Home > Arizona > Phoenix > Stroud Building, 31-33 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ
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Item Title
Stroud Building, 31-33 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ
Location31-33 North Central Avenue,
Phoenix, AZ
Find maps of Phoenix, AZ
Created/Published
Documentation compiled after 1933.
Notes
Survey number HABS AZ-147
Unprocessed field note material exists for this structure (FN-36).
Building/structure dates:
1901 initial construction
Significance: The Stroud Building, constructed in 1900 and 1901, typifies the Queen Anne-style commercial buildings built at the turn of the century. It is one of the last buildings constructed in the style in Phoenix and at the time of documentation was among the few remaining Queen Anne-style commercial buildings in the city. The property was developed by Colonel Harrison E. Stroud, a Phoenix physician and developer.
Related Names
Stroud, Col. Harrison E.
Collection
Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)
Contents
Photograph caption(s):
1. View toward the southwest corner of the building after the 1950s-applied facade was removed. Remnants of this facade still remain above the parapet. Credit GADA/MRM.
2. View of the west side of the building after the 1950s-applied facade was removed. Credit GADA/MRM.
3. View toward the southeast corner of the building showing the south (alley) side on the left and the east (suballey) side on the right. The second story contained 'furnished rooms.' Credit GADA/MRM.
4. Detail of the south side of the building showing the decorative-brick cornice, typical double-hung window, and chimneys. Credit GADA/MRM.
5. Detail of Moorish arch. The ends of the 'horseshoe' have been removed. Credit GADA/MRM.
6. Detail of the west side showing the original brick detailing. The Roman bricks in the first story were installed in the 1950s. The heavy wood mullions are original and support a wood beam that carries the second-story brick facade. Remnants of the 1950s facade still remain above the parapet. Credit GADA/MRM.
7. View (looking west) of the second floor corridor in the south segment of building. The second floor was designed for residential rental rooms. The guardrail, balusters, newel posts, and handrail, as well as the two upper-level door openings with transoms, are original features. The doors, proper, are nonoriginal and probably were installed when the second floor was converted to office use. The pair of doors (one leaf is open and one is closed) is located at the intermediate stair landing. The original exterior doorway (without a door) is located at the bottom of the stair. The upper-level door without a transom is nonoriginal, as are the floor tile and wall paneling. At the time of documentation a suspended ceiling and duct were removed to ...
8. Several of the rental rooms are joined by doors, and each room is accessed from the corridor. Originally, the transoms were glazed. When a central heating/cooling system was installed, the transoms were modified to accommodate air grilles that are supplied by a duct located in the corridor. The five-panel door and wood wainscot are original features. However, the wainscot does not occur in every room. The lath and plaster partitions and the wood flooring are typical of the original construction. Credit GADA/MRM.
9. Typical 'furnished rooms' overlook the Washington Street alley. Each has two double-hung windows that are fitted with roller-shade brackets. The plaster was formulated with lime and is heavily laden with animal hair. Each room is provided with a stove-pipe connection. Credit GADA/MRM.
10. View (looking west) of the ground floor in the south segment of the building. The door opening is on the Central Avenue sidewalk. The ground floor had two noteworthy pressed-steel ceilings, an elaborate one in the larger west room and a plain one in the smaller 'back room.' Most of the elaborate ceiling panels were removed when a suspended ceiling (here removed) was installed. The plain ceiling is still in-tact above the suspended ceiling. Credit GADA/MRM.
11. An abandoned electrical system was found under the pressed-steel ceiling. For some undetermined reason the pattern of the ceiling panels has 'photographed' onto the cardboard substrate. Two different panel designs were utilized in a checkerboard pattern. One panel of each design remains in place. Credit GADA/MRM.
12. Examples of the elaborate and plain pressed-steel ceiling panels, here removed to the exterior of the building for photographing. A segment of the cornice has been placed above the larger panel. The panel on the left is comprised of four square components; the panel on the right is a single piece. Credit GADA/MRM.
13. The south segment of the building has a stone basement. The alley wall had a number of areaway windows that are now infilled with bricks. These areaways were subsequently filled with earth, probably when the alley was paved. Here the first-floor joists are seen with a make-shift support beam and column. The basement floor originally was part earth and part wood. Some of the earth floor is now covered with a concrete slab; the wood floor remains. Credit GADA/MRM.
14. View toward the northwest corner of the basement in the north segment of the building. Portions of the basement floor are earth, and portions are concrete. For some undetermined reason an unbonded, narrow panel of brick occurs in the west (left) wall. A corbeled brick footing is seen under this panel, as if the panel is carrying a concentrated load. An identical element occurs to the left, outside the camera's view. These 'columns' may support the second-story brick facade over the ground floor store windows. Credit GADA/MRM.
15. The second story in the north segment of the building was originally constructed as a restaurant. The north wall of the dining room retains the original wood wainscot and double-hung windows. At some undetermined time, a building was constructed on the adjacent property; blocking the windows in the dining room. Several chimneys with stove-pipe connections occur in the room. The members seen on the floor are part of a system recently installed to support the failing roof. Credit GADA/MRM.
16. Detail of original wainscot in the dining room. The wainscot panels are flat (not beveled) and are painted along the edge to simulate a raised (beveled) panel. Credit GADA/MRM.
17. The south wall of the dining room has an original wood wainscot similar to the one present on the north wall. However, in lieu of windows it appears to have been constructed with mirrors, which are no longer in place. The electrical boxes are nonoriginal elements. Simulated panel bevels are readily apparent in this view. Credit GADA/MRM.
18. The west end of the dining room contains four windows that overlook Central Avenue. As other millwork in the restaurant, these windows were originally finished with stain and varnish. Transoms retain their original operators. Credit GADA/MRM.
19. At its east end, the dining room is separated from the kitchen by a service room. On the south side of this room is an entrance to a rest room (left) and a dumb waiter (right). A large hoisting pulley is seen at the top of the shaft. Most of the apparatus is missing, but that which remains appears to be of a manual (non-electric) Type. An original lighting fixture, the only one encountered in the building, is seen near the center of the view. The service entrance into the dining room is located at the far right; the door into the kitchen is at the far left (almost in the margin of the photograph). Credit GADA/MRM.
20. This adobe building, housing the Phoenix Herald in 1879, stood on the site later occupied by the Stroud Building. The Salt River Herald, Phoenix's first newspaper, was founded in 1878; in 1879, it became the Phoenix Herald. Prior to 1879, the adobe building served as the office for a stagecoach line operating between Maricopa and Prescott via Phoenix. Credit PPL.
21. Dr. Harrison E. Stroud poses in front of his newly completed building at the northeast corner of Central Avenue and the alley north of Washington Street in about 1900 or 1901. In 1901, the building seen here was enlarged by the construction of an addition of similar design immediately to the north (left). Virtually the entire west elevation of the initial building is depicted in this view. Credit ADLAPR.
22. View looking north on Central Avenue from Washington Street. The Stroud Building (with awnings on the second story) is located on the east (right) side of the street near the center of the block. The original Adams Hotel is seen at the right rear of the photograph Circa 1901-1910. Credit ADLAPR.
23. The Stroud Building beard the 'Temme Springs' advertisement. West-facing windows of the entire block are protected from the afternoon sun by awnings. The north-facing windows of the second-story restaurant were later blocked by an adjacent two-story building. Circa 1914. Credit PPL.
24. West elevation of the Stroud Building in February 1984. Soon after the photograph was taken, the building was abandoned. The original facade was 'modernized' sometime during the 1950s. Credit GADA.
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