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Originally Posted by combusean
There was never any plan for a third building for the Financial Center as far as I can tell. Only the twin completing the horseshoe. I have looked in newspapers.com for renderings of either and have found nothing.
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I recently came across this website, now offline, that provided the only renderings I've ever seen of the original master plan for the Financial Center, with more retail, residential, and office developments going all the way to 3rd St. The middle building over the parking garage was to be retail, and the two towers on 3rd St were to be one residential and another office use.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160427...ildings/item/4
Quote:
Though Murdock owned three entire city blocks and hired renowned bank architect W.A. Sarmiento to design a complex of buildings for the site, only the existing Phoenix Financial Center buildings were realized. From the beginning, the financial center complex was an extraordinary creative, pioneering venture. Sarmiento’s design for the entire site included two towers and two round buildings for the financial center at one end block, a center block with a shopping center, and a residential tower and office tower at the other end block. All of the buildings were to look similar to the Phoenix Financial Center. Possibly designed as early as the early 1960s, it may have been one of the earliest versions of inner city mixed-use developments to be considered in the United States.
Keeping with his desire to draw from nature and natural materials, Sarmiento stated that his inspiration for the windows came from falling raindrops. However, the tower is also known locally as the “punch card” or “piano roll” building. Additional natural features that were incorporated into the original plan such as a moat and sun-shading louvers on the round buildings were omitted in the final design due to cost considerations. However, Sarmiento did make one addition to the site after 1970. When Western Savings bought the property from Murdock they desired a connection between the round branch building’s mezzanine and the second floor of the office tower so he designed a bridge.
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This is an early original rendering showing the second north tower with an asymmetrical facade to shield the southern exposure the same as the south tower, along with water feature reflecting pools, moats around the rotundas, and shades in their inverted arches.
I recommend reading through the article in the Archive.org link above, it's the best written history on the Phoenix Financial Center that I've ever come across. There are also a number of photos from the construction period, interior photos from the original opening, along with a few more renderings from the architect.