The Fort Apache Indian Reservation

Gateway to the Arizona Capitol Wesley Bolin Plaza

The late Don Bolles, a tough investigative reporter, had the nerve to say it in print: when tourists visited the Arizona Legislature, they would often ask disdainfully, “Is this your capitol?” Point well taken. The fine old territorial capitol building, dating from 1898, squatted in the center of a dilapidated neighborhood. State offices were scattered all over the Valley of the Sun— the Board of Medical Examiners was in Scottsdale and the Dental Board in Glendale. Offices huddled near the capitol occupied the remains of a dingy, aging residential district; in a rented one-story structure on 17th Avenue, a tavern separated the liquor control agents' dispatching office from the state library's bookmobile headquarters. The capitol faced a 1,000-space asphalt parking lot. It took 15 years of planning and construction and millions of dollars, but by

In 1985 most of the blight had been scraped away and replaced with a new governmental mall. The centerpiece, Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, stretches across 10 acres east of the copper-domed capitol. Starting at a V where West Washington Street angles northwest to Adams Street, it forms an open, park-like space for public meetings, strolling, meditation, andyes, parking. Surprisingly peaceful for an urban park edged by three major thoroughfares, Wesley Bolin Plaza shelters a sculpture garden that commemorates the efforts of Arizona pioneer women, peace officers, and veterans of the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Vietnam War. The anchor from the U.S.S. Arizona, sunk at Pearl Harbor, resides in the park, as well as a memorial to Jewish war veterans and monuments honoring Father Eusebio Kino and Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1981, George Hoagland, AIA, was a partner with G. William Larson and Jon R. Hamilton in HLH Architecture Planning, the firm that designed the plaza. He recalls that plans for a mall to provide the capitol with a pleasant foreground were under way when Governor Bolin died in March, 1978. Within four days, the legislature agreed to name the park in his honor. Eventually $1.5 million was appropriated to build it.

"The challenge was to provide the plaza and deal with the extremely heavy load of bus traffic on 17th Avenue," says Hoagland. "We had to tie it in with the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and provide plenty of parkingreally, more parking than we wanted to. We put it off to the side, so you had the landscaped view of the capitol up the center. "We developed a round plaza as a sunken element in the middle, to accommodate large gatherings. Its design gives them some isolation from the street noise." Another focal point is a tower with flowing water. "We put it there as a source of pleasant sound to foil the traffic noise," says Hoagland. A court of honor names Arizona's dead and missing in Vietnam.

The sculpture garden includes all the monuments formerly located on the capitol grounds except the statue of Frank Luke, Jr., which remains in front of the capitol.

The total cost for the plaza came to $1.2 million. McGinn Construction built it, mostly of tan, split-faced concrete block chosen to resemble the capitol's stonework. Colors are subdued, with few bright contrasts. "We tried to let the landscaping predominate," recalls Hoagland. "It took the better part of a year to complete. The plaza was dedicated July 8, 1983, by Governor Bruce Babbitt.