This building is an often overlooked example of Phoenix’s mid-century architecture.

Neil B. McGinnis

Neil B. McGinnis was born in El Paso Texas in 1897.  He spent his childhood in Missouri, and moved to Phoenix in 1912.  McGinnis graduated from Phoenix Union High School and attended Occidental College in California before joining the Navy during World War I.  He never saw active duty as he was graduating from officer training school when the war ended.  After the war, he decided that he did not want to return to college so he started working in the offices of Standard Oil. He soon realized that sales ran in his blood and started working as a salesperson for Rio Grande Oil/Richfield.

His ties to the Phoenix warehouse district began in 1927 when he became an Arizona representative for heavy equipment companies.  This led to the formation of the Neil B. McGinnis Equipment Company.  While starting a new company on the advent of the Great Depression was not auspicious timing,  McGinnis was able to weather the foul economic climate of the 1930s and continue to grow his company. He soon became the Arizona distributor for such companies as Pioneer Engineering, and most notably, Allis-Chalmers. Within a few years had showrooms in Phoenix, Mesa, Casa Grande and Tucson.

Allis-Chalmers Tractor Dealership

In the mid 1940’s he commissioned the building of what would become his new headquarters in Phoenix’s warehouse district—a heavy equipment showroom at 502 S Central Ave (at W Buchanan St). The building cost a princely $72,416 at the time it was built by the Bridgeman Construction Company.  It  was designed by soon to be Valley ‘star-chitect’ Edward L. Varney of Gilmore & Varney with the assistance of then draftsman Fred Weaver.  It was completed in 1945.  Varney, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, went on to build such Phoenix treasures as the Hotel Valley Ho (1956) and the Phoenix Municipal Building (1962).  Weaver went on to form Weaver and Drover (now DWL). This firm was responsible for many of the iconic Valley National banks in Phoenix, including the ‘mushroom’ bank at 44th St and Camelback, designed by W & D project architect Frank Henry.

While some of the initial plans for the building were mitigated by the War Production Board, it is nonetheless a feat of mid-century architecture and an under appreciated jewel. The building features display windows on two sides.  There is an uninterrupted front display window that is 80 feet in length, including a 54 foot clear window span, a length unheard of at the time of its construction. This window was designed to showcase the tractors and other equipment in the showroom to passing motorists.  From the inside, the windows offer great views of the downtown Phoenix skyline.

The roof structure features 84 feet long Summerbell bow-string trusses (patented in 1942). These trusses not only held up the wide roof span, but supported a series of operating cranes to move piece of heavy equipment.  As it stands today, the building is 20,600 SF on a 36,303 SF lot, with plenty of room for on site parking or further construction. It includes a mezzanine level constructed with tongue in grove wood flooring. It can work for one user, or be divided into two to six separate units.

Levine Machine

The most recent use of the building was as a Job Corps training site. Michael Levine and Angela Paladino of Levine Machine, bought the property in 2006 from Nihao Feng LLC. They have begun restoring the building to it’s original state, removing years of Job Corps training projects and many layers of paint and other debris from the floors and walls. For more information on the building, contact Michael directly by email or at 602-510-1455.

While it is eligible for City, State and National historical status, it has not yet been registered at any level.

Special thanks to Michael Levine and Angela Paladino for providing much of the background information used in this post. For more photos of the building, check out the Levine Machine website.