The History and Art of the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa
Phoenix, Arizona: The Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, c2001. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Pamphlet. The format is approximately 6 inches by 9 inches. 8 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Crowned "The Jewel of the Desert" at its Grand Opening Gala on February 23, 1929, this premiere resort hotel is the perfect climate of the Arizona desert began as the vision of two brothers, Charles and Warren McArthur. The recruited their older brother, Albert Chase McArthur, a former apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright, as head architect. The Wrightian influence is omnipresent, as McArthur invited Mr. Wright himself to oversee the construction as consulting architect. It is recorded that Wright spent four months quietly supporting McArthur in establishing the final architectural splendor of the hotel. The Arizona Biltmore Hotel is a resort located in Phoenix near 24th Street and Camelback Road. Designed by Albert Chase McArthur, it opened on February 23, 1929 as part of the Biltmore Hotel chain. Actors Clark Gable and Carole Lombard often stayed there and the Tequila sunrise cocktail was invented there. It later became part of Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts. Warren McArthur, Jr., and brother Charles McArthur along with John McEntee Bowman, the entrepreneur behind the Biltmore Hotel chain, opened the Arizona Biltmore on February 23, 1929. The Arizona Biltmore's architect of record is Albert Chase McArthur (brother of the hotel owners), yet the design is often mistakenly attributed to Frank Lloyd Wright. This is due to Wright's on-site consulting for four months in 1928 relating to the "Textile Block" construction used in the hotel. Albert McArthur had been a draftsman for Wright, and specifically asked Wright to assist with implementing the textile block system, which became a signature element of the hotel's appearance. The hotel has similarities to several Wright buildings, especially in the main lobby, owing to a strong imprint of the unit block design that Wright had utilized on four residential buildings in the Los Angeles area six years earlier. McArthur is indisputably the architect as original linen drawings of the hotel in the Arizona State University Library archives attest, as does a 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, Frank Lloyd Wright influences have been added to the property over the years. This includes a stained glass window design entitled "Saguaro Forms and Cactus Flowers" that Wright designed as a magazine cover for Liberty Magazine in 1926. It was fabricated by Taliesin students and installed during the 1973 hotel renovations and restoration. Reproductions of the geometric 'sprite' statues originally designed by Wright and sculpted by Alfonso Iannelli for the 1915 Midway Gardens project in Chicago are placed around the property. Also, the original hotel solarium was converted to a restaurant in 1973 and since the mid-1990s has been named 'Wright's'. Three onsite restaurants bear Wright's name: Wright's at the Biltmore, The Wright Bar, and Frank & Albert's. Three construction crews worked 24 hours a day to complete the hotel. S. M. Benet & Company of Beverly Hills, California was contractor with L. D. Richardson serving as project superintendent. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Frank Lloyd Wright, Architecture, Arizona Biltmore, Albert chase McArthur, Consulting Architect, Charles McArthur, Warren McArthur, Apprentice, Textile Block System, Taliesin
[Book #86006]
Price: $50.00