2015 Tucson: Tucson Old Town (5/16/2015)

Saturday, May 16, 2015 (continued)
From Old Tucson we headed west back into the city of Tucson, coming in on Speedway Boulevard.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Mosque Yousuf (1987) (KAH)

We parked at the Tucson Museum of Art and ran to LA Casa Cordova to see El Nacimiento/The Nativity, a traditional Mexican display of scenes with hundreds of figures that also show Mexican village life. My info showed that it was open until May 31, 2015, but it was closed. We walked around to the entrance of the art museum to learn they closed it at the end of March for the season!
Instead we began our downtown walking tour.

Spiritus Noctum (2004) by Daniel Martin Diaz
in the Plaza of the Pioneers

Location of NW corner of the
Presidio San Augustin del Tucson wall
(built 1778-1783) at W Washington St and N Main Avenue

The Cheyney House (1905,
designed by Holmes and Holmes in California Mission style)
at 252 N Main Avenue

Julius Kruttschnitt House (1876/1886 adobe house
in American Territorial style with Victorian embellishments)
at 297 N Main Avenue, now El Presidio Inn B&B

Steinfeld Mansion (1899-1900, designed by Henry C Trost in
Mission Revival style for the Owls Club 2nd location)
at 300 N Main Avenue

Steinfeld Mansion façade with owls at lower end of arch detail
(the first house in Tucson to have a bathtub with running water)

Alene Dunlop Smith Sculpture Garden (1984, designed by Barbara Grygutis)
at 312 N Granada Avenue

Olneya tesota/Desert Ironwood seed pods

Owl House (1901, designed by Henry C Trost
for the Owls Club 3rd and final location)
at 378 N Main Ave

The Owls Club was an elite bachelors' social club established in 1886 when 13 men were tired of bad meals and uncomfortable living quarters. They pooled their money to provide for upgraded accommodations at their first location on S Scott Street, which is now the Temple of Music and Art.

Owl House with an owl

It appears that the house is now owned by Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity that is known for its activity in saving owls; the Mexican spotted owl and the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl among others

Rosaliea Verdugo House (c 1877, Sonoran row house)
at 323 N Main Avenue

One of Tucson's 2-foot curbs tripped up Karen, who rolled nicely out of a face-forward fall, but skinned her cactus-poked palm and scraped one knee. Fortunately this was the third incident of the day, so we were done if things truly occur in threes.

Bates Mansion (mural by Mexican artist Salvador Corona)
at 283 N Stone Ave (KAH)

Former Wells Fargo Bank Building (1955, designed by Place & Place)
at 140 N Stone Avenue

The Arizona Historical Society Downtown History Museum at 140 N Stone Avenue is the smaller building to the right, date of construction unknown.

Former Pioneer Hotel (1929, designed by
by Roy Place in Spanish Revival style,
with 1977 façade built after 1970 fire)
at 100 N Stone Avenue (5/18/2015)

Pioneer Hotel detail

Roy Place Building (1929, designed by Roy Place),
the former Montgomery Ward Building
at 44 N Stone Avenue

Sonora (1991) by David Black (5/18/2015)

Joel D Valdez Main Library (1990)
at 101 N Stone Avenue

Joel D Valdez Main Library

Pima County Courthouse (1928/1929,
designed by Roy Place in Mission Revival
and Spanish Colonial Revival style)
at 115 N Church St (5/18/2015)

The Pima County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Pima County Courthouse corridor

Memorial bust of John F Kennedy
(1964, by Hardy R Grant, commissioned
by the Pima County Democratic Committee)
in El Presidio Park

Mormon Battalion Monument,
Exchange at the Presidio (1996) by Clyde Ross Morgan

The Mormon Battalion contingent that came through Tucson in 1846 was a show of force by the US during the Mexican-American War. The Mexican troops fled and the presidio commander peacefully surrendered Tucson, and the Mormon Battalion continued with its other objective, establishing a southern wagon trail to California.

During their brief stay, the Mormon Battalion
joined a fiesta with fiddle playing (note fiddle case)

Soldado de Cuera/Leather Jacket Soldier
(1987 by Buck McCain),
a Spanish soldier of the 1700s

Tucson City Hall (1967)

Now the Tucson Historic Block of the Tucson Museum of Art:

Edward Nye Fish House (1868, Sonoran row house)
at 140 N Main Avenue
contains the John K. Goodman Pavilion of Western Art

Stevens Duffield House (1855, used Presidio wall)
at 150 N Main Avenue, also known as the
Palice Pavilion that houses Art of the Americas

J Knox Corbett House (1907,
a Mission Revival Bungalow) now housing Arts & Crafts
at 180 N Main Avenue

Romero House (c 1860, Sonoran row house)
at 101 W Washington Street
is now a pottery/ceramics workshop

La Casa Cordova (before 1862), one of the oldest buildings in Tucson
on N Meyer Avenue at W Telles Street;
listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972

Tucson Museum of Art (1973)

El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson (1775),
the birthplace of Tucson with reconstructed tower section

Old Town Artisans/Telles Block (1850s Sonoran row houses and stable)

Old Town Artisans courtyard

We retrieved the car and drove up N 4th Avenue, the hip alternative street that connects downtown and University of Arizona. We were driving right on the tracks of the 4-mile Sun Link Streetcar line, that opened in July 2014. We passed the "prehistoric" Dairy Queen.

Oldest Dairy Queen (1952) in Arizona
at 501 N 4th Avenue

Ginger made a wonderful cookout dinner with ribs and turkey burgers, and then had a surprise for us. A ride in her 1965 Mustang convertible to go to Dairy Queen for dessert!

The Big Red Dog, Tamiko and Ginger
with the Mustang

Ginger had us put on babushkas, as she called them, and off we went.

The staff at Dairy Queen had to check us out

Then they offered to take our photo!
Candace, Ginger, Karen, Tamiko

We then cruised through the University of Arizona that Candace had attended. We ended up going through the Broadway Boulevard Underpass with the Portrait Project mural.

Windows to the Past (1999) by Stephen Farley

And under the Diamondback pedestrian bridge!

Diamondback Rattlesnake Bridge (2002) by Simon Donovan

Next: Mount Lemmon.