Imperial Schools (Formerly General Motors Testing Laboratory)
Phoenix, AZ
Photos Elgin MacMillan

The Imperial Schools building in Phoenix, AZ was formerly the home of the General Motors Testing Laboratory back in the day. Here is some information on this mid-century era building, which had been originally designed in the streamline moderne style. Many thanks to Elgin MacMillan for info.

Here are a couple of looks at the old Imperial Schools building at 20th and Roosevelt in Phoenix. The big rooftop lettering and long, low building certainly made this place easy to spot. Imperial was actually a school photography company, but the building had already lived a much different life before the cameras and class pictures arrived.

This Streamline Moderne structure was built in 1937 as a General Motors testing laboratory. GM used the Phoenix heat to put automobiles and mechanical parts through their desert paces before moving the operation to a much larger proving ground near Mesa in 1953. The rounded corners and large sections of glass block gave the laboratory a remarkably modern appearance for its day.

Imperial Schools (Formerly General Motors Testing Laboratory)
Phoenix, AZ
Photos Elgin MacMillan

Imperial School Photography later moved in and added the rooftop sign seen in these photos. By the time Elgin MacMillan photographed the place, the windows had been covered and the old laboratory was looking a little tired, but its streamlined profile was still easy to recognize. It is one of those buildings where the sign tells only the latest chapter of a much longer roadside story.

UPDATE: The building survives, although the Imperial Schools rooftop sign has been removed. Plans announced in 2017 proposed restoring the former laboratory for culinary and community uses, but completion of that project could not be confirmed. 08-26

General Motors Testing Laboratory (Closed)
2001 E. Roosevelt in Phoenix Arizona.
Architect: Austin Co., from Cleveland OH
Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan

Here is the former General Motors Testing Laboratory at the corner of 20th and Roosevelt streets in Phoenix. From some angles it looks like a simple concrete industrial building, but take another look. The rounded corner, long horizontal lines and bands of hidden glass block give away its Streamline Moderne beginnings. This place must have looked pretty futuristic when it opened in 1937.

The laboratory was designed by the Austin Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and constructed for General Motors as its first permanent proving ground in the West. Phoenix was an ideal place to find out how automobiles, engines and other mechanical parts would hold up under extreme desert heat. Long before air conditioning became standard equipment, GM was already bringing its cars to Arizona to see what the summer weather could do to them.

General Motors Testing Laboratory
Phoenix Arizona.
Architect: Austin Co., from Cleveland OH
Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan

Automobiles were not the only machines tested here. Prior to World War II, the laboratory was also used for testing armored tanks. It is a surprising bit of history for a building that is not especially large and sits right along a Phoenix neighborhood street. Imagine tanks and experimental automobiles pulling in and out of this streamlined building while the surrounding city was still relatively small.

General Motors Testing Laboratory
Phoenix, AZ
Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan

One of the building’s most interesting features is now difficult to see. This was the first structure in Phoenix to make extensive use of glass block as a modern architectural material. Large bands of glass block originally brought desert light into the testing areas while giving the exterior a sleek machine-age appearance. The blocks are still there beneath the louvers, although they were painted over during a later chapter of the building’s life.

General Motors used the Roosevelt Street facility until 1953. By then the company needed considerably more space for its testing program and moved to a sprawling new desert proving ground near Mesa. The original laboratory remained behind, still looking a little like a concrete ocean liner that had somehow docked in the middle of Phoenix.

General Motors Testing Laboratory
Phoenix, AZ
Photo courtesy Elgin MacMillan

The building eventually became the home of Imperial School Photography. The big Imperial Schools lettering seen in the accompanying photos belonged to that later tenant and was mounted high enough to catch the attention of anyone passing along Roosevelt Street. Without knowing the earlier history, it would have been easy to assume this had always been a photography business.

These four photos give a good look at the different sides of the building, including the streamlined corner, long bands of louvers and old Imperial Schools rooftop sign. The structure was looking somewhat worn by this time, but its 1930s lines were still easy to pick out. From experimental automobiles and armored tanks to school portraits and class pictures, this old laboratory has certainly had one unusual career.

UPDATE: The historic building remains standing, but the Imperial Schools rooftop sign has been removed. A redevelopment plan announced in 2017 proposed restoring the property for culinary and community uses, although completion of that project has not been confirmed. 08-26