Pioneer Hotel (Tucson, Arizona) facts for kids
| Pioneer | |
Quick facts for kids  The Pioneer Hotel Building in the downtown business district of Tucson, Arizona. The hotel now functions as a business office and apartment building. |
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| Hotel facts and statistics | |
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| Location | 100 North Stone Avenue, Tucson, Arizona, United States, 85701 |
| Coordinates | 32°13′23.25″N 110°58′16.50″W / 32.2231250°N 110.9712500°W |
| Opening date | December 12, 1929 |
| Architect | Roy Place |
| Owner | Holualoa Congress LLC |
| No. of floors | 11 |
The Pioneer Hotel in Tucson, Arizona was one of the city's first very tall buildings. It was designed by a local architect named Roy Place. When it opened in 1929, this hotel quickly became a popular place in the downtown area.
The hotel was built in the Spanish Revival style. It was known for being a fancy spot where important people gathered. For example, in the middle of the 1900s, Harold and Margaret Steinfeld lived in the hotel's top-floor apartment. They owned a big department store downtown.
Sadly, a terrible fire badly damaged the building in December 1970. Twenty-nine people died in the fire, including the Steinfelds. Today, the building is no longer a hotel. It has been changed into offices and apartments.
The Pioneer Hotel is an important part of Tucson's history. However, it is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is because many big changes were made to the building in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These changes were meant to make the building look more modern.
For example, the fancy stone entrance was removed. Glass strips were added to the outside. The rooftop area was covered, and the front windows were changed. The lobby inside was also redesigned.
The building has 11 floors. When it first opened in 1929, it had the largest ballroom in the entire country.
The Big Fire of 1970
Just after midnight on December 20, 1970, a huge fire broke out at the Pioneer Hotel. This fire was very serious. It caused the deaths of 29 people. This makes it the deadliest fire in the history of Arizona.
A 16-year-old named Louis C. Taylor was later sent to prison for starting the fire. However, new information came out in November 2013. This new evidence suggested that the fire might not have been started on purpose.
On April 2, 2013, Taylor was released from prison. He was 58 years old at the time. He agreed to a plea deal for the original charges. He was given credit for the many years he had already spent in prison.
The Arizona Justice Project is a group of lawyers and law students. They help people who they believe were wrongly convicted. This group had asked for a new trial for Taylor earlier in 2013. Getting a new trial would have been hard. Many important witnesses from the original case had passed away. Also, key evidence from the fire had been destroyed.
Today, even with modern tools, fire investigators cannot figure out what caused the fire.
Louis Taylor said he was at the hotel that night for a holiday party. He said he was trying to get free drinks. When the fire started, he knocked on room doors to warn guests. He also helped put injured people on stretchers.
After the fire, a developer named Allan Elias changed the building into offices. This included a lot of remodeling and work on the outside of the building in 1977. Later, another company spent a lot of money to fix up the hallways and other shared areas inside.
In the 1970s, a metal frame was added to the very top of the building.
Today, the Pioneer Hotel building is owned by a company called Holualoa Congress LLC.
