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Historic Downtown Glendale Walking Tour

Download this PDF brochure from the City of Glendale website

Glendale started as a place for farmers in the area to get the goods and services they needed and to ship the fruits, vegetables, and livestock they raised to national markets. First settled in 1892, Glendale attracted farming families with its fertile land, canal-fed water supply, and no alcohol policy. Land developers, led by William J. Murphy, guided the growth of the farming town. With the establishment of a railroad link to Phoenix in 1895, Glendale blossomed into the largest town in the northwest Salt River Valley. Local farms cultivated everything from sugar beets to cotton. Glendale incorporated as a town in 1910. Separated from Phoenix by miles of open space, Glendale developed its own downtown with banks, groceries, theaters, department stores, businesses, and surrounding neighborhoods. Some of Glendale's past remains visible in the historic buildings that are part of this tour.

1. First Methodist Church, 7102 N. 58th Drive
There has been a Methodist Church on this corner since 1897. Members included the contractor J. B. Doner, who built many of Glendale's first buildings including the Guest House at Sahuaro Ranch. The congregation used the original wood frame building until 1920 when they sold and moved it to build a new church. Noted Phoenix architect Lee Mason Fitzhugh (brother of Thornton Fitzhugh, architect for the Glendale Woman's Club) designed this Gothic-style church. Started in 1920, financial and construction problems delayed the completion of the church until 1928. It is the oldest church building in downtown Glendale.

2. V. E. Messinger House, 7141 N. 59th Avenue
Victor E. Messinger was Glendale's first town clerk and helped establish the Glendale library. He recorded the deed to this property in 1892 and had the house built in 1895. It is a locally designed example of the Queen Anne Victorian style. This wood-frame house has a wood- shingled, high-pitched gable roof with cornice moulding. The entry porch has ornamental wood railing typifying the Queen Anne style. The building was adapted to house The Spicery Tea Room (closed for rennovations).

3. C.E. Allen House, 7142 N. 58th Drive
This house is another notable example of the Craftsman Bungalow style in Glendale. Built between 1924 and 1930, this brick house features a wood-shingled, gabled roof with clay tile at the ridge and exposed rafters at the eaves. The recessed entry porch has brick piers and ornamental iron railings. A number of tenants lived here in the 1930s.The house is now home to The Tole Shop.

4. Christian Church Bungalow, 7154 N. 58th Drive
This church is an unusual and large example of the Craftsman bungalow style, which is usually seen in smaller individual houses. Built in 1917, this is the only bungalow church in Arizona. The Christian Church organized in Glendale in 1914 and later hired C. B. Woodruff, an architect from Wilcox, Arizona, to design and build the church. The ventilation openings underneath the main roof gable, the gabled porch with truncated wood posts, and wood railings are typical of bungalow-style residences. Sandy's Dream Dolls recently occupied the building but is now closed.

5. Floyd Holmes Sine House, 7163 N. 58th Drive
Holmes, who went by his middle name, was the first Sine brother of this prominent family to come to Glendale. He began Glendale's first water company and was involved with other Glendale businesses. This large bungalow has a second floor sleeping porch and is a rare local use of variegated brick which is marked with different colors in spots. Its flat roof with deep overhangs is characteristic of the Prairie School style of architecture. The fastidious Mrs. Sine is said to have swept the roof and scrubbed the sidewalk. Maqbool's Boutique now occupies this beautiful home.

6. Harry H. Madison House, 7157 N. 58th Drive
J. D. Howell, a prominent builder in the 1920s, built this house for bakery owner Harry H. Madison. This Craftsman Bungalow is unique in that its front porch, with its truncated posts, appears to have been enclosed from the beginning. Built around 1928, the ornamental touch on the gable ventilator is typical of that period. The bungalow is now home to Heart Strings.

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7. Philip Marshall House, 7153 N. 58th Drive
This 1930s house features a simple bungalow design, influenced by the popularity of the Spanish Eclectic style based on a California prototype. The builders started with a simple brick house but added clay tile roof and carved ends of the rafters. Philip Marshall was co- owner of the Marshall Brothers Barber Shop.

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8. Frank Carden House, 7149 N. 58th Drive
Frank Carden operated a men's clothing store downtown, and he also became a justice of the peace. Built in 1936, this is a ranch version of the Minimal Traditional style. The tongue and groove wood doors with small cast iron poles are original. The repeated scalloped vertical boards at the gable head make this a rather over-decorated version of this simple architectural style. The Raspberry Cottage now occupies the building.

9. Robert W. Cole Building, 7005 N. 58th Avenue
The two-story Cole Building was the first on this block, which expanded Glendale's business district to the east side of Murphy Park. Robert W. Cole purchased three lots to build his general store here and completed it in 1919. In the 1940s, the building housed a popular Sprouse-Reitz 5 & 10 Cent Store. Later owners covered the original red brick façade. More recently this was Larry Glazman's Bootbarn, which attracted customers from as far away as Europe for its popular boots. The building is now home to The Tea Shoppe.

10.Sine Building, 5747 W. Glendale Avenue
Floyd Holmes Sine, member of a prominent early Glendale family and builder of the Sine Brothers Hardware Building on 58th Drive, had this distinctive two-story structure built in 1926. He opened his Glendale Furniture Company in the first floor of this building the same year. The building included a large meeting space on the second floor. Later owners modified the first floor storefront but left the second floor intact. The building was the Glendale Gaslight Inn (currently closed).

11. Gillett Block, 5825 W. Glendale Avenue
This is the oldest building in the downtown Glendale area and the location of Glendale's first bank. Longtime local businessman Charles L. Gillett built and opened the Glendale State Bank in 1909. Originally people entered the building through the now-filled corner wall. The upstairs had meeting and community space, and was used by the International Order of Odd Fellows, a local fraternal lodge. In addition to the bank, the building was the longtime home of Wood's Pharmacy. Today the Picket Fence Antiques store occupies the first floor.

12. First National Bank of Glendale 6838 N. 58th Drive
The First National Bank of Glendale, built in 1918, is the only unchanged commercial building left in downtown Glendale. It is also Glendale's only example of the Beaux-Arts style, a style noted for its stone decorative features influenced by the classical architecture of ancient Greece. Experienced banker C. H. Tinker moved to Glendale in 1912 and organized the Security State Bank in 1916. Two years later he renamed his business the First National Bank of Glendale and moved it into this building. The bank building has changed very little over time and was one of the first restoration projects in the downtown area. It is now the law office of Richard Coffinger.

13. Sine Brothers Hardware Building, 6829 N. 58th Drive
This building is connected to Glendale's longest-running business and is also where Glendale's municipal water system got its start. Brothers Floyd Holmes, Tuck, and Van Sine moved to the Glendale area in 1897. Holmes bought this site in 1910, which had a community well and water tower. He expanded the water system and sold it to the city in 1915. He also built this Mission-style building in 1912 and his brothers opened a hardware store, which stayed in this location until 1991, when the business moved to its current location. The City of Glendale restored the building in 1998 and now uses it for offices.

14. Murphy Park, 58th & Glendale Avenues
Originally known as the town or city park, Murphy Park has always been the center of downtown Glendale and has a special connection to Glendale's founder, W. J. Murphy. Murphy encouraged settlers to the area and he donated the park to Glendale in 1909. Glendale residents closely protected the park, allowing only a public library to be built here (the first in 1917 and the current one in 1971). Motivated by patriotism in 1912, residents installed a 110-foot wooden flagpole in the park. The tallest flagpole in the state stood until 1964 and that same year the Glendale City Council renamed the park for Murphy.