Douglas Historic District

	Douglas Historic District
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Airdome Theatre (aka Leggett Building), 2013
Location	Douglas, Arizona
Coordinates	31°20′43″N109°33′13″W / 31.34528°N 109.55361°W
NRHP reference No.	85000146
Added to NRHP	January 13, 1985

Last updated January 25, 2024

The Douglas Historic District includes the commercial area of Douglas, Arizona, a mining company town established in 1901. The dates of the buildings' construction range from 1901 to 1935. The district is bordered on the south by the buildings on G and H Avenues between 15th and 8th Street, and lie only eight blocks from the United States - Mexico border.^[2] The District includes architectural styles ranging from Queen Anne to Bungalow to Period Revival. One of the most interesting features is Church Square, which contains four churches in a single block. In 1930 the square was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not, as the only block in the world which contained four churches: Grace Methodist (built 1902), St. Stephen's Episcopal (built 1903), First Baptist (built 1904), and First Presbyterian (built 1907).^[3]^[4]

Description of the district

The majority of the buildings in the district are one or two story, rectangular, commercial blocks. The Spanish Colonial Revival Gadsden Hotel, the Art Deco Airdome Theatre, the Bakery Building, the Neo-Classic Revival Post Office, and the Grand Theatre stand out as major architectural resources. The Gadsden Hotel and Grand Theatre are both individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Most buildings are either solid masonry or brick veneer, while others are adobe, reinforced concrete, or cast stone (rusticated concrete block). Several structures display elaborate terra cotta stone or brick ornamentation; others exhibit pressed metal ornamentation. Luxfer Prisms are utilized for transom lighting on some buildings, whereas newer 1930s and 1940s structures use glass block to a great extent.^[5]

Interspersed among the major buildings are one and two story buildings incorporating several construction techniques and exhibiting a variety of ornamental materials. The smaller and older buildings of the district, particularly the early hotels, are of adobe construction. The Samson Hotel is the district's prime example of an early adobe hotel. Solid brick, or brick veneer, over a reinforced concrete or concrete block interior wall is the most common mode of construction in the district. Terra cotta is used on several commercial buildings, particularly on the east side of the 1100 block of G Avenue. Another material common in Douglas' residential areas, but rather uncommon in the District, is rusticated concrete block, or cast stone. The Watts Hotel (D-3), the Southwestern Hotel (D-4), the Kline Block (D-33), and the Irene Building (D-34b) are the most noteworthy examples of cast stone construction in the district.^[5]

Typically, Douglas's commercial district grew with little thought of compatible land uses or visual cohesiveness, but the resulting streetscape displays an overall visual continuity. In general, smaller structures are found in the south end of the district, the 800 and 900 blocks, and in the northern portion of the linear district, the 1200, 1300, and 1400 blocks of G Avenue. The center of the district is the 1100 block dominated by the Gadsden Hotel and the Grand Theatre, which are the major visual elements of the streetscape along G Avenue. Other key structures throughout the district range widely in size, age, and design. Buildings such as the Art Deco style Bakery Building (D-58), the Neo-Classic style Brophy Building, designed by architects Trost and Trost, the Masonic Temple, Marlin's Saddle Shop, the Hotel Douglas-Arizona Club, and the Irene Building are the major commercial structures which illustrate Douglas's historical development as well as its architectural evolution during the district's significant growth period from 1910 through 1935.^[5]

Complementing these significant buildings are numerous contributing structures, lesser in size, significance, and detail, yet still essential to the overall impact and appearance of the district. These brick, stucco, or frame buildings retain most of their original architectural characteristics with few modifications, and possess enough integrity to contribute to the overall character of the district. Of particular note throughout the district is the comparatively substantial use of sculpted terra cotta for facade ornamentation. The Grand Theatre is the dominant example due to its terra cotta facade. The 1917 date of the Grand Theatre predates the widespread use of terra cotta in the Southwest. There is also extensive terra cotta on the Airdome Theatre, designed by Trost and Trost and built circa 1925, and on the Neo-Classic style storefront of the Bank of Commerce Building at 1119 G Avenue.^[5]

Isolated throughout the district are structures which date from the historic period but which have been extensively modified or covered by contemporary sheathing. In many instances, facade restoration appears feasible, but the buildings are still considered non-contributing. The Phelps Dodge Mercantile, built in 1902-1903 and one of Douglas's most historically and architecturally significant buildings, has been encased in a modern shell; however, the interior remains largely intact, complete with pressed tin ceilings, stained wood wainscoting and balustrades, and highly polished wooden floors. Leaded and stained glass transom windows remain above the storefront entrances.^[5]

Contributing properties

Below is a table of the structures which contribute to the significance of the district.^[6]

Number	Name	Address	Construction/Modification date
1	Sociedad Mutualista de Obrera	406 8th Street	1904-9
2	Douglas Lumber Company	450 8th Street	c. 1926
3	Watts Hotel	516 8th Street	1906
4	Southwestern Hotel	401 9th Street	1904-9
8	Unknown	425 9th Street	1901-4
9	Owl Drug Company	525 10th Street	1901-4
13	Airdome Theatre (aka Leggett Building)	555-559 10th Street	c. 1925
14	Douglas Post Office	601 10th Street	1915
15	Douglas Municipal Water Department	340 llth Street	1912
16	Odd Fellows Hall	520 llth Street	1904-9
17	Unknown	529 llth Street	1909-14
18	Douglas Daily Dispatch Building	530-535 llth Street	1901-4
19	City Loan Building	531 llth Street	1909-14/1930s
20	Vermont Hotel	536 llth Street	1914-18
21	Unknown	416 12th Street	c. 1930
22	Purity Ice Cream Company	420 12th Street	1904-9
23	International Commission Company	430 12th Street	1918-20
24	International Steam Laundry	433 12th Street	1905
25	Buxton Smith Company	434 13th Street	1914-18
26	Cochise Overland Auto	936 F Avenue	1914-18
28	Unknown	809 G Avenue	1904-9
29	Newport Hotel/Douglas Hotel	802-806 G Avenue	1904-9
30	Unknown	812 G Avenue	1904-9
33	Kline Block	833 G Avenue	c. 1904
34-a	Douglas Furniture and Outfitting	818 G Avenue	1904-9
34-b	Irene Building	834 G Avenue	c. 1904-5
35	Unknown	836 G Avenue	1901-9
36	Post Office Block	842-844 G Avenue	1901-4
37-b	Unknown	919 G Avenue	1904-9
39	Unknown	919 G Avenue	c. 1925
40	Unknown	922 G Avenue	1920s
41	Unknown	924 G Avenue	c. 1904/1930s
42	Masonic Lodge	925-931 G Avenue	1907
43	Unknown	930 G Avenue	1905
49	Unknown	1009 G Avenue	1904-9
52	Brophy Building	1033-1055 G Avenue	1906-7
53	Hotel Gadsden	1046 G Avenue	1929
55	Unknown	1106-1110 G Avenue	1901-4
57	Hotel Hadden	1109-1113 G Avenue	c. 1906
58	Unknown	1116 G Avenue	c. 1930
59	Unknown	1119 G Avenue	c. 1920
61	Bank of Commerce	1129 G Avenue	c. 1920
63	Unknown	1133 G Avenue	1915-29
64	Grand Theatre	1145 G Avenue	1919
65	Southern Arizona Auto Company	1200 G Avenue	c. 1925
66	Winton Hotel	1201 G Avenue	c. 1919
68	Unknown	1225 G Avenue	1909-14/1930s
70	Unknown	1237 G Avenue	1909-14
72	Reay Transfer	1320 G Avenue	1914-18
75	Copper Cities Motor Company	1341 G Avenue	c. 1926
76	Samson Hotel	1401 G Avenue	1901-4
77-a,b	Avenue Hotel	1415 G Avenue	1904-9
79	Arizona Edison Company Ice House	12th Street & Pan American Ave	1914-29

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peoples Savings Bank</span> United States historic place

The Peoples Savings Bank in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was designed by Louis Sullivan. It was the second of a number of small "jewel box" banks in midwest towns designed by Sullivan during 1907 to 1919. It was built in 1911, and it was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 2014 it was included as a contributing property in the West Side Third Avenue SW Commercial Historic District.

The Van Allen Building, also known as Van Allen and Company Department Store, is a historic commercial building at Fifth Avenue and South Second Street in Clinton, Iowa. The four-story building was designed by Louis Sullivan and commissioned by John Delbert Van Allen. Constructed 1912–1914 as a department store, it now has upper floor apartments with ground floor commercial space. The exterior has brick spandrels and piers over the structural steel skeletal frame. Terra cotta is used for horizontal accent banding and for three slender, vertical applied mullion medallions on the front facade running through three stories, from ornate corbels at the second-floor level to huge outbursts of vivid green terra cotta foliage in the attic. There is a very slight cornice. Black marble facing is used around the glass show windows on the first floor. The walls are made of long thin bricks in a burnt gray color with a tinge of purple. Above the ground floor all the windows are framed by a light gray terra cotta. The tile panels in Dutch blue and white pay tribute to Mr. Van Allen's Dutch heritage of which he was quite proud.. The Van Allen Building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 for its architecture.

The Audrain Building is an architecturally significant commercial building located at 222 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. It is situated adjacent to the Newport Casino and is a contributing property to the Bellevue Avenue/Casino Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dermon Building</span> United States historic place

The Dermon Building is a historic building in Memphis, Tennessee, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was constructed in 1925 by Dave Dermon at a cost of around $800,000. From the time it was constructed, until 1983, it was the home of Dave Dermon Company, and Dave Dermon Insurance. 'Papa' sold the building in the 1930s, and although it has changed hands many times, it is still known as the Dermon Building today.

The Alamo Plaza Historic District is an historic district of downtown San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It includes the Alamo, which is a separately listed Registered Historic Place and a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings</span> Historic commercial buildings in Michigan, United States

The Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings, also known as the Monroe Block, is a historic district located along a block-and-a-half stretch at 16-118 Monroe Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, just off Woodward Avenue at the northern end of Campus Martius. The district was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The thirteen original buildings were built between 1852 and 1911 and ranged from two to five stories in height. The National Theatre, built in 1911, is the oldest surviving theatre in Detroit, a part of the city's original theatre district of the late 19th century, and the sole surviving structure from the original Monroe Avenue Commercial Buildings historic period.

The Federal Office Building, Seattle, Washington is a historic federal office building located at Seattle in King County, Washington.

The U.S. Forest Service Building is a historic building within the Ogden Central Bench Historic District in Ogden, Utah, United States, owned by the United States federal government. Located at 507 25th Street, it is listed as a Historic Federal Building, and was constructed during the years 1933–1934. Its primary task was to provide offices for the U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region, the Experimental Station, and the Supply Depot. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

The Highland Park Historic Business District at Euclid and Sixth Avenues is located in the north-central section of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It is located on the border of the Oak Park and Highland Park neighborhoods. The commercial historic district has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1998. The Highland Park neighborhood also includes the College Corner Commercial Historic Business District.

The Wibaux Commercial Historic District is a site on the National Register of Historic Places located in Wibaux, Montana. It was added to the Register on December 28, 1989. It then included 12 contributing buildings.

Hotel Indigo Atlanta Midtown is a historic building in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Designed by Atlanta-based architectural firm Pringle and Smith in 1925, the brick building is located on Peachtree Street, across from the Fox Theatre. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2006, and, in 2022, is a member of Historic Hotels of America.

The Maricopa County Courthouse and Old Phoenix City Hall, also known as the County-City Administration Building, is a historic structure in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. The structure consists of two buildings in a conjoined layout sharing the same architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Center Commercial Historic District</span> Historic district in Michigan, United States

The New Center Commercial Historic District is a commercial historic district located on Woodward Avenue between Baltimore Street and Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

The Holland Downtown Historic District is a commercial historic district located along Eighth Street from just east of College Avenue to River Avenue, and along and River Avenue from Ninth Street to just north of Eighth Street in Holland, Michigan. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

The Hotel Magma, is a historic hotel located at 100-130 Main Street between North Magma Avenue and Magma Alley in Superior, Arizona. The hotel's initial structure is a two-store reinforced concrete building at 100 Main Street. An adobe addition was built in 1916 but collapsed in 2007. In 1923 a brick addition, labelled "Macpherson's Hotel Magma" was constructed by John Davey at 130 Main Street. All three structures were designed in the Mission Revival style

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisbee Historic District</span> United States historic place

The Bisbee Historic District is a historic district located in Bisbee, Arizona, and has all the essential features of a prosperous, early twentieth century mining town. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The district has 80 contributing buildings, with various architectural styles including Colonial Revival, Mission Revival/Spanish Revival, and Italianate architecture.

The Douglas Sonoran Historic District, called the Sonoran District, is an historic district located in Douglas, Arizona. It is southwest of the business district, its rough boundaries are H Avenue on the west, from 6th to 9th Street, consisting of contiguous flush-fronted, single story, Sonoran tradition row buildings built between 1901 and 1935. The majority of the buildings were constructed using local gypsum-cast stone. This is the largest number of cast-stone buildings in the state. The District includes twenty-one buildings, of which seventeen are contributing structures.

The Los Gatos Historic Commercial District of Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, California is a designated U.S. Historic District area of the city. The commercial district comprises a collection of commercial buildings that is bounded by both sides of West Main Street, North Santa Cruz Avenue, and University Avenue. These streets form an F-plan layout extending westward from the Main Street bridge situated in the southwestern region of the town of Los Gatos. The district covers the town's original commercial intersection and includes a substantial segment of its 19th-century commercial center. Within this area lies the sole surviving cluster of historic commercial buildings, reasonably well-preserved. The architectural styles within the district span from the Queen Anne style architecture and Richardsonian Romanesque, representing a broad spectrum of design trends, including Art Deco. The Los Gatos Historic Commercial District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1991. Today, the historic commercial district remains a commercial hub and plays a role in local tourism.

References

↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
↑ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form". National Park Service. January 4, 1985. p. 1-2. Archived from the original on March 24, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
↑ "Arizonans Register 31 Sites Since April 1986". Arizona Republic . May 10, 1987. p. 185. Retrieved August 22, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
↑ "Glory Days of Douglas' Past Carry a Coppery Glow". Arizona Republic . June 3, 1992. p. 42. Retrieved October 22, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
1 2 3 4 5 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form". nps.gov. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
↑ This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form". nps.gov. pp. 5–6. Retrieved October 22, 2022.

External links

Media related to Douglas Historic District at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

[NPS-2] "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form". National Park Service. January 4, 1985. p. 1-2. Archived from the original on March 24, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.

[3] "Arizonans Register 31 Sites Since April 1986". Arizona Republic . May 10, 1987. p. 185. Retrieved August 22, 2022– via Newspapers.com.

[4] "Glory Days of Douglas' Past Carry a Coppery Glow". Arizona Republic . June 3, 1992. p. 42. Retrieved October 22, 2022– via Newspapers.com.

[NPS2-3-5] 1 2 3 4 5 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form". nps.gov. Retrieved October 22, 2022.

[6] This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form". nps.gov. pp. 5–6. Retrieved October 22, 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]