year | 1923

location | 401 S. 4th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ

style | Mission Revival

architect | Peter Kiewit

previous use | Union Station of the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads, 1923-1995.

current use | Housing for communications servers; closed to the public, 1996-present.

super sweet details | Arguably one of the coolest, yet most under-appreciated and under-utilized historic buildings in downtown Phoenix, Union Station’s rooms are now filled with servers for several communications companies. This building was the origin of the 1931 Winnie Ruth Judd “trunk murders,” when Phoenician Winnie chopped up her two best friends and sent them in a couple of trunks to Los Angeles. Even though it’s closed to the public, the station still features its original penny tiles and soaring ceilings, as well as many other interior and exterior details–although some of that is obscured by the many cell phone towers which surround the building. Personally, I’m hoping to see the station converted into some sort of public adaptive reuse project during my time in Phoenix.

verdict: (potentially) totally rad.

Bottom-left and bottom-right photos courtesy of Jon Talton of Rogue Columnist.

One of my favorite articles on Union Station’s history and its current use.