J. W. Walker/Central Arizona Light & Power Building

J. W. Walker meant to raise an eight-story tower here in 1920, but only the first two floors ever went up, opening as a J. C. Penney store. In 1926 the building found its lasting tenant when the Central Arizona Light and Power Company made it headquarters. That utility grew, merged, and became Arizona Public Service, the company that still powers much of the state. The stub of a skyscraper, designed by early Phoenix architect L. M. Fitzhugh, is a monument to interrupted ambition on a hurrying frontier.

What the plaque says

The J. W. Walker/Central Arizona Light and Power Building was built in the spring and summer of 1920 by Phoenix businessman and real estate developer J. W. Walker. Designed by prominent early Phoenix architect L. M. Fitzhugh, the Neo-Classical Revival styled building was originally planned as an eight story high-rise. The additional six stories were never constructed. The first two floors opened in 1920 as the J. C. Penny Co. In 1926, the building became the headquarters of the Central Arizona Light and Power Company which later merged with Arizona Edison to become Arizona Public Service (APS).

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Phoenix — 0.2 mi
  The fifth-largest US city, built on the canals of a thousand-year-old one
• Heard Museum — 1.6 mi
  The Native Southwest, told in the first person
• Taliesin West — 17 mi
  Frank Lloyd Wright's desert masterwork, grown from the ground it stands on

More markers nearby

• Maricopa County Courthouse — steps away
• Chambers Transfer & Storage Company Building — 0.2 mi
• Santa Fe Freight Depot — 0.3 mi
• Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. — 0.4 mi