Ralph Haver Explained

Ralph Haver
Practice:Ralph Haver & Associates; Haver, Nunn & Associates; Haver, Nunn & Jenson; Haver, Nunn & Nelson; Haver, Nunn & Collamer
Significant Buildings:Cine Capri, Coronado High School, Phoenix College
Birth Date:1915
Birth Place:Pasadena, CA
Death Date:August 18, 1987
Death Place:Scottsdale, AZ
Alma Mater:USC Pasadena
Nationality:American

Ralph Haver (1915–1987) was an American architect working in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona from 1945 until the early 1980s. Haver designed the Mid-Century Modern Haver Homes, affordable tract housing executed in a contemporary modern style.

Biography

Born in California and trained at USC Pasadena as an architect, Haver arrived in Phoenix immediately after his service in World War II and began working with his brother Robert (a builder) and father Harry (a brick mason). He settled in what would soon become Uptown Phoenix — two miles outside city boundaries at the time.[1] His first set of experimental modern contemporary ranch homes was built in the Hixson Homes subdivision near 12th Street and Highland—now called Canal North.

He soon mentored under Ed Varney and remained lifelong friends and collaborators with him even after breaking off and creating his own firm. Ralph Haver is responsible for so much of the design of postwar Phoenix that he ranked among the largest firms of the time. He designed churches, schools, municipal buildings, malls, multifamily housing, tract housing and custom homes. Haver especially worked with prominent housing developers, including Del Webb, Fred Woodward, David Friedman and Dell Trailor.

Haver's Cine Capri theater was razed in the 1990s, and the 1960 Coronado High School was largely demolished by 2007. The Polynesian-styled Kon Tiki motel, an icon along Van Buren Avenue, was also demolished.

Haver Homes

It was estimated by the firm that there are 20,000 Haver designed tract homes in Arizona,[2] New Mexico and Colorado. Haver Home characteristics include low-sloped rooflines, clerestory windows, massive mantle-less chimney volumes, floor-to-ceiling walls of glass, brick or block construction, clinker bricks in the wainscoting, angled porch posts and brick patios. Homes are typically less than 1400 square feet and significantly less in the postwar era due to federal mandate in conservation of materials.

Documents destroyed

Blueprints as verification for authenticity of Haver designs are rare, as many buildings were created outside of Phoenix city boundaries at the time. Many of Haver's drawings, renderings and records were destroyed in 1993 when the firm finally went out of business—they ended up in a dumpster when the last office built and designed by the firm on 16th Street was abated.

Expansion

From the early 1960s and 1970s Haver and Nunn's firm expanded outside of AZ with offices in Hawaii. Guam, San Francisco and Minneapolis. Haver retired in the early 1980s and the firm continued to operate from the new office building on North 16th Street. Ralph Haver died in 1987. In 1993, shortly after partner George Collamer died the firm was closed. Jimmie Nunn is the last surviving partner and lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Projects

Haver designed, or collaborated in the design of, the following buildings and neighborhoods in Arizona, among others. Most of the inventory has been discovered from oral history and publications such as Arizona Architect, Arizona Days & Ways, Arizona Homes and A Guide to the Architecture of Metro Phoenix (Central Arizona AIA).

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ralph Haver: Everyman's Modernist . Modern Phoenix . Alison . King . 2011 . December 1, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140401134026/http://modernphoenix.net/haver/haverbiography.htm . April 1, 2014.
  2. Web site: Mid Century Modern Homes - Phoenix Arizona. dwellarizona.com. 2017-01-14.
  3. Web site: Kapi'olani Boulevard. 2021-01-15. Modtraveler.net. en-US.
  4. Web site: 2 May 1966, 34 - Honolulu Star-Bulletin at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-17. Newspapers.com. en.
  5. Web site: Louie's Legacy - Health Professions Building. 2021-01-15. library.nau.edu.
  6. Web site: 3 Jun 1973, Page 113 - Arizona Republic at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16. Newspapers.com. en.
  7. Web site: 26 Jan 1975, Page 100 - Arizona Republic at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16. Newspapers.com. en.
  8. Web site: 23 Feb 1974, 18 - Pacific Daily News at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16. Newspapers.com. en.
  9. Web site: 9 Nov 1975, Page 20 - Arizona Republic at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16. Newspapers.com. en.
  10. Web site: 3 Apr 1977, Page 114 - Arizona Republic at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16. Newspapers.com. en.
  11. Web site: 14 May 1978, Page 117 - Arizona Republic at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16. Newspapers.com. en.
  12. News: 7 Jun 1981, 24 - Arizona Daily Sun at Newspapers.com. en. Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16.
  13. Web site: 6 Sep 1981, Page 40 - Arizona Republic at Newspapers.com. 2021-07-16. Newspapers.com. en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ralph Haver".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.