- City:
- Mesa, AZ
- Site Type:
- Education and Health, Civic Facilities, Museums, City and Town Halls
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Completed:
- 1937
- Designer:
- Lescher & Mahoney
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Arizona Museum of Natural History is housed in a building that was originally the Mesa City Hall. The structure was built in 1937 with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds and labor, and was designed by Lescher & Mahoney. The new civic building complex housed the new City Hall, the fire department, the police department, municipal offices, municipal courts, a jail, the city library, the Chamber of Commerce, new public restrooms, and other functions. At the time the complex was built, Mesa was a small farming community of circa 5,000 residents.
The structure is designed in Mission Revival style with typical features such as adobe brick construction, stucco exterior, interior plaster finish, concrete floors, and ceramic tile roof.
The Arizona Museum of Natural History was originally founded in 1977, as a small museum in Mesa City Hall. The museum began with a small collection of Arizona artifacts and expanded in 1983 and 1987, with a new wing added in 2000.
Source notes
National Archives, RG 69 Records of the Work Projects Administration, “Information Service (Primary) File, 1936-1942.”
Arizona Museum of Natural History, Wikipedia Page: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Museum_of_Natural_History), accessed December 12, 2017.
Site originally submitted by Brent McKee - https://nddaily.blogspot.com on May 23, 2013.
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