Roy Place office then

Roy Place office now

Recognize these photos? It was the location of the former Walgreen’s downtown which closed sometime after 2001, but the facade has now been restored, and the building rented to the University of Arizona as a center for “urban design, planning and policy classes” for graduate students. The College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will be the new tenant, and Pima County is the lessor/owner. Read more in Arizona Daily star article:

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/college/article_623b03b1-baae-51db-85ba-8043e142cbfd.html.

Or in UA News (click here).

It was the office of local architect Roy Place, who also built the Pioneer Hotel, Roskruge Elementary and Mansfeld Middle Schools, the St. Benedictine Monastery.

The dedication for this building will be on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. with UA President Robert Shelton and Fred DuVal, a member of the Arizona Board of Regents. The dedication ceremony will be on the NW corner of N. Stone and E. Pennington Street at Jacome Plaza, although this Roy Place building is at that same intersection on the SE corner, 44 N. Stone Avenue.

I used to shop in there at Walgreen’s when I worked downtown on Pennington Street at the Domestic Violence Commission (now defunct). But it’s wonderful to see the original facade restored, especially as it was Roy Place’s architect office, which looked out upon the lovely Pima County Courthouse, which he built in 1929. It is perhaps his most famous building in Tucson.

For website of Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts/Courthouse, click here.

Incidentally I have held court (Small Claims) in that historic courthouse building for the Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts, although our courtroom is now in the La Placita Village down south on Church Avenue.

Arthur Albert Chapa

Memorial services were held today at St. Augustine Cathedral, 192 S. Stone Avenue in memory of former Arizona Board of Regents member Arthur Albert Chapa, who passed away on November 19, at age 69, from H. pylori-induced cancer.

Chapa was well known in Democratic political circles, “raising money for Democratic candidates, serving as a staffer for Congressman Morris K. Udall (1978-81), and serving on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ transition team in 2006. He was the state director of President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election bid.” (from Az Daily Star article on November 23).

He served on the Arizona Board of Regents for 8 years (1990 to 1998), according to his friend former Gubernatorial candidate Eddie Basha, who spoke today at his service. Both Basha and another friend former State Senator George Cunningham referred to Chapa as their “brother/hermano”. He graduated from George Washington University Law School, and also worked as a lobbyist for Pima County.

Basha said that Chapa “spoke against discrimination” and worked towards increasing in-state minority enrollment at ASU’s Law School, and wanted the best “quality of life experience for all the students.”

Bishop Gerald Kicanas (who officiated today) spoke of Chapa as a man whose “life was well lived, given in service to others”. He said that “some make a difference” in life and that Chapa was one of those who did, as he “wanted the best for his community, because he always wanted more not less” for Tucson.

Art Chapa is survived by his wife Lynette, three children, three grandchildren.

Numerous politicians, City and County officials were present today at this memorial service, including all five Pima County Supervisors (Ramon Valadez, Sharon Bronson, Ray Carroll, Richard Elias, Ann Day), County Administrator Chuck Huckleberry, UA President Robert Shelton.

The Chapa family has established a fund in his name to increase awareness of H. pylori-induced cancer, and contributions can be sent to the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, 1295 N. Martin Ave., Tucson, 85724. Remembrances can be posted at www.MeM.com.