2011 Arizona Most Endangered Historic Places

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2011 Most EndangeredHistoric Places



Introduction

• The Arizona Preservation Foundation is releasing its 2011 list of Arizona's 25

most endangered historic places. Compiled by preservation professionals and

historians, the list identifies critically endangered cultural resources of major

historical significance to the state.

• "Each of the sites we have named are important historic landmarks in Arizona,

but unfortunately are in grave danger of collapse, demolition, or destruction,"

said Jim McPherson, Arizona Preservation Foundation Board President. "As

we approach Arizona’s Centennial – a time to reflect on our state’s past,

present, and future – it is crucial that residents and government officials act

now to save these elements of our cultural heritage before it is too late.”

• “We investigated the status of each entry and determined what should be

dropped off, what should remain and why, and what should be added,” said

Vince Murray, chair of the Foundation’s Most Endangered Historic Places

Committee.



Changes from Previous Lists

• Twenty-one sites remain from previous lists. New to the 2011 list are the

Arizona State Park system, Copper Miner Monument in Bisbee, Gonzalez

Martinez House in Tempe, and Mesa Citrus Growers Association Building.

• Two historic buildings on previous lists were destroyed: the Havasu Hotel in

Seligman was demolished in 2008 by the BSNF Railway Company and the

Southern Pacific Railroad Depot in Casa Grande suffered significant damage

from suspected arson in 2009.

• On the positive side, five historic buildings were removed from the list because

significant progress was made to ensure their preservation: Desert Laboratoryon Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Kerr Cultural Center in Scottsdale, Mesa Grande

Platform Mound Ruins in Mesa, Second Pinal County Courthouse in Florence,

and Valley National Bank (now Chase Bank) at 44th Street & Camelback Road

in Phoenix.



Adamsville Ruins

Adamsville is a large Classic Hohokamhabitation site, dating from AD 1100 to AD1450, consisting of a platform, mound, atleast one compound, a ball court, and 41associated mounds of which some still have

standing architecture. Listed on the NationalRegister of Historic Places, it is located near the 19th century town for which it is named.It is the second largest Hohokam housingarea along the Canal Casa Grande, secondonly to the combined communities of Greweand Casa Grande. The current size of thesite is 155 acres of which 126 acres are

proposed for addition to Casa GrandeNational Monument. The site is threatened by encroachment from commercialdevelopment and the State of Arizona is notable to provide adequate protection.

P h o t o : U n i v e r s i t y o f A r i z o n a L i b r a

r y



Arizona State Parks

Our Arizona State Parks are in trouble. Theeconomic downturn and tight state budget led theState Legislature to strip out and redirect most State

Parks funding. Some Parks have closed. Others areon the list for closure. Dedicated and experienced

employees have been laid off and Heritage Fundgrants were eradicated. Elimination of the voter-approved Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund in

FY2010 caused a $10 million permanent annualrevenue reduction and removed the last source of

Parks’ capital and maintenance funding. This alsoremoved all matching funding for historicpreservation projects as well as all local, regional,

and state park enhancements & trails improvements.

It is urged that the Governor and State Legislatureconsider a fully operational State Parks system and

additional funds obtained through supplemental andsustainable funding sources.

P h o t o : A r i z o n a S t a t e P a r k s



Arizona State University

Historic Properties

Arizona State University was established in 1885 asteachers college on 20 acres of a former cow pasturedonated by local residences. It became Arizona

State College in 1945 and Arizona State Universityin 1958. Throughout the twentieth century, the

university’s life was symbiotic to the history of Tempe and the State of Arizona. This legacy isreflected in the varying styles of architecture located

on and around the Tempe campus. Unfortunatelyfor a university that has established a global institute

on sustainability, it has yet to fully embrace theconcept that “the greenest building is the one thatalready exists.” Numerous historic buildings have

already been demolished (such as the 1962 Valley

National Bank at right). It is long overdue for theASU administration to work with the Tempe

Historic Preservation Foundation, Tempe HistoricPreservation Commission, and Arizona State

Historic Preservation Office on National Register of Historic Places eligibility of over a dozen historic buildings still standing and in their possession. P h o t o : M

a t t h e w K

i n g



Basque Pelota Ball Court

Basque Pelota is a handball-like gameoriginating on the borders of Spain and

France. When Basques immigrated to

America in the 1800s, they brought their

sport with them. Approximately two dozenPelota ball courts exist in the U.S. Of that, adozen or so remain west of the Mississippi

and only one remains in Arizona. Currently,

there are issues over how the site in Flagstaff

can be and should be developed. Though the

owners would like to preserve the propertyand city officials have proposed several

scenarios for preservation, their efforts atreuse on the site have been fraught with

problems outside of their control. P h o t o : P a t t y R u b i c k L u t t r e l l



Buckhorn Baths

In 1939, Ted and Alice Sliger established the bathsunknowing that their efforts to make a living of thenatural mineral waters would help to establish Mesa

and the East Salt River Valley as a mecca for professional baseball. In 1947, the New York Giants

made the Buckhorn Baths their spring training homeand continued to do so for 25-plus years. Ty Cobb,Leo Durocher, Willie Mays, Gaylord Perry, and

others were regular guests. The Sligers established apost office, bus stop, water hole, museum, and

motel, which they operated for 65-plus years. Alsoknown as the Buckhorn Mineral Wells and WildlifeMuseum, the latter moniker due to an immense

taxidermy collection, the baths have been closed for

years. Listed on the National Register of HistoricPlaces, the location of the Buckhorn Baths makes it

a prime target for development, and speculation isrampant that this part of Mesa and Arizona history

could be lost.

P h o t o : M e s a P r e s e r v a t i o n F o u n d a t i o n



Camp Naco

This adobe compound was between 1919 and 1923,as part of the U.S. War Department's MexicanBorder Defense construction project -- a plan to

build a 1,200-mile barrier along the border. After thecamp closed, the Civilian Conservation Corps used

the complex in the 1930s for staging projects insoutheast Arizona. Over the next several decades,the property owners used the structures as rental

housing. Now owned by the Town of HuachucaCity, the property has been heavily degraded due to

neglect. Many of the adobe structures are erodedfrom exposure to the elements. The roof of one of the barracks has caved in, and other buildings

merely ruins. In May 2006, arson destroyed four of

the non-commissioned officer buildings anddamaged the roof of a fifth. Unchecked vegetation

is threatening the foundation of buildings andincreasing the danger of fire.

P h o t o : A r i z o n a P u b l i c M e d i a



Copper Miner Monument

In 1935, at the height of the GreatDepression, renowned artist Raymond

Sanderson created a stunning art deco

sculpture dedicated to the “virile men, the

copper miners.” Produced under the WorksProject Administration, the monumentsurvives today as a unique icon to Bisbee

and a significant piece of American art.

While the sculpture appears to be in good

structural condition, localized areas of fine

cracking appear near the base and deepcracking across the legs at the knees and

ankles. The City of Bisbee fears that withoutpreservation and restoration funds, the statue

may fall into ruin and a unique form of

artwork lost.

P h o t o : A r i z o n a S k y V

i l l a g e



Empire Ranch

Located in the 42,000-acre Las Cienegas NationalConservation Area and listed on the NationalRegister of Historic Places, Empire Ranch traces its

history to the 1870s, when a 160-acre quarter sectionhomestead was oought by Walter Vail and Herbert

Hilsop. At the time, the ranch house was a four-room adobe, with a zaguan (breezeway) that passed between the rooms into the corral. By the turn of

the century, the ranch covered almost a million acresand the house had grown to 22 rooms. The Vail

family lived there until the 1920s, when EdwardBoice of the Chiricahua Cattle Company boughtand then ranched the property until the 1970s. In

1988, the Bureau of Land Management acquired the

property through a public-private land swap anddesignated the ranch lands as a natural conservation

area, which it remains today. The Empire RanchFoundation has worked to preserve the ranch house

and outbuildings, including emergency repairs andstabilization.

P h o t o : E m

p i r e R a n c h F o u n d a t i o n



First Baptist Church

This church was completed in 1930 to serveparishioners in central Phoenix before

suburban expansion after World War II. The

four-story building includes a roof-top

garden, concrete and wood floors, diamond-patterned clerestory windows, Italian gothicmotifs, three-pointed arch doorways,

decorative cornices, stone columns, and a

bell tower. While saved from demolition in

1992 from previous fire damage and despite

the best intentions of its current owner, the building continues to lay dormant.

P h o t o : N a t a s c h a P a y t o n



Fisher Memorial House

This Casa Grande house was built in 1927and listed on the National Register of

Historic Places in 1985. When listed, it was

considered an outstanding example of a

Period Revival residential and commercial building executed in local material of uncoursed fieldstone construction. The

house is currently in a significant state of

disrepair. Some windows and doors are

missing or damaged and the roof is leaking,

which can cause structural damage.

P h o t o : M a r g e J a n t z



Geronimo Station

Located between Safford and Globe on thewestbound side of Interstate 70 is a small

store, gas station, and four-casita motel

(complete with carports between the units).

Constructed of adobe in the 1930s and 1940sto accommodate travelers heading west, it isone of the few original buildings still

standing in the state-registered historic town-

site of Geronimo. The property is in poor

condition and is deteriorating from neglect.

P h o t o : K u r t W e n n e r



Glendale Tract Community Center

The Glendale Tract Community Center, listed onthe National Register of Historic Places, is a 1,900square foot adobe structure built in 1937. The socialhall served the surrounding residential subdivisiondeveloped by the Resettlement Administration, aNew Deal agency. The 24-home Glendale Tract

subdivision was created as part of a plan to relocatedisplaced farmers and unemployed urban workers toplanned, part-time subsistence farm projects wherethey could grow their own crops. The currenthistoric district consists of 13 of the original housesand the community center, all of which are rareexamples of New Deal programs. The owners wantto redevelop the parcel, demolish the communitycenter, and build eight residential units. While theCity of Glendale has rejected the initial plans for thesite, it is only because the City will not allow morethan five residences to be built. The owner needseight to make their project viable, but if they canmake due with a smaller number of residences,there is little to stop the demolition.

P h o t o : R o n a l d S h o r t



Gonzalez Martinez House

The modest vernacular Gonzalez MartinezHouse is one of only two buildings from

Tempe’s formative first decade, constructed

by Ramon Gonzalez in 1880 of locally-

produced adobe. In 1892, Jesus Martinezpurchased the property in whose family itmiraculously remained for more than 90

years. Given all the changes that have

occurred in and around downtown Tempe, it

is surprising that the structure has survived.

The reason may have more to do with along-standing property dispute only recently

resolved between the City, State, andrailroad. Without intervention, the house

will most likely be lost to inner city decline.

The entire site is of sufficient size to be usedfor high-density development.

P h o t o : C i t y o f T e m p e



Kingman Multiple Resources

In 1986, Kingman residents celebrated thelisting of a multitude of historic properties to

the National Register of Historic Places.

However, since that time, some of these

properties have been subjected to abuses andneglect less than deserving of nationallyrecognized treasures. The local parish owns

the J. B. Wright House (1900) and St. Mary's

Church (1906). The former was listed on the

2005 Most Endangered Places List, but

removed in 2006 when parish leadershipassured the Foundation that they intended to

preserve the building. However, theFoundation recently learned they changed

their mind and decided that the site would

be more beneficial to the church as a parkinglot; likewise with the church.

P h o t o : l e a

d h i k e r , w a y m a r k i n g . c o m



Maple Ash Neighborhood

The Maple Ash Neighborhood consists of threesubdivisions, the largest concentration of historicresources in Tempe. The Gage Addition, Park Tract,

and College View subdivisions are significant as oneof Tempe’s oldest surviving neighborhoods. The

area is adjacent to downtown Tempe, Arizona StateUniversity, and Tempe St. Luke's Hospital, each of which have exerted pressure on the neighborhood at

various times in the past. While the City HistoricPreservation Commission and Office and a majority

of the neighborhood’s historic home owners wouldlike to have a historic district zoning overlay placedon the neighborhood, the property is zoned multi-

family and many owners would prefer to develop

their properties. Without some kind of protections,preservation advocates see the historic character of

the neighborhood, and with it any potentialdesignation to the National Register of Historic

Places, in jeopardy.

P h o t o : C i t y o f T e m p e



Marist College

The three-story, Marist College was built in 1915 byManual Flores, a Tucson contractor. A componentof the downtown precinct of the Diocese of Tucson,

the school provided a Catholic education for boysfrom elementary school to high school sophomore

year. It was an educational facility until 1968, whenit became office space for the Diocese of Tucson. Ithas been vacant since 2002. Marist College is

threatened by structural destabilization caused bythe collapse of two corners and the cracking of a

third. This deterioration is due to water penetrationthat comes from leaks in the roof and from thescupper and downspout drainage system. A re-

plastering 30 years ago with a plasticized composite

stucco (Tuff-Tex) has cracked and spalled, allowingwater to penetrate the walls but preventing the

adobe from drying. Emergency bracing hastemporarily stabilized the building, but there is a

clear and present danger of collapse if a permanentsolution is not implemented.

P h o t o : E r i c V o n d y



Meehan/Gaar House

Built in 1903 and listed on the NationalRegister of Historic Places, this Casa Grande

house is an unusual example of the Colonial

Revival influence executed in adobe. The

structure is also significant for its associationwith two of Casa Grande's well-knowncitizens: Tom J. Meehan who built the

house, owned Gilt Edge Saloon, and served

on the Casa Grande Board of Trade; and

Fanne Gaar who served on the City Council

and was the first woman to be elected mayor of an Arizona city. The Meehan/Gaar

House is currently in a state of disrepair withdeteriorating veranda, roofing, and adobe

walls.

P h o t o : M a r g e J a n t z



Mesa Citrus Growers

Association Building

The 1935 citrus packinghouse is located atthe southwest corner of Mesa’s town center

at Broadway and Country Club. Adjacent to

the railroad, its output was easily shipped.

The complex represents the heyday of Valleyagriculture, particularly citrus growing. Withcitrus acreage rapidly being replaced by new

development, the packinghouse now is the

last example of the once powerful citrus

industry in metro Phoenix. With packing

operations suspended in June 2010, the sitehas been put up for sale, thereby placing the

structures at risk for clearing and newdevelopment. P h o

t o : T i m H a c k e r



Mountain View

Colored Officers Club

High on a hill overlooking Fort HuachucaArmy base in Sierra Vista sits a dilapidated

building that once echoed with the sublime

song stylings of Lena Horne during World

War II. She came to entertain the black troops at the Mountain View ColoredOfficers Club, built in 1942 by the then-

segregated Army for its growing number of

colored soldiers. A plan to preserve that

building and turn it into an African-

American military research center is on thedrawing board, but an estimated $3 million

is needed to save and convert the club. P h o t o : P a r a d e M a g a z i n e



Old U.S. 80 Bridge

Located on the Gila River below the community of Arlington and adjacent to the Gillespie Dam, the bridge, though obsolete, has been in continuous use

for over 80 years. The bridge went into service in1927 as an all-weather crossing of the Gila River. As

part of U.S. 80, the bridge was a component in theearly transcontinental highway system. Listed on theNational Register of Historic Places, the bridge

possesses a high degree of integrity and provides alocal transportation corridor for daily travel and

during times of high water on the Gila River. It isalso the only suspension bridge in Maricopa Countyand one of very few in Arizona. The bridge is in

danger of failure and catastrophic loss due to bent

steel truss compression members, deficient roller bearings that distribute weight and adjust thermal

stresses, and the potential of washout during asignificant flood. Action is needed to repair and

restore the structure so it can continue to be usedand appreciated for the future.

P h o t o : W i k i p e d i a



Peter T. Robinson House

A 1905 brick cottage with Neo-Classicalinfluence listed on the National Register of

Historic Places. Peter T. Robinson was a

prominent local attorney, active in Yuma

community affairs. The house is vacant andis broken into regularly. The roof is open tothe sky, the floor is caving in, and a small fire

destroyed the eastern portico and some of

the roof over the kitchen.

P h o t o : V i n c e n t M u r r a y



Sage Memorial Hospital School

of Nursing

The Ganado Mission was established in 1901 by thePresbytery of Arizona through the Board of HomeMissions. A decade later, the board approved atwelve bed hospital at Ganado. This was the firstnon-governmental funded hospital on an Indianreservation in the U.S. Approximately 60 buildings

were built before 1957, including the 1903 manse,1911 Adobe West, 1920 Dining Hall (one of theoldest and largest two-story adobes in the U.S, and1929 Almira College. The Sage Memorial HospitalSchool of Nursing was the first accredited nursingtraining program in the U.S. for Native Americanwomen. Over the last 30 years, drainage problemshave detrimentally affected the foundations of someof the structures due to uncontrolled runoff and soilexpansion. Unabated, the differential settlementmay cause the foundations to shift and the structuresto fail. The wiring is outdated, and in some cases100 years old, creating potential fire hazards. Awater storage reservoir does not hold enough water for fire protection.

P h o t o : N a t i o n a l P a r k S e r v i c e



San Ysidro Ranch Ruins

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places,the San Ysidro Hacienda was the home of JoseMaria Redondo, an early Arizona pioneer. Theranch once contained over 2,000 acres, butsubsequent to the death of Redondo in 1878, hisfamily could not make a claim to more than 160

under American homestead laws; not enough landto support the hacienda's extensive agriculturaloperations and it quickly fell into ruin. The site oncecontained the adobe ruins of the main ranch house,a two-story mill, and rubble mounds; the originalheadquarters included a cane mill, numerousstorehouses, workhouses, stables, carriage house,harness house; and houses for approximately 100laborers' families built outside the walls of theheadquarters. Named for the patron saint of

agriculture, it was the first large non-Indian irrigatedfarm in Arizona with 27 miles of canals and ditches bringing water from Gila River. Recent urbandevelopment has encroached on the site and theruins are now at risk.

P h o t o : Y u m a S u n



Sun Mercantile Building

Designed by E.W. Bacon and constructed byWells & Son, the 1929 Sun MercantileBuilding is the first and only knownwarehouse built and owned by a Chinese- born businessman in Phoenix (Tang Shing).

It is the last remaining building of the city’ssecond Chinatown. Developers of a hoteland condo project want to insert an 11-storytower inside the walls of this city-ownedstructure, listed on both the NationalRegister of Historic Places and PhoenixHistoric Property Register. After the PhoenixCity Council's unanimous vote on December

14, 2005 to allow the "facadomy," the SaveSun Merc Coalition, Arizona PreservationFoundation, and twelve other groups filed anappeal in Maricopa County Superior Courtand received a favorable ruling from the judge.

P h o t o : W i k i p e d i a



White Gates House

Perhaps the first residential design byarchitect Al Beadle, the White Gates House

was probably influenced by Ludwig Mies

van der Rohe’s 1951 Farnsworth House.

Previous owners gutted the interior and

scraped the landscape from the property.Eligible for the National Register of Historic

Places, the house sits vacant. Homes in the

neighborhood sell in the seven figures and

the property is valuable for redevelopment. If

action is not taken soon, the owner may berequired by the City to demolish the house

and sell the property.

P h o t o : D a v i d C o o k



For more information

or to volunteer

• Adamsville Ruins, Coolidge

• Arizona State Parks, Statewide

• Arizona State University Historic

Properties, Tempe

• Basque Pelota Ball Court, Flagstaff • Buckhorn Baths, Mesa

• Camp Naco, Huachuca City

• Copper Miner Monument, Bisbee

• Empire Ranch, Pima County

• First Baptist Church, Phoenix

• Fisher Memorial Home, Casa

Grande

• Geronimo Station, Geronimo

• Glendale Tract Community

Center , Glendale

• Gonzalez Martinez House, Tempe

• Kingman Multiple Resources,

Kingman

• Maple Ash Neighborhood, Tempe

• Marist College, Tucson

• Meehan/Gaar House, Casa Grande• Mesa Citrus Growers Association

Building, Mesa

• Mountain View Colored Officers

Club, Sierra Vista

• Old U.S. 80 Bridge (Gillespie Dam

Bridge), Arlington

• Peter T. Robertson Residence, Yuma

• Sage Memorial Hospital School of

Nursing, Ganado

• San Ysidro Ranch Ruins, Yuma

• Sun Mercantile Building, Phoenix

• White Gates House, Phoenix



About the Foundation

• The Arizona Preservation Foundation is Arizona's nonprofitstatewide historic preservation organization. Founded in 1979,the Foundation is dedicated to preserving Arizona's historic,

archaeological, architectural, and cultural resources.

• The Foundation offers a variety of services and programs,including: Arizona Historic Preservation Conference,Governor's Heritage Preservation Awards; Speakers Bureau,Preservation Resource List, and Arizona's Most Endangered

Places List.

• For more information, visit the Foundation on the Internet atazpreservation.org or on Facebook.

2011 Arizona Most Endangered Historic Places

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