Tuesday, October 10, 2017

It Took Many Years, But It Was Saved


For two decades, this beautiful art deco building in the heart of downtown Phoenix sat empty.  In fact, I took this photo exactly four years ago when I caught sight of the pigeons flying in and out of those empty window frames.

When I was downtown three weeks ago, I noticed that the building was looking rather dapper and was once again alive and functioning.

Hilton Garden Inn has taken over the building and converted it to very nice looking hotel.


























The building was built in 1932 and originally housed Valley Bank which later became Valley National Bank.  The bank took up the lower three floors and various medical offices took up the rest of the building.

In 1972 Valley National Bank (now Chase) built a new glass tower across the street from this one and moved out and gradually the remaining tenants left too.

Luckily, a solid purchase was made within the last four years and renovations started.

A little bit of trivia is that this building was used in the opening shot of the 1960 movie "Psycho".

Tomorrow I'll show you inside.

10 comments:

Christine said...

Wonderful to see it restored to glory!

Steve Reed said...

Wow! How great to see it preserved -- not only architecturally significant, but cinematically, too!

RedPat said...

A good news story! It is great to see a building like that brought back to life after being in such a sad state, Sharon!

Lois said...

It is nice to see beautiful old buildings like this restored. I'm looking forward to seeing inside.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Oh my gosh! Thank heavens it's in use again Sharon, you just know I love this building and I can't wait to see inside! There's something so special about Art Deco 😍

Judy Ryer said...

So glad that this lovely building was saved!

William Kendall said...

Good that it has been restored.

Bill said...

Another building saved from ruin. What a wonderful looking building and wonderful story to go with it.

Lowell said...

That is truly a magnificent building. I hope Hilton can make it work...I've stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn one time and it was an excellent experience. So...

Nice shots, Sharon!

Silver in AZ said...

that is fantastic, and yay for Hilton!!