The Racing Daredevil Behind the Adaptable Building, Now Called The Van Buren
Successful historical preservation projects typically involve much-beloved buildings overflowing with architectural splendor. But not always.
One of Downtown Phoenix's most recent adaptive reuse success stories involved a drab, windowless, stucco-covered building at 401 West Van Buren Street. Still, Pat Cantelme and Jim Kuykendall saw potential in the uninspiring structure and purchased it in 2015. Two years later, The Van Buren concert hall opened to rave reviews, much like the original building received when it debuted in 1930.
That year, Dud R. Day, the building’s owner and a born publicist, published a letter in The Arizona Republican addressed to its builder, Dave Dubach, praising him for the impressive Dud R. Day Motor Company Ford dealership. "Parts department, offices, showroom, shop, and all the necessary indoor plumbing," it read. “100 feet square without a pillar or post…that’s why I call it my ½ acre of service.”
The 14,000-square-foot structure was designed by Lescher & Mahoney in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. For “Open House Week,” Day noted, as it was during Prohibition, “No liquid refreshment but everything else—music, talking pictures, and at the last minute, I may go Hollywood and try to get a searchlight and a mayor and maybe a governor for atmosphere.”
The hoopla was not unusual for Day, an Arizona native who was an interesting character long before entering auto sales. He had been a pilot for the British Flying Corps during World War I. In 1928, Day and two other drivers set a speed record driving roundtrip from Los Angeles to Phoenix in a Ford Model A Tudor sedan called “the Phoenix Flyer,” averaging 58 miles per hour on a route that included rough dirt roads.
Capitalizing on his fame, Day added a twist to selling vehicles in Phoenix. At the time, most auto dealerships were located north of Downtown on Central Avenue. Day pivoted to a location on West Van Buren, a road then designated U.S. Highways 60, 70, 80, and 89. He thought his Ford dealership would benefit from the increased traffic passing by.
Despite such a promising launch, the Great Depression was challenging for businesses. In 1932, Day moved to Los Angeles, and the building hosted a succession of auto dealerships, initially Consolidated Motors, which sold Hudson and Packard vehicles.
By the late 1930s, Phoenix Motor Company, a dealership for Buick and Chevrolet cars, had moved into the building. The company added a 10,000-square-foot addition on the west side designed by architect H. H. Green and built by Del E. Webb Construction Company in 1939. The upgrade expanded the service bays and parts department and added a body shop, towing service, and four gas pumps.
In 1950, the site became Quebedeaux Motors, and then Ray Korte Rambler-Jeep in 1954. By 1965, it had become a warehouse and, later, a transmission shop.
With its architectural details covered up, the building showed little promise of rebirth until developers with sharp eyes and instincts charted its course to become The Van Buren, a premier performance venue in Downtown Phoenix. Dud R. Day would likely be thrilled by the impressive transformation and would probably be the music venue’s biggest fan.
Douglas C. Towne is the editor of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, www.arizcc.com