Warren McArthur Jr.
and brother
Charles McArthur along with
John McEntee Bowman, the entrepreneur behind the
Biltmore Hotel chain, opened the Arizona
Biltmore Hotel on
February 23,
1929.
The Arizona Biltmore's
architect of record is
Albert Chase McArthur, yet its authorship is
often mistakenly attributed to
Frank Lloyd Wright, owing to Wright's on-site
consulting for four months in 1928 relating to the
masonry unit "Textile Block" construction. Some
visitors say the hotel has the look and feel of a
Wright building, especially in the main lobby,
likely owing to a strong imprint of the unit block
design that Wright had utilized on four residential
buildings in the Los Angeles area some 6 years
earlier. McArthur is indisputably the architect as
original linen drawings of the hotel in the Arizona
State University Library archives attest, as does
the 1929 feature article in Architectural Record
magazine. The two architects are a study in contrast
with the famous and outspoken Wright being self
taught and never licensed as an architect in
Arizona. The more soft spoken McArthur was Harvard
trained in architecture, mathematics, engineering,
and music. McArthur obtained an architect's license
in Arizona, number 338, in 1925, the year he arrived
in Phoenix to begin his practice.
Adding to the
confusion, in recent years, FLW influences have been
added to the property such as a stained glass window
design entitled "Sahuaros" that Wright had designed
as a magazine cover for Liberty Magazine in 1926 and
was fabricated by Taliesin students and installed
during the 1973 hotel renovations and restoration.
Reproductions of the geometric 'sprite' statues
originally designed by sculptor
Alfonzo Ianelli for Wright's 1915
Midway Gardens project in Chicago [demolished in
1929] are placed around the property. Also, the
original hotel solarium of 1929 was converted to a
restaurant in 1973 and since the mid-1990's has been
named 'Wright's'.
Authorship of the
hotel's design is not a new dispute. Wright has
variously condemned McArthur's use of the block
system [Wright wanted square blocks as opposed to
McArthur's mathematically proportioned rectangle
block that was used] and publicly claimed credit for
the building's design. Wright issued a
carefully-worded letter in 1930 that was published
in The Architectural Record (quoted in
Brendan Gill's "Many Masks"):
All I have done
in connection with the building of the Arizona
Biltmore, near Phoenix, I have done for Albert
McArthur himself at his sole request, and for none
other. Albert McArthur is the architect of that
building -- all attempts to take the credit for that
performance from him are gratuitous and beside the
mark. But for him, Phoenix would have had nothing
like the Biltmore, and it is my hope that he may be
enabled to give Phoenix many more beautiful
buildings as I believe him entirely capable of
doing.
In
1930, the McArthurs lost control of the property
to one of their primary investors,
William Wrigley Jr., who became full owner. In
1940, the Catalina pool and the Cowboy
Bunkhouse areas opened; these would become
favorite areas of
Hollywood celebrities.
Marilyn Monroe was seen around the pool area,
and
Martha Raye was photographed playing chess on a
large chessboard around the Cowboy house.
In
1962, the hotel's first air conditioners were
put into service, and in
1969, their grand ballroom, designed by Flatow,
Moore & Bryan Architects, was inaugurated.
In
1970, the Wrigley family sold the hotel to the
Talley family.
1973 almost spelled doom for the hotel; a large
fire erupted on
June 21, destroying interiors of large parts of
the 3rd and 4th floors and tremendous water damage
on the 2nd and ground floors. It was announced
immediately by the new owners that this famed hotel
would be rebuilt in 90 days and opened on schedule
for its regular winter season the last week of
September, 1973. The prompt re-building, including
new custom designed carpets throughout the hotel,
new furniture for guest rooms and public areas, new
restaurant kitchen equipment, and wonderfully
renovated public interiors throughout the hotel is
now legendary in Phoenix construction history. Three
separate crews were employed around the clock. In
the wee hours before opening day, the final carpets
were laid and a miraculous deadline had been met by
a great partnership of the owner, Talley Industries,
the general contractor, J.R. Porter Construction
Co., and the architect, Taliesin Associated
Architects.
In
1979, the hotel was taken over by the
Rostland Corporation. In
1983, it became a
Leper DBL Biltmore Association property, and in
1992 it was re-sold, to the
Grossman Properties. A spa was opened in
1998.
In December,2000
Boca Resorts, Inc sold the hotel for $335 Million to
KSL Recreation, Inc. KSL retained the hotel
until April of
2004, when it was sold to the Orlando, FL based
REIT,
CNL Hotels & Resorts as part of the corporate
acquisition of six of KSL's seven resort assets. CNL
continues to own the storied landmark and Hilton
operates it as a member of the Waldorf=Astoria
Collection.
In
2004, while doing a campaign stop in
Arizona,
United States president
George W. Bush slept there, under strict
security measures. Over 200 policemen,
Secret Service agents and bomb sniffing
dogs were at hand
Street and Camelback Road.
Noted for its distinct architecture and luxurious
amenities, the Arizona Biltmore has long been among
the most luxurious in the Phoenix region and
recently joined the
Hilton Hotels' luxury collection,
The Waldorf-Astoria Collection.
Desert Showcase
