The Robert Maasen Office Building
Tucson, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Here are a couple of views of The Robert Maasen Office Building, a low-slung Tucson office building with plenty of mid-century character. Check out the unusual steel supports running along the covered walkway. Each one flares outward as it reaches the roof, forming a row of shapes that look a little like tuning forks or metal desert trees. 07-23
Built in 1963, the building combines red brick, broad windows and a long, flat overhanging roof. The repeating columns add some visual excitement while also helping shade the walkway and glass from the Tucson sun. It is a simple design, but those supports turn an otherwise ordinary office complex into something worth a second look.
The Robert Maasen Office Building
Tucson, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
This view of the building gives a better idea of the building’s length and the rhythm created by its brick walls, dark windows and unusual columns.
UPDATE: 40 North Swan remains standing and active as a remodeled multi-tenant office building. Its flared supports, brickwork and mid-century facade still survive along Swan Road. 08-26
Bank One
Tucson, AZ Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Check out the sweeping curves on this Bank One building along Broadway Boulevard in Tucson. The white concrete canopy dips and rises around the bank, creating a pattern of deep shadows that changes as the sun moves across the building. It looks more like a roadside sculpture than a place to make a deposit.
The building opened in 1971 as a Valley National Bank branch. It was designed by Don Smith of Friedman and Jobusch Architects, the firm responsible for a number of modern buildings around Tucson. Valley National later became Bank One, which explains the name on the building when this photo was taken.
This unusual bank also marks the eastern end of Tucson’s Sunshine Mile, a stretch of Broadway lined with postwar shops, restaurants and other mid-century architecture. Thankfully, the curving canopy and sculptural concrete exterior have survived while plenty of other modern banks have disappeared. 07-23
UPDATE: The building remains an active bank at Broadway and Country Club, now operating as a Chase branch. Its distinctive 1971 architecture survives intact. 08-26
The Robert Maasen Office Building
The Robert Maasen Office Building
Bank One
