TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — It is one of the most recognizable office buildings in Tucson. After all, you don’t often see a building shaped like an upside-down pyramid.
The glass and steel structure has become a iconic.
“People love it or hate it,” said Tucsonan Phil Swaim.
He knows this building better than most. He’s an architect with Swaim Associates.
His father, Robert Swaim, designed the upside-down pyramid back in the late 1970s.
Swaim reflects on why Western Savings chose an upside-down pyramid back then, for its new location at Speedway and Wilmot.
“Western Savings actually needed more square footage upstairs than they needed downstairs,” explained Phil Swaim. “So, there were two options. One was this upside-down pyramid. The second was actually one where it was just a regular rectangular building with a larger footprint upstairs, overhanging the downstairs.”
Swaim says his firm even constructed models of both structures. Western Savings selected the pyramid.
Swaim Associates
“They wanted the iconic image,” according to Swaim. “What they basically said is if you have a friend coming from out of town and need to tell them how to get to Mt. Lemmon, drive down Speedway, turn left at the upside-down pyramid. And that’s what they got.”
From an architectural and construction standpoint in the late 1970s, this was not an easy building to build.
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“It was difficult to find a steel contractor that could be that accurate with those strange angles back at that time,” said Swaim. “Now we’ve got 3D modeling capabilities and things. The technology makes it much easier. Here they need a real craftsman. I think it was Peck Steel that did this. To get things to fit, upside-down angles and things, was not an easy thing to build.”
Perfectly constructed, it quickly became a Tucson landmark.
Many years ago, the old Tucson Citizen asked readers to list their favorite and least favorite buildings in town.
“This building showed up on both,” Swaim said. “Which I think is great. So at least people notice it and you have some passion about architecture and art, which I think is really valuable for Tucson.”
Also valuable, the building itself. While Vantage West will remain as the bottom floor tenant, the upside-down pyramid is on the market.
“The building’s for sale for $1,975,000,” said Rick Kleiner, Principal with Cushman & Wakefield PICOR.
That’s right, you can own one of Tucson’s most iconic buildings for just under 2 mil.
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Well worth it for the views from the second floor, according to Kleiner.
He is the listing agent for Cushman & Wakefield Picor. Until 2018, they used the second floor as their offices.
“It was very easy to tell people where we were headquartered,” Kleiner said. “It’s a …….