Security Building, and Title and Trust Building.

The Fox Theater at First Street and Washington opened in 1931. Los Angeles architect S. Charles Lee used a zigzag Moderne style for Phoenix's leading movie palace. It was shamefully lost in 1975, replaced by a city bus depot. It's now part of the mixed-use block that includes the downtown Fry's grocery.

The Newberry/Kress commercial block stood on the north side of Washington and First Avenue. It was another victim of the wrecking ball.

Phoenix Towers at Central Avenue and Cypress Street was completed by Del Webb in 1957. The 15-story building forms an "X."

Grady Gammage Memorial Auditorium on ASU's Tempe campus was Frank Lloyd Wright's most impressive building executed here. Wright based the design on an opera house he had been commissioned to build in Baghdad. Wright was invited to create a performing arts space by ASU President Gammage. Both died in 1959, leaving Wright protege William Wesley Peters to complete the auditorium. Renowned for its acoustics, Gammage Auditorium opened in 1964.

Helsing's coffee shop at Central and Osborn was the apogee of Googie-style eateries in Phoenix. Designed by John Sing Tang, the first licensed Chinese-American architect in Arizona, it was demolished. Today the site has a Walgreens surrounded by a surface parking lot, low wall, and rocks.

The Financial Center by Peruvian-born American architect W. A. Sarmiento, was nicknamed the "Punchcard Building" for its south face resemblance to a computer punch card. It was completed as a 10-story building in 1964, with another nine stories added in 1972. For years it was Western Savings' headquarters. The companion tower was never built.

Valley Center was completed in 1972 and remains the tallest building in the state. The headquarters of Valley National Bank was designed by Welton Becket and Associates with a bundled prism look that was more interesting than dull international boxes. Especially before it was surrounded by other tall buildings, Valley Center's glass tilted at the edges to reflect the sun. The new skyscraper was also a vote of confidence in downtown, sited at the insistence of President Walter Bimson. The lobby layout is a labyrinth meant to deter robberies. Now named Chase Tower, the building has lost all its bank employees.

Dial Corporate Tower: Love it or hate it, the 1991skyscraper intended as the headquarters of Phoenix's most important company was the most distinctive on the skyline and provided spectacular reflections of the sunset. It was meant to have a twin. The top has since been marred by new tenant BMO's sign (Bank of Montreal) and Dial is only a memory.

Burton Barr Central Library, designed by Will Bruder, opened in 1995.

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My book, A Brief History of Phoenix, is available to buy or order at your local independent bookstore, or from Amazon.

Read more Phoenix history in Rogue's Phoenix 101 archive.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Joyce A Fields]

Seeing all of these old buildings that were demolished makes me happy that I won't be back to Phoenix anytime soon. What a shame. The worst part is what they put to replace these old memories. Love these photos and thank you!!!!!!!

[Cal Lash]

THEARIZONA BAD NEWS FROM THE FRONT PAGES

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2021/11/25/investors-buying-up-arizona-farmland-valuable-water-rights/8655703002/

PLUS MORE LIGHT POLLUTION FROM MORE BILLBOADS.

[Cal Lash]

Gone Trees
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59383324