Rare architectural drawings spur plans for professional archive at Bullion Plaza

Miami, AZ — When Freeport announced plans to renovate the historic Ben Franklin School, LeeAnn Powers and Phil Stewart reached out to architect Don Ryden with an invitation to explore the treasures preserved at the Bullion Plaza Cultural Center and Museum.

Ryden accepted, bringing along a team of architects, engineers, and a historian. What they found left them both impressed and excited. Inside the 1923 school building were maps, records, and architectural drawings that had been carefully stored and rarely examined by professionals. Among the most remarkable items was a complete set of Trost & Trost architectural drawings of Bullion Plaza, as well as other incomplete sets, which provide insights into other historical projects of the firm. 

Recognizing the importance of the collection, Ryden invited members of the Arizona Architectural Archives Committee (part of the Arizona Architecture Foundation), chaired by Brandon Benzing, to spend a day combing through the materials. The group marveled at the range and depth of what they discovered and strongly recommended steps toward creating a professional archive that could one day be accessible to researchers throughout the state.

The first step in this effort will be to renovate two upstairs rooms at Bullion Plaza to house the archives. Plans call for air conditioning to protect sensitive materials and a structural assessment of the wooden floors to ensure they can support the weight of the antique map cabinets that had been donated to the museum earlier. These cabinets — themselves artifacts — will be used to store and organize the collection for future study.

“This collection connects our community to more than a century of architectural and cultural history,” Ryden noted. “It deserves the kind of professional care that will make it available to scholars and the public alike for generations to come.”

With the support of architects, historians, and the museum’s board, Bullion Plaza is now charting a path toward preserving and sharing one of the state’s most remarkable hidden archives.