As you walk up First Avenue, look to your right and you'll see a tall, pale cream-colored tower reaching for the sky. It’s not the tallest building around, but it does look like it’s stepped straight out of a black-and-white detective movie-shiny windows, crisp lines, and those cool zig-zag details at the very top. Notice how the building has sections that get narrower as they go up-like a wedding cake with its tiers stacked perfectly! If you see lots of geometric shapes and green decorative edges near the top, congratulations, you've found the Luhrs Tower.
Alright, just imagine it’s 1929. The city is buzzing, cars are honking, typewriters are clattering, and right here in front of you stands the brand-new Luhrs Tower, the pride of downtown Phoenix. George Luhrs Jr.-local hero, war veteran, and, I assume, a top hat enthusiast-just opened this skyscraper for business. It’s a whopping 14 stories high, which in those days was enough to make jaws drop and hats blow off heads!
Designed in the glamorous Art Deco style, Luhrs Tower looks like something out of a superhero comic: bold, symmetrical, and with those zig-zagging setbacks at the 8th and 11th floors. Hey, you know you’ve made it in architecture when your building gets compared to the O.T. Bassett Tower and even hints at Eliel Saarinen’s famous Tribune Tower design.
But that’s not all. This tower has Hollywood credentials too. If you’ve ever watched Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film “Psycho,” you’ve actually caught a glimpse of Luhrs Tower in the background while Marion Crane dashes across the street with her boss’s cash. So, next time you cross here, try not to look suspicious-just in case Mr. Hitchcock is watching!
And right next door, you’ll see the older Luhrs Building, built five years earlier. Together, they’re like the dynamic duo of Phoenix’s skyline. So, go on-tilt your head back, soak in those dramatic curves and edges, and picture yourself in a world of jazz, fedoras, and big city dreams.
