The following verbiage is taken from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form to describe its significance:
The significance of the Arizona Inn is best understood in relation to three historic contexts: the development of tourism in Tucson during the late 1920's and early 1930's, the Spanish Colonial revival architectural style in Tucson from 1928 to 1938, and the
political career of Mrs. Greenway during the 1930's.
The Development of Tourism in Tucson During the Late 1920's and Earlv 1930's
Organized boosterism began in Tucson during 1896 when the Chamber of Commerce was first established. Development was slow at first because the civic boosters were initially occupied with concerns of a local nature. After a time, the Chamber started to take a broader view of the economic importance of luring visitors and settlers to Tucson.
This shift was part of a statewide trend that emphasized a growing importance of tourism to Arizona.
Beginning in the 1920's, an association of merchants and hotel keepers calling themselves "The Sunshine Climate Club" had been actively promoting tourism to Tucson with advertisements in eastern magazines and national journals. Records kept by the group show that during the 1929-30 winter season there were 9,566 inquiries and 1,149 persons who actually arrived. At that time there were only two large modern downtown hotels: the Mission style Santa Rita built in 1904 and the Pioneer Hotel built of brick with a renaissance facade.
The growth of tourism in Tucson during the first three decades of the twentieth century is attributable to both the expansion of regional railroad facilities and the growing usage of the automobile. Contributing to this boom was the Southwest's reputation as an international mecca for health seekers. In 1928, 390,000 automobiles from other states visited Arizona, and in 1929 visitors accounted for $30 million in business.
Despite the earlier construction of hotels in the downtown area, the continued tourist growth generated the need for additional hotel accommodations in the 1920's. The lack of hotel space and the improvements of the 1920's are well expressed in an excerpt from the November 1929 issue of Tucson Magazine: Many visitors have been handicapped by not having adequate hotel accommodations which has caused them to cut short their stay. Hundreds of others have been advised not to come here in the peak of the tourist season because of the lack of rooms. Conventions which have considered meeting in Tucson have met elsewhere.
In 1929 the El Conquistador Resort Hotel opened southeast of town on Broadway with a large hotel building surrounded by small bungalows on 120 acres of ground. It was of brick faced with terra-cotta and stucco. The roof was covered with red clay tiles. The decor was Spanish Renaissance, using colors of red, green, and yellow. It was large and imposing, but unfortunately was neither comfortable nor popular. It had been financed by local business people and was later sold to the United Hotels of America chain which owned the Ben Franklin in Philadelphia and the Roosevelt in New York. It was never successful and was demolished in 1968.
The construction of hotels was a direct result of local business interests to capitalize on the tourist revenue. In all, the city added approximately 550 hotel rooms from early 1928 to late 1929. This brought the total number of rooms in the city to approximately
1,342. This period of intense hotel development coincided with the most significant portion of an eighty percent increase in Tucson's population that occurred from 1920 to 1930.
As a member of the business community, Mrs. Greenway saw the pressing economic need to promote tourism. As a person concerned with aesthetics, Mrs. Greenway envisioned a different kind of hotel that would give a limited number of guests "privacy, quiet, and sunshine." Her property across from Leighton Kramer's Santa Catalina Ranch where the "Fiesta de los Vaqueros" was held was perfect for her plan.
Financed with her own money at the start of the depression era, Mrs. Greenway's Arizona Inn was an immediate success with both tourists and Tucson residents who use its facilities for meetings, weddings, charity events, and celebrations of all kinds. In addition to being listed among 34 best hotels in America, it is a well-loved Tucson
landmark. It has always had a policy of not revealing names of guests, but the Library is often the background for television interviews with prominent national newsmakers. Eleanor Roosevelt, Spencer Tracy, Marian Anderson, and John D. Rockefeller are known
to have been guests.
The Spanish Colonial Revival Architectural Style in Tucson from 1928 to 1938
After the arrival of the railroad in Tucson during 1880, building materials were available for Anglo style houses. This brought about the transformation of the typical Sonoran adobe toward a territorial style with porches and gabled roofs. After the turn of the century, the Bungalow style appeared, imported from the east and California. Although the San Diego Exposition of 1915 popularized the Mission Revival style and the Baroque Spanish Colonial Revival style, these influences were slight until the late 1920's and 1930's.
Louis Sullivan had an influence through the work of Henry Trost, who was a prominent Tucson architect during the early portion of his career. Public buildings were being designed in Classic Revival style to emphasize the importance of Tucson as an American city. As the decade of the 1920's dawned, Art Deco and Pueblo Revival were also part of the scene.
However, all of these architectural styles emphasized imported influences. In the 1920's and early 1930's Tucson's civic leaders were concerned with aspects of the city's future growth, and there was a desire to develop an architectural style that would reflect its increasing importance as a southwestern city that could be considered a destination in and of itself. The architectural style selected was the Spanish Colonial Revival, with softer elements of Mediterranean influence. The architectural significance of the Arizona Inn lies in its use of this native style to create buildings that now, more than fifty years later, still seem perfect for their purpose and location.
This style was reminiscent of early Tucson Sonoran style architecture that had evolved into the town houses which were set flush against the front lot line. Patios were located at the rear of the building. Houses were flat roofed with high ceilings. The doors of the front facade were elaborately paneled and often glazed and ornamented with sidelights. The doors were deeply recessed to provide shelter from the sun. The windows were set flush with the two-foot thick exterior walls. Shutters were customarily painted blue and the wood trim at the doors provided the only outside ornamentation. The effect was a
simple horizontal profile. Rough surfaces were softened by adobe plaster. This is the basic model that is represented by the Inn. Combined with this distinctive Tucson architectural style was Mrs. Greenway's concept of a resort hotel that offered privacy and comfort with a sense of the old Southwest.
The buildings at the Inn were designed by Merritt Hudson Starkweather, a noted architect and civic leader. He founded the Arizona chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1938, and in 1968 he was named a fellow of the A.I.A. for his public service. He was primarily known as a designer of schools and other public buildings, although in the 1930's he was the supervising architect for homes in Tucson's El Encanto Estates subdivision. The El Encanto Estates subdivision required that homes were to be built in a Mediterranean, Spanish, or Mexican style with low pitched tile
roofs and heavy walls in light colors and that all designs be approved by the supervisory architect. The El Encanto Estates Historic District was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The landscaping of the Inn grounds shows the influence of the "California School" of landscape architecture in conjunction with Eastern and Midwestern "Country Place Era" design themes. When combined with the Hispanic architecture, the result is to create an
oasis in the desert: lush, cool, and inviting. This walled oasis garden is a feature commonly associated with Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture in Tucson. Impeccable garden maintenance through the years has maintained the important impact of the landscaping on the architectural and historical character of the Inn.