Ralph Haver (1915–1987) was an American architect working in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona from 1945 until the early 1980s. Haver designed the Mid-Century ModernHaver 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
One of Ralph Haver's most successful home designs was the Town and Country model, characterized by its low sloped roofline, weeping mortar brick and "patio port"
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).
1946 Hixon Homes/Canal North, Phoenix, AZ (includes the original Haver family home and several other experiments)
1949 Country Club Apartments, Phoenix, AZ
1950 Luke Air Force Base Housing
1950 The Peggy Reed Residence, Ingleside Country Club, Phoenix, AZ
1950 The Nelson Residence, Uptown Phoenix, AZ
1950 The Morse Residence, Phoenix, AZ
1951 KoKo Night Club, Phoenix, AZ (destroyed by fire)
1952 Began Partnership with Jimmie Nunn
1952 Feltman Building, Scottsdale, AZ (now Pima Plaza)
195? Haver and Nunn office building, Phoenix, AZ (razed)
1952 Princess Homes at Northwood, Phoenix, AZ
1953 Entz White Lumber, Phoenix, AZ
1953 Marlen Grove neighborhood, Phoenix, AZ
1953 G.E. Wonder Home, Paradise Valley, AZ
1953 Campus Homes, Tempe, AZ (?)
1954 Friedman Office Building, Phoenix, AZ (now Red Modern Furniture)
1954 Lou Regester Furniture, Phoenix, AZ (now Copenhagen Imports)
1954 Starlite Vista neighborhood, Phoenix, AZ
1955 Tonka Vista homes, Phoenix, AZ (including new Haver family home and other experiments)
195? Madison Rose Lane Elementary School, Phoenix, AZ
195? Madison #2 elementary school, Phoenix, AZ
1954 Quebedeaux Chevrolet, Phoenix, AZ (with Victor Gruen)
1955 Windemere neighborhood, Phoenix, AZ
1955 Park Lee Alice Apartments, Phoenix, AZ
1956 Engineering Center, ASU (with expansions through 1963) Tempe, AZ
1956 Starlite Model Home for Parade of Homes, Phoenix, AZ
1956 Tower Plaza, Phoenix, AZ (with John Schotanus)
1957 Town & Country Manor (aka Rancho Ventura and T&C I) neighborhood, Phoenix, AZ
1957 Princess Homes at Regents Park in Arcadia, Phoenix, AZ
1957 Barrow's Furniture Store, Tucson, AZ
1957 PAT Dona Vista of Terra del Sol, Tucson, AZ
1958 PAT Craycroft Terrace, Tucson, AZ
1958 PAT Grande Vista of Terra del Sol, Tucson, AZ
1958 PAT Mayfair Terrace, Tucson, AZ
1958 Holiday Park Apartments, Scottsdale, AZ
1958 Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church & School, Phoenix, AZ
1958 Janet Manor (Town & Country II) Phoenix, AZ
1958 Parker House, Arcadia, Phoenix, AZ
1959 Evertson House, Marion Estates, Phoenix, AZ
1959 Town & Country III neighborhood, Scottsdale, AZ
