Tempe Historic Property Survey

Survey Number: HPS-440
Name: Valley National Bank
Location: 826 E. Apache Boulevard
Year Built: 1962
Architectural Style: Commercial (Geodesic)


 

As part of a major highway, Apache Boulevard attracted many businesses such as the Valley National Bank.  This modern-style bank building with its distinctive geodesic dome opened in 1962 on the northwest corner of Apache Boulevard and Rural Road and became “a landmark of distinction in Arizona architecture.”

The building is part of a trend in banking after World War II to open banks close to customers and to offer services like drive-up windows.  The building’s design also suggests that the bank is stable, accessible, forward-looking, and Arizona-based (by using local building materials).  Designed by Phoenix-based Weaver and Drover, the bank closed in 1989.  Arizona State University now owns the building (ASU's visitor center was in the building until around the end of July 2006).

Although this building is not fifty years old, it is a unique piece of architecture in Tempe. The geodesic dome roof was a type of structural system advocated by architect, theoretician, and futurist, Buckminster Fuller. This building has a prominent location on the corner of Rural and Apache. This building may be an individually eligible property in the year 2012. The building should be reevaluated at that time for status of integrity.

Sources:

  • Tempe Daily News (advertising supplement), 1962 [Tempe Historical Museum Research Library].
  • Ann Patterson, "Arizona's First Geodisc Dome, Will It Meet The Wrecking Ball?" ASU Prime Times (Arizona State University Retirees Association Newsletter), Spring 2005, 9.
  • "Bank Cedes Land After Pressure, ASU Says Financial Institution Denies Allegation Was Coerced," The Arizona Republic, 5 February 1988, Extra Southeast section.
  • "ASU Mulls New Use for Ex-Bank 'Gold Dome' Acquired from Valley National," The Arizona Republic, 24 August 1989, Southeast community section.
  • "Bank Branch Geared to Students Valley National Office Near ASU Teams Tunes, Color," The Arizona Republic, 3 August 1989, C1.
  • Walt Lockley, "Valley National Bank, Phoenix, Arizona,"  <http://www.waltlockley.com/valleynatlbank/valleynatlbank.htm> [personal site with information about the Valley National Bank's building program in the 1960s] c.2006.
  • NEW LISTING: Walt Lockley, "Valley National Bank, Geodesic Dome Branch, Tempe Arizona," http://www.waltlockley.com/valleynatlbank2/valleynatlbank2.htm, 4 June 2006 [Up-to-date information and comprehensive photographs!]
  • The following repositories also have resources on this building: The Arizona Historical Society Museum in Papago Park, the Arizona Historical Foundation, and the Arizona Collection in the Department of Archives and Special Collections, Hayden Library, Arizona State University.
  • NEW LISTING: Modern Phoenix Neighborhood Network <http://www.modernphoenix.net/vnb/tempedome.htm#action>, July 2006
  • NEW LISTING: Katie Nelson, "Gold Dome at ASU could be demolished for honors college," The Tempe Republic, 13 July 2006, 4.

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