- City:
- Phoenix, AZ
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
Description
“In order to provide its citizens and its large transient population with better park facilities, the city of Phoenix undertook the rehabilitation and beautification of existing parks and the acquisition of lands for the creation of new mountain and city parks. The type of buildings erected in these parks was similar in all cases and their character and design blend with the brilliant sunshine and the native foliage. The illustration on this page is a view of the club house in the Dorris-Norton Park. It is one and part two stories in height and contains a large public dining room, a lunchroom, living quarters, and an office for the club manager and is connected to the boat house by a pergola. It was completed in June 1937 at a construction cost of $37,000 and a project cost of $45,872, not including equipment.
The upper illustration shows the boathouse, and dock in the Dorris-Norton Park. It was completed in 1937 at a construction cost of $3,400 and a project cost of $4,850. The locker house (illustrated above) contains locker and shower rooms for men and women. Its exterior walls are painted brick and the roof is covered with Spanish tile. It was completed in June 1937 at a construction cost of $10,500 and a project cost of $13,457. This does not include equipment, electrical work, sewer, or water connections.”
(Short and Brown)
“Construction of the park began in 1935. The clubhouse, lagoon, boat dock, 18-hole golf course, band shell, playground areas, tennis and horseshoe courts and archery range took three years to complete.”
A plaque at the park reads: “The Encanto Park Clubhouse was completed in 1936 with the preliminary architectural design by L. M. Fitshugh, final design by Lescher and Mahoney and Peper Construction Company. The original design was for the public.
The Architectural Design is Spanish Mission Period Revival and was a Public Works Administration depression era project. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.”
(www.phoenix.gov)
Source notes
C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown. "Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration." (1939). https://www.phoenix.gov/PARKS/encanhis.htmlAt this Location:
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I went to this park for the first time today and was so interested to see the USA WPA plaque on the unique curved wall with a waterway on top of it around the lagoon.
I grew up in Phoenix and remember seeing live music at the Bandshell in Encanto Park.
Is it still there? I didn’t see it in any photos.