The following is a list of architects with significant historical work in the Phoenix area.

Decades of headlong explosive uncontrolled boom have left the city as one of the largest in the country, with a wonderful and curious set of architectural and cultural resources, from the 1930s, to mid-Century, and into the 1970s.

This is a list of local architects, with a couple of big out-of-towners thrown in, and their major commissions. Provided in the spirit of sharing resources, and in the hope it will illuminate the scope of these local designers' careers and their times. There's a lot more worthy architecture beyond the top twenty-five.

This list has been compiled using sources and documentation from Donna Reiner's research, Walt Lockley's interviews and research, web resources such as the city of Scottsdale and the Phoenix Public Library site, and the AIA Guide to Phoenix published in 1982.

This is an unscientific and incomplete list. Donna and Walt welcome expansions, corrections, and any other feedback.

Al Beadle

(and Alan Dailey). Alfred Newman Beadle V (1927 - 1998), the Phoenix architect and sculptor with the best national reputation. Beadle came to Phoenix after a stint in the Pacific Theater with the Seabees. His long list of commissions include the 1958 White Gates residence (his own, for four years), the Safari Resort in Scottsdale, the 1960 Paradise Gardens subdivision, the 1962 Triad Apartments (Case Study House #28), 1964 Executive Towers, 1964 Beadle Residence, the 1965 Three Fountains, the 1965 Boardwalk Condominiums, the 1965 777 Building (815 East Camelback), the 1966 IBEW Union Hall Local 640, the 1969 First Federal Savings on North Central, the 1971 "Construction Zone" building, the 1972 steel-and-glass and seemingly doomed Mountain Bell building on Third Avenue, a Western Savings branch in Maryvale datng from 1972, the 1982 Desert Pediatrics Medical Building, and the Gruber Residence on Mummy Mountain (final designed residence). For many photographs of Beadle's work see Shawn Augustinak's Beadle Archive.

Welton Becket

(1902 - 1969) Big out of towner. 1955 Park Central Shopping Center, 1963 Saks at Biltmore Fashion Park, 1972 Valley Center (now Chase Tower, with Guirey, Srnka, Arnold and Sprinkle).

Calvin M. Butler

Began work in Phoenix as a designer for the local firm of Lescher & Mahoney in 1947. By 1953, he was self-employed.

E. Logan Campbell

(One source has Logan Elbert Campbell). Credits include 1963 Glass and Garden Church and work on the Phoenix Zoo.

William Cartmell

Former partner with Wendell Rossman. Solo credits include the 2750 W. Camelback branch of Arizona Bank, now Enterprise Leasing Company.

George W. Christensen

Houses mainly. 1967 Spanish Garden Apartments, 3032 North 32nd Street, 1968 Residence at 6131 North 52nd Street. 1974 Rosewall Residence at P.V. Tennis Ranch. 1977 Church of the Holy Spirit, 1978 Horwitch Gallery on Marshall Way in Scottsdale, 1981 Dayspring United Methodist Church, 1982 Casablanca Estates on 66th Street in Scottsdale.

Blaine Drake

One of the original Taliesin apprentices. In private practice mainly houses, like the Dr. French house, but also Unitarian Church, 1959 and 1965 Phoenix Art Museum expansions both w/ Alden Dow, work at Camelback Inn (chapel and other), 1958 Heard Museum expansion, work on downtown Scottsdale shops.

Harold Ekman

(1906 - 1998; also Gilmore and Ekman). For complete history, see John Jacquemart's excellent homeswithahistory.com. Houses, mainly, but also a few commercial buildings. 1939 Gertrude Webster Auditorium at Papago Park, 1950 Medical Building at 2nd Avenue and McKinley (likely razed), and the Phoenix Little Theater Building circa 1959 (now part of the Phoenix Art Museum complex).

Mel Ensign

Melverne Coats Ensign. In the 1960s and 1970s worked for the Fred Harvey Company and AmFac for work in U.S. National Parks. Local credits include the 1947 Ragsdale Mortuary (now Universal Memorial Center; with Harry Herrscher), the 1950 addition to Administration Building at ASU, 1954 Squaw Peak School, an addition to Buckeye Elementary in 1956, 1958 Arcadia High School, and the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Camelback circa 1963.

Robert Evans

Evans came to Arizona in 1923 from Chicago. where he had founded the Evans Manufacturing Co., and worked as an executive engineer for International Harvester. In Arizona, he formed Evans Construction Co. Connections to Jesus Corral. Early work in pueblo style, 1935 Jokake Inn (many interations) and the 1945 Paradise Inn next door (after his divorce from the owner of the Jokake), the Eisendrath House in Tempe, and the original adobe Old Lady of Perpetual Help in Scottsdale.

Bennie M. Gonzales

(Barnaby Montague Gonzales FAIA, 1924 - ) Born in Phoenix and one-time contractor who worked under Blaine Drake and Jack Stewart at Camelback Inn, a veteran of Normandy, Gonzales was one of the first graduates of ASU in 1953 and gained a national reputation for his 1962 Nogales public library, the inventor of the standard paint shade "Navaho White", and as of 2008 retired in Nogales.

See this page for list of commissions.

Kemper and Michael Goodwin

Father and son. Kemper Goodwin was born in Tempe, Arizona on April 28, 1906. He received his architectural training at the University of Southern California and was licensed in Arizona in 1931. After several years working for Valley firms, he established his own practice in Tempe. Over the next thirty years his architectural firm, which expanded to 40 employees, became one of the most successful in the state and designed more than 200 public educational buildings in Arizona. Onetime employer of both Wendell Rossman and Will Bruder, among many others. Joined by his son Michael in 1967, Kemper Goodwin continued to practice architecture until 1975 when he retired. He died December 24, 1997. Goodwin did much ASU work fundamental to the look-and-feel of the university, including the 1939 Tower Center on University expanded in 1961, the 1955 Memorial Union, the 1956 Wilson Hall, the 1959 Life Sciences Center, the Matthews Library expansion, the Bateman Physical Sciences Center in six parts beginning in 1960, a 1961 fraternity on ASU's Greek Row, and the 1967 Mathematics Building. Away from ASU credits include the 1957 and 1967 Salt River Project Administration Building, the 1972 Tempe Municipal Center, 1974 Maricopa County Warehouse, 1976 Arrowhead Elementary School, 1977 Scottsdale Medical Pavilion, 1977 Mercury Mine Elementary School, at least one big Presbyterian church, 1979 Corona Del Sol High School.

H.H. Green

Herbert H. (Bert) Green of Green and Hall, not to be confused with Herbert S. Green of San Antonio. Major civic architect of 1930s Phoenix often working in Spanish Mission style. Credits include at least one 1927 house in the Palmcroft / Encanto district commissioned by Dwight Heard; original 1929 Heard Museum; the 1929 Fairhope School (now Yum Yum Tree Guest House); 1930 Heard Scout Pueblo lodge and campus also for the Heard family; 1931 Valley Bank and Trust Company Building (aka "Professional Building", as local associate architects with Morgan, Walls and Clements from Los Angeles), 1951 Hayden Hall at ASU.

Victor Gruen

Major out-of-towner, inventor of the enclosed shopping mall. Work in Phoenix includes the 1955 Maryvale Master Plan for John F. Long, buildings at the 1958 Maryvale Shopping City, 1966 city planning work in Litchfield Park, and Quebedeaux Chevrolet on Grand, date unknown.

Fred Guiery

(including Guriey and Jones, then Guirey, Srnka, Arnold and Sprinkle). Guirey began his career as a landscape architect for the highway department, rose to FAIA. Milan E. Srnka was a graduate of Western Reserve School of Architecture and worked in Cleveland and Canton O (Jim McPherson's home town) before joining Guirey in 1958; Richard M. Arnold attended Texas Christian University and North Carolina State, then practiced in Raleigh, NC and Santa Fe before moving to Phoenix. Guirey, Srnka, and Arnold formed in early 1960.

Guirey's credits include the 1950 Harmon branch of Phoenix Public Library (much modified), 1951 McClintock Hall at ASU, circa 1960 Superlite Block building, 1961 fraternity on ASU's Greek Row, 1963 Guirey Residence at 300 East Missouri, 1966 remodel of the Christown VNB, 1970 Art and Architecture Building at ASU, 1970 Western Savings in Sun City, 1972 Valley Center (now Chase Tower, as local associate of Welton Becket), 1975 the circular Maricopa County Juvenile Court (extant), 1979 Hartford Corporate Center on Interstate 17, 1982 Ianuzzi Restaurant at 2710 East Camelback.

Ralph Haver, Sr.

(circa 1920 - 1987; including Haver Nunn & Collamer and Haver Nunn & Nelson and Haver Nunn & Jensen) Haver graduated from USC in 1941. He came to Phoenix in 1946 where he worked for 1 ½ years for E.L. Varney. Haver served as a member of the Phoenix Building Code Advisory Board from 1957-1964. His office designed a number of distinct commercial buildings such as the Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park. Haver is particularly remembered for his contemporary tract houses in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Other commissions include 1950 Luke AFB Housing, 1953 Entz White Lumber, 1954 Lou Register Furniture (now Copenhagen), The Feltman Building in Scottsdale circa 1954 (razed, we think), 1956-57 Engineering Complex at ASU, 1959 Social Sciences Building at ASU, 1960 Coronado High School, 1961 former Arizona Bank branch at 4231 East Thomas, a 1961 fraternity on ASU's Greek Row (razed), 1962 Haver Office Building on 1133 East Missouri, 1962 Kaibab Elementary School, 1963 Phoenix Municipal Bldg (w/Varney), 1964 Cine Capri Theater (with Henry G. Greene; razed), 1964 Arizona Bank branch at 6015 North 16th Street, 1967 Paradise Valley Methodist Church, 1969 American Express Complex and its sister 1973 Sentry Center (now CVS/Caremark), 1980 North Phoenix Baptist Church, 1981 Salt River Project Administration Building, 1981 Intel Deer Valley Facility.

Horlbeck & Hickman

Mesa firm with modernist tendencies, Charles Hickman and Earl N. Hornbeck, credited for the Mesa Civic Complex, the modernist VNB branch on Apache Highway circa 1962, second phase of the First United Methodist Church of Mesa 1960, and Mesa Community College (with Kemper Goodwin).

William O. Jette

Graduated from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1957, and responsible for at least one branch bank, a 1972 First National Bank at 5050 North 24th Street.

William D. Knight, Jr.

(1922 - 1992) Texas native and graduate of Texas Tech in Lubbock, Knight spent three or four productive years here, from November 1959 through 1963. He designed the Holy Cross Lutheran in Scottsdale and another west-side Lutheran church, the City Center Motel, and some elementary school design. Later served as architect of Navaho Nation, then moved to Colorado.

Lescher and Mahoney

Leslie Mahoney and Royal Lescher (died 1957). This firm was likely the most prolific on this list, with well over 2000 buildings in just Arizona, long decades of practice, a productive relationship with government, and at least 29 on the National Register of Historic Places. Lescher was #5 on the Arizona Board of Technical Registration (he helped found the board) and Mahoney was #47. They also did a large number of homes and a couple of subdivisions. The firm was founded by Lescher in 1910 and job #1 was in January 1917 in Beverly Hills. Thereafter the firm morphed into Lescher & Kibbey, then Lescher, Kibbey, and Mahoney, and after John R. Kibbey dropped out around 1920, finally Lescher & Mahoney. Credits include the fabled 1921 Ames Residence (Casa de Suenos) at Ahwatukee Ranch which was razed in 1975, the 1928 City-County Building (city-side interior). 1929 Orpheum Theater, 1930 State Office Building at 1688 West Adams, 1931 Phoenix Title and Trust Building at 114 West Adams, 1935 Phoenix Post Office on North Central, 1936 West Hall at ASU, 1938 B.B. Moeur Activity Building at ASU, 1948 Sciences Building at ASU, 1950 Central Methodist Church in Phoenix, 1956 State Capitol expansion (legislative wings), 1964 Memorial Coliseum (with Place and Place), a 1966 Valley National Bank branch in Morenci, 1971 Blue Cross Blue Shield Building on Indian School (razed), the Phoenix Newspapers Building at 120 East Van Buren circa 1970, the Spanish Colonial-style Palace West Theater.

William Abram Lockard

Projects in Phoenix include the Aldersgate Methodist Church. Not to be confused with architect and author William Kirby Lockard of Tucson.

Patrick J.C. Mather

1969 Mather Residence at 2244 East Colter, 1971 Mt. Bell proposal, a 1974 essay in curvy brick for the Valley National Bank MetroCenter branch.

T.S. Montgomery

1955 Arizona Crafts Center (Craftsman's Court) in Scottsdale, 1961 Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church, a 1961 fraternity on ASU's Greek Row, 1962 Christian Science Church, 1966 Physical Education Building at ASU, and the 1971 Tempe Community Center.

Kenneth Oberg

(and Walsh and Oberg) at least one First National branch at 24th Street, with Joe Gilleland as designer, and the 1969 Payne Hall and Education Hall at ASU.

Ray Parrish

Credits include the 1960 Kachina Theater in Scottsdale, the 1971 Capstone Cathedral (with the involvement of the pastor), the Weirch Residence (published in Life Magazine), Westernaire Shops in Scottsdale (razed).

(1909 - 1985) A big out of towner. Graduated from the University of Illinois in 1930. He first worked for Holabird & Root (Chicago firm) and before going out on his own. He won 22 out of 25 industrial-design competitions in Chicago’s 1933 Exposition. He moved to California in 1938 and became part of the USC faculty following the war. Brother of production designer Hal Pereira. He formed Pereira & Luckman in 1950 (Charles Luckman was his classmate at U of IL). Some of Pereira’s designs include the San Francisco Transamerica Pyramid, the Los Angeles CBS Television Studios, and master plans for Irvine Ranch. Frank Gehry apprenticed with his firm. In Phoenix Pereira designed the Farmers and Stockmens Bank (now Bank of America) by the Stockyards, 1951, and involvement (by some accounts) with the 1959 Rosenzweig Commercial Center.

Place & Place

Lew and Roy, father and son, based in Tucson. Work in Phoenix is rare, includes collaborations at Coliseum and 1956 Arizona State Capitol expansion.

Dean Rendahl

Former SeaBee and longtime non-registrant, according to Doug Sydnor a designer with "a gift for form". One-time employee of Lescher and Mahoney, designer of the original 1956 Valley Ho Resort as employee of Edward Varney, designer of the Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church as employee of Ralph Haver circa 1966. Other credits include Beefeaters Restaurant on Camelback, and the original Phoenix Country Club.

Wendell Rossman

Raised in Switzerland, Dr. Wendell E. Rossman spent a few years in practice in Alberta before coming to Phoenix in 1958. A world-recognized structural engineer holding 17 patents, author of four books, over 200 buildings to his credit, and still active as an architect in 2008, one part of Rossman's career was the creation of thin-shell concrete shells as commerical and civic buildings in the Phoenix area in the 1960s. These include the 1963 Los Arcos Valley National Bank branch, the nearby 1965 Los Arcos Methodist Church (formerly Valley Plaza), three thin-shell Guaranty Bank "satellites" branches circa 1965 (all razed), the 1966 Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law Building aka Armstrong Hall at ASU, the 1967 Manzanita Hall and nearby Palo Verde East and West dorms at ASU (with the bridge over University), 1972 St. Maria Goretti Church, 1972 dome at South Mountain High School, the dome at Springerville, Arizona, the 1972 Walkup Skydome and many other NAU buildings in Flagstaff.

Wenceslaus Sarmiento

(1922 - ) Big out of towner. W.A. Sarmiento was born in Lima, Peru and studied engineering and architecture in Lima. He moved to the United States 1950 because of the unrest in Europe (his first choice) following WWII. In order to be able to practice architecture in the US, it was necessary for him to take courses in an U.S. institution and then take the architecture exam in order to obtain a license. He took architecture classes at Washington University in St. Louis. He subsequently went to work for the Building Bank and Equipment Corporation in St. Louis, MO. The firm, founded in 1917, specialized in designing all aspects of financial institutions. Sarmiento became the lead architect and worked there for ten years before forming his own firm of Sarmiento Architects with offices in St. Louis and San Francisco. Sarmiento led the charge of postwar bank modernization across the country, investing his work with flair and intelligence. Notable financial buildings designed by Sarmiento include the First Security Bank building in Salt Lake City. This 1955 International Style building, using one of the earliest versions of a curtain wall construction, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. The 1959 Glendale (CA) Federal Savings is in a Corporate International Style. Phoenix local work includes the Phoenix Financial Center and Western Savings at MetroCenter.

Charles and Art Schreiber

Charles and Art Schreiber moved from Chicago as already accomplished residential designers in historical styles. After moving to Phoenix, served as architects for the original Sun City with Del Webb, then as architects to Henry J. Kaiser for his Hawaii-Kai development. Many houses across the valley, including some beautiful modernist offerings. Orchard House Condos, also Phoenix Manor House (razed).

Paolo Soleri

(1919 - ) Legendary architect of the Dome House in Cave Creek, circa 1950, the urban laboratory Arcosanti (75 miles north of Phoenix) and his less-well-known longtime residence in Paradise Valley, Cosanti.

Calvin Straub

(1920 - 1998) Serious modernist credentials and strong local connections. Partner of Buff, Straub, and Hensman based in L.A. through 1956-61. Straub graduated from USC with a Bachelor’s in Architecture in 1943. He served in the Navy in Europe during WWII. Following the war, he practiced in California (Buff, Straub and Hensman) and taught at USC.3 He left California to teach at Arizona State University where he was on faculty from 1961-1986. One of his academic expertises was multi- culturalism in architecture. He received the Distinguished Professor by A.C.S.A. and a distinguished alumni award from USC in 1994. His works received more than thirty honors and he was one of the architects for Case Study House #20. 1963 Wiffen Residence at 4703 Exeter Blvd., 1964 Andeen Residence in Paradise Valley (as Straub/Kutch), 1964 Residence at 6835 Pepper Tree (Straub/Kutch), 1972 Western Savings at NE corner of 44th and Camelback, 1974 Village at Camelback complex at 44th and Camelback (as Schoneberger, Straub, Florence & Associates).

Reginald Sydnor

(and his son Doug). Sydnor received his Bachelors in Architecture from the University of Michigan in 1952. He came to Phoenix in 1955, having previously worked in the state of Washington. He joined E.L. Varney, and became a partner in 1963 (Varney Sexton Sydnor Associates). A member of AIA, he started his own firm in 1980 (Sydnor Architects), maintaining that for ten years. He went to California where he practiced for three years before retiring in 1993. Solo credits include the 1974 Residence at P.V. Tennis Ranch.

Taliesin Associates

Taliesin work post-1959 includes completion of some projects underway during Wright's death (the Gammage Auditorium and the Lykes House, for instance), completion of FLW's designs in modified form, and some original Wright-inspired design. Leading architects at Taliesin Associates include Wes Peters, John Rattenbury, and Charles Montooth. Former apprentices with significant local work include Blaine Drake, Paolo Soleri, and Vern Swaback. Credits include a 1961 fraternity on ASU's Greek Row, 1964 Ascension Lutheran Church, circa 1970 Taliesin subdivision, 1971 Music Building at ASU, 1974 First Christian Church, 1978 Mesa Convention Center, 1979 Biltmore Expansion.

John Sing Tang

According to City of Phoenix Asian-American Property Survey, Tang was the son of Chinese-American grocer Tang Yik Gin and got his degree at Rice in Houston in 1945, returning to Phoenix to work as draftsman under Lescher and Mahoney. "By 1950, Tang had his own practice and was nationally recognized as a modern home designer," the first Chinese-American to practice in the state. Tang's credits include many residential designs, Central High School in Phoenix, at least three 1952 houses in Tucson's Winterhaven area, one of the 1961 fraternities on ASU's Greek Row, several government buildings, and a restaurant at Central and Osborne (razed) that Tang co-owned.

Edward L. Varney, Jr.

(including Varney Sexton Sydnor). He attended USC before transferring to the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his Bachelor’s in Architecture in 1938. He came to Phoenix that same year and working as a draftsman on the 2nd Arizona Capitol addition for Orville A. Bell. He founded his own firm in 1941, with businesslike determination, having such partners as Charles Gilmore and Reginald Sydnor. He retired in 1986. Credits include: 1950 Monterey Park Grade School, the 1951 Administration A and B Buildings at ASU, a 1953 First National Bank on Grand Avenue, 1954 Paradise Valley Country Club (with Hiram Hudson Benedict), 1956 Motorola Government Electronics Division building, 1956 Valley Ho Resort (with Dean Rendahl as lead designer), 1957 original Sun Devil Stadium, a 1961 fraternity on ASU's Greek Row, 1962 Farmer Education Building at ASU, 1963 Phoenix Municipal Bldg (w/Haver), 1964 First Federal Savings (Washburn Piano) branch (razed), 1964 Glendale Community Church, 1967 Arizona Bank branch in Mesa, 1971 Life Sciences Addition at ASU, 1973 Maricopa County complex expansion, 1974 State Capitol expansion, 1978 Phoenix Memorial Hospital expansion, 1981 Saint Joseph Hospital Expansion.

Weaver & Drover

(including Herman Jacobi, Frank Henry, Willard MacGonigle, and DWL). Founded by Frederick Penn Weaver, Jr. and Richard E. Drover. Weaver graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1936 and associated with the firm of Gilmore and Varney (later Varney & Associates) from 1938-1949 before forming Weaver and Drover in 1950. He was a member of AIA, the advisory board of the city of Phoenix building code (1954-1955), the Phoenix Planning and Zoning Commission (vice-chair in 1959),and the Phoenix Citizens Growth Committee in 1956.7 Drover graduated from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1939 with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. Awarded the Plym Fellowship, he traveled in Mexico studying Aztec and Mayan architecture in 1942/43. After serving in the Navy during WWII, he worked for Monroe Bowman & Associates and Naes & Murphy in the Chicago area. He came to Phoenix in 1948 and first worked for E.L. Varney & Associates where he met Fred Weaver with whom he formed the firm of Weaver & Drover in 1950. Following Weaver’s death in 1968, the firm became Drover, Welch & Lindlan Architects, now known as DWL. In a 1975 article, Drover stated, “’I’ve never used stylized architecture because even though it may look good today it will stick out like a sore thumb when the styles change.’” In the same article he also mentioned that “’with the proper materials using a clean, uncluttered design, a building can look up-to-date throughout its life.’” Work for Valley National Bank includes about 40 VNB branches including the 1958 "territorial" branch at Indian School and Scottsdale Road, the 1968 Mushroom Bank, the Indian Center branch at Indian School and Third Avenue, and the razed "Golden Dome" branch in Tempe. Other major work include 1957-58 Palo Verde Dorms at ASU, Terminals 2 (1962) and 3 and 4 at Sky Harbor Airport, 1960 St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 1964 Arizona Title Building, Arizona State Hospital chapel, 1966 Madison Street Church, 1967 Hayden Library and Cady Mall at ASU, 1973 Desert Samaritan Hospital, 1974 Salt River Project Administration Building, 1976 Wells Fargo stadium at ASU, 1978 Orangutan Exhibit at the Zoo, co-design of Burton Barr Central Library.

Ralph Wyatt

Moved to Phoenix c. 1954 working for Weaver & Drover from c. 1956-1957. He later formed the firm of Wyatt & Reece. Credits include Western Savings ("Soviet Savings") at 20th and Camelback.

Paul Christian Yeager

The 1955 Harry Nace House on Country Club Drive, and the Barry Goldwater "Be-nun-i-kin" house around Lincoln and 40th Drive, 1957.

Unknown

A handful of significant or interesting buildings have (so far) escaped a good attribution. If you have any information on these, please drop us a line!

The Miami-Beachish Cascades Apartments circa 1965.

The "Sir Speedy" branch bank, Scottsdale, suspected Western Savings, circa 1968.

Arcadia Green, circa 1970. Bennie Gonzalez wouldn't be a bad guess.

The well-designed and curiously-themed Maya Condominiums, Scottsdale, circa 1970.