In 1899, after his father became ill, Carl Hayden dropped out of Stanford University, returning to Arizona to care for his family. Hayden soon became active in the Democratic Party and pursued a political career. Early in the new century, Hayden…

The architectural design of a City Hall can tell you a lot about the town’s origins and its roots. The Parisian City Hall, Hôtel de Ville, commissioned by King Francis I and constructed during the 16th century, spoke to the cities grandiose status…

Many of the oldest remaining buildings constructed in the City of Scottsdale reside within the downtown area known to locals as “Old Town”. With a population of just over 2,000 residents, the city itself was incorporated in 1951. While a number of…

The Vance Auditorium was built in 1904 by John Thomas Vance. People all around Mesa came to the dances. At the time of its construction, it was the biggest auditorium in the southwest. In 1919, Vance sold the building to the Maricopa Stake of The…

Finished in 1930, the U.S. Post Office in downtown Phoenix was built by private architects who designed typical federal buildings from the 1920s and 1930s. The art that is found inside the building is quite unique. The murals reflect the economic…

Located in downtown Phoenix, the Arizona State Capitol draws on several architectural styles, including federal and classical elements. Its symmetry, windows, roofline, and center entrance call forth architecture from the so-called Federal era of…

With its Victorian-style architecture, this building is extremely reminiscent of a two-story saloon or boarding house straight out of an Old West novel. In reality, the building housed a drug store owned by Dr. J. A. Dines and Hugh Laird. They…

When the U.S. government sought a home for German U-boat sailors taken as prisoners-of-war during World War II, it found the ultimate contradictory landscape for the young mariners from the verdant nation along the Rhine: Phoenix's Papago…

The graceful, even beautiful, lines of Scottsdale Grammar School #2 convey a sense of prosperity. Stability seems to be written right into the school’s symmetrical concrete façade. It is a testimony to the optimism of 1928, the year it was built—a…