Tempe’s Historic Buildings

    This building is part of a trend in banking after World War II to open banks close to customers and to offer services like drive-up windows.  The building’s design also suggests that the bank is stable, accessible, forward-looking, and Arizona-based (by using local building materials).

    The geodesic panel dome on the bank dates from 1962 and the credited architects Weaver and Drover.  According to Frank Henry, who worked for Weaver and Drover and who briefly worked on this Valley National Bank building, the idea of using the geodesic dome came from Valley National Bank.  Not only because it was stylish and futuristic and cool, but because it was an efficient means to build a branch bank; create a free-span space inside and a distinctive profile outside, visible from the street.  The building is one of a decreasing number of original geodesic domes in the United States.  These last domes stand as the tangible legacy of Buckminster Fuller, whose geodesic dome was, and is, a completely revolutionary construction technique.

    According to a June 20, 1962 VNB publicity release:  The golden dome on the Valley National Bank’s new Tempe Office rises three-quarters of an inch during heat of the day, contracting again in the cooling night hours.  Luminous ceiling above the 2600 square foot lobby is hung with thousands of wafer-thin aluminum leaves – each turned to a precise angle.  Special lighting protection for the metal-roof structure was included in specifications by architects Weaver & Drover … Despite its graceful, light appearance, Valley Bank’s dome weighs several tons and possesses impressive structural strength.  In tests, geodesic designs have supported more than 100 pounds per square foot and withstood hurricane winds of 125 miles per hour.
    In erecting the dome, more than 100 pre-shaped panels were fastened together with special bolts in a series of ever-widening circles around a central tower.  The roof was lifted slightly as each new ring of panels was added.  When the entire dome was assembled, it was lowered into place onto permanent supports and the tower removed.  A critical factor in the dome’s erection was accuracy in planning and placing the bearing points, which hold full weight of the 90-foot span.  These and concrete arches between were cast in place with custom-built forms … Self-supporting feature of geodesic construction eliminated need for support columns or weight-bearing walls inside the bank.  All walls in the building are curtain walls – except for the vault, which is virtually a separate building in itself.  Constructed blockhouse fashion, the vault has 12-inch thick reinforced concrete walls, floor and ceiling.  Between support piers, eyebrow-shaped arches curve to a height of 13 feet.  Spaces here are enclosed with native stone, porcelain and quarter-inch thick glare-reducing glass.

The building was razed to make room for expansion of the ASU campus. They promised to save the dome, but the many other architectural features were destroyed.

Tempe Valley National Bank Building     

     As part of a major highway, Apache Boulevard attracted many businesses such as the Valley National Bank.  This modern-style bank building with its distinctive geodesic dome opened in 1962 on the northwest corner of Apache Boulevard and Rural Road and quickly became a landmark of distinction in Arizona architecture.

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The Petersen House

     On the corner of Southern and Priest, in Tempe, there is a striking example of Victorian architecture.  With its multi-gabled roof, balconies, dormers and decorative shingles, it is the oldest Queen Anne style brick house in the Salt River Valley. The house was designed by noted Arizona architect James Creighton, who also designed the Pinal County Courthouse, Old Main at the University of Arizona, the Adams Hotel, and the first city hall in Phoenix.  Creighton utilized the classic Queen Anne eccentric

That House on the Corner

style, as shown by the disregard of symmetry, the angular and irregular roof lines, the wrap around porches and the decorative “gingerbread” of this Victorian style.  The interior has 12 foot ceilings, hand-stenciled wallpaper borders, stained glass windows, and gold leaf picture railing in its 13 rooms.  The house was built for Arizona pioneer Niels Petersen who was a Tempe community leader and one of the wealthiest men in the Salt River Valley.

    Petersen was born in 1845 in Southwestern Denmark. He joined the merchant marine at the age of 16 and served for several years, sailing around the world. In 1870, he emigrated to California, and the next year he came to Tempe.  He worked on the irrigation systems being built in the valley, constructing brush and rock diversion dams, digging ditches and clearing land for the Tempe Canal Company. He also worked for Charles T. Hayden at his store in Tempe when Hayden was away freighting.

      Petersen’s enterprises began in 1874 when he homesteaded 160 acres of desert land at what is now the intersection of Priest and Southern Avenues in Tempe. He claimed the quarter section of land bordered by Priest, Southern, Alameda and 52nd street. He cleared the land, planted crops and built a two room adobe house, meanwhile continuing to work for the Tempe Canal Company.

     in 1878 he became a citizen of the United States.  By 1883 Petersen demonstrated that he had lived on the land for five years, and had made substantial improvements.  He filed his final homesteading proof  and obtained title to his farm.  By this time there were two adobe houses on the land. He was growing and harvesting crops of wheat, barley and alfalfa, and he had registered brands and marks for cattle, sheep, goats, horses and hogs.

 Niels married one of the original Tempe Grammar School teachers, Isabel Dumphy in 1884. Tragically, she died the next year, while giving birth, and their infant son, John, died shortly afterward.

    Petersen continued building his farm. He added additional acreage by taking advantage of changes in the homesteading laws and by buying out other pioneers who had left the area. The farming and ranching operation grew to more than 1,200 acres and Petersen became one of the biggest producers of cattle, hay, and grain in the valley, often shipping multiple carloads of products on the new railroad that ran only a mile away along Kyrene Road.

     By the 1890’s, Niles Petersen, in addition to being one of the wealthiest men in the valley, had become a respected community leader. He was a trustee of the Tempe Grammar School District, served on the Maricopa County board of Supervisors, and was elected to the 18th Territorial Legislature.  He contributed to the advancement of Tempe by serving as a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, constructing buildings, and donating the land and most of the funding to establish the Tempe Methodist Episcopal Church. He was also an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows lodge.

     In 1892, Petersen married Susanna Decker in Pennsylvania, and they returned to his new Queen Anne Victorian home, living in the house until Niel’s death in 1923 at the age of 78 and  Susanna’s death in 1927.  Niels was originally buried in Double Buttes Cemetery in Tempe, but he was reburied on the property, to the north of the house next to Susanna’s grave.

Susanna’s nephew, Rev. Edwin Decker inherited the house and property. He made modifications to the house, “modernizing” it, removing Victorian decorations, and adding a bungalow style porch on the south and east sides. He lived there until his death in 1948.

    The house was given to Petersen’s lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The lodge maintained it until it was donated to the City of Tempe in 1979. It had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

    The exterior of the house was stabilized and restored in 1982 with a

grant from the Arizona Historic Preservation Office. The interior was restored in 1989, and in that year the house received the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation.

 Today, the Petersen House Museum is operated as an outreach of the Tempe Historical Museum. Tours are given of the house, focusing on lifestyles in Tempe during the territorial and  depression eras.

Original house in about 1900     House after modifications

Tempe’s Best Remembered Store

It was the gathering place and social center of Tempe.    It was a magical place for kids, a governmental forum for adults and a meeting place for all.

In 1897, not wanting her sons to follow their father into the saloon business, Clara Laird purchased the dry goods store on the corner of Fifth Street and Mill Avenue. Dr. James Dines was taken in as a partner to teach Clara’s boys, Hugh, Bill and Claude to be pharmacists. It became the Laird and Dines drug store.

The building consisted of two stories and a basement. The basement was primarily used for storage, but it served as a bookstore for the high school until the school opened one of its own.   The ground floor housed the store. The second story had two apartments, and it was surrounded by a large balcony that was ideal for watching parades and downtown events.

The store was a place of wonder and delight for youngsters. ”[I]t displayed big, fancy jars of colored liquids in the windows, it had a soda fountain, a magazine rack, a cigar counter, the turn-of-the-century tables and chairs used those days in ice-cream parlors. [T]here was almost always a life-size cardboard cut-out of a pretty girl sitting at a table drinking Coca-Cola. In the summer, the place hummed with electric fans, smelled of drugs, soap, vanilla ice cream, Coca-Cola and fruit syrup.”

 The soda fountain evokes the fondest memories from old Tempe residents.  “It was on the left side of the store and extended about two-thirds of the way down the store.“   Its allure was such that ” Laird and Dines was where everybody went for ice cream sodas.”      However, the most remembered treat was “ those delicious ice cream cones with the million dollar chocolate squirted up inside the cone.“      “There was a spout that sprayed warm chocolate up into a long cone [a pointed, not flat bottomed cone] and coated the inside. After the ice cream was inserted into the cone, it froze the chocolate lining, except for some that had run down to the bottom. After the ice cream was gone, the pure  chocolate left at the bottom was an added treat. A major disaster was when you accidentally broke off the bottom of the cone before you could eat the chocolate.”    The only way that other stores could compete was on the basis of quantity. The Sandoz Pool Hall would offer a three-scoop ice cone for a nickel. Mrs. Sandoz was very liberal with her scoops.

the  the drug store the store.      Laird and Dines became the “ meeting place for Tempe.”  citizens of all ages and influence. “ [xvi]

Laird and Dines served as a drugstore for 63 years. It was remodeled several times, 1908, 1929, and 1960, eventually assuming a mission style with arches and stuccoed walls.     However,  “downtown [Tempe] had really gone to hell by the 60’ s.”       Chain stores and new shopping patterns had taken their toll. Author Jack O’ Connor wrote, “ That if I ever came back to Tempe and did not find Bill Laird behind his cigar counter, then I would know that my world was coming to an end. Now, alas, the drugstore is closed, a victim of urban sprawl and shopping centers, and Bill is dead.”      An era had ended.

However, with the revitalization of the downtown area, Tempe has been reborn. The old Laird and Dines store was razed, except for its outer walls, and rebuilt to resemble its original appearance. This would have probably pleased Dr. Dines and the Laird brothers. But, what would be their reaction to seeing a Hooter’s restaurant in their old store with its modern menu and scantily clad waitresses?

“Politicians are said to have met there for decision making.“     “Two Arizona governors, Dr. B. B. Moeur and Howard Pyle often headquartered there along with Senator Carl Hayden and [U. S. Representative] John Murdock.”      Two thirds of Arizona’ s Congressional delegation was from Tempe. Local politics were discussed and decisions made there, too.” Many caucuses and important ad hoc committee meetings took place at the  pharmacy of Laird and Dines drug store.”    Hugh Laird served 32 consecutive years on the city council and was mayor from 1924 to 1929, and from 1948 to 1960. He also served two terms in the Arizona Legislature as a representative.

After local prohibition closed the saloon of Hilary Laird, husband of Clara, he would sit in the store, greet and chat with customers and patrons of  the store and passerbys.