Valley-ettes and the model for Valley Center in the 1960s


One of my favorite buildings in Phoenix is Valley Center, which is now called Chase Tower, on the northeast corner of Central and Monroe. I worked there in the '90s when it was called the Bank One Building. This photo, taken in Chris-Town Mall in the 1960s, shows the original model of Valley Center along with two Valley-ettes (yes, that's what they called them). Since it was a publicity photo from Valley Bank, and of no further use to the marketing department of Bank One, and was on its way to the dumpster, I asked my manager if I could have it. I got a lot of old Valley Bank stuff, most of which I've scanned in and posted on a Google+ page called Phoenix, Arizona Historical Images.

Valley Center under construction in 1972

Valley Center was completed in 1973, and became the new headquarters for Valley National Bank. There was never a Valley Bank Logo on it, and the first logo on the building was Bank One. Now it says Chase. I've always been fascinated by this building, designed in the 1960s and built in the early 1970s to have a "futuristic" look. If you visit, take a look at the lettering inside of the building, which was what movies like "2001, A Space Odyssey" used to give a futuristic space ship feeling. And if you're really into detail, take a look at the glass partitions, where there are tiny octagons. Those shapes were based on the old Valley Bank logo.

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