Tucson Museum of Art

First established in 1924 as the Tucson Fine Arts Association, the Tucson Museum of Art moved in 1975 and now occupies an entire city block in the historic downtown area. In so doing, it became the caretaker of five historic properties on this block--La Casa Cordova, Romero House, Edward Nye Fish House, Stevens/Duffield House and the J. Knox Corbett House.

The Museum's block of historic properties is located in the northwest corner of what was once the Presidio of San Augustin del Tucson, established in August 1775 for the Spanish army in Mexico.

La Casa Cordova, one of the oldest buildings in Tucson, is an excellent example of a Sonoran row house that was a popular building style in the late 19th century.

The enclosed courtyard (photo above) has recently been restored. Shown here are the outdoor "facilities" (on the left in the photo), the ramada (brush covered shade structure to the left of center), and a well.

We could not photograph the interior of this home or any other part of the Musuem, but I thought just this door and window made a nice picture.

Only a small portion of this home was open, so I don't know what lay behind this window.

Two former homes are represented within the structure in the photo below. We would rather have seen the restored homes, but the economic realities are such that the cost of restoration was too great an expense, so they now house portions of the Museum's collections.

The Edward Nye Fish House (far right in the photo), one of the first Tucson homes to have wooden floors, is now known as the John K. Goodman Pavilion of Western Art.

The Stevens/Duffield House (far left), also known as the Palice Pavilion, dates back to the late 1800s and houses the Art of the Americas collection of pre-Columbian, Mexican folk art, and colonial works.

The Romero House (left) is believed to have been built in 1860. Its north wall is believed to contain remnants of the original Presidio wall. It has undergone numerous alterations, having been a drive-through gas station and a restaurant, and is now home to the Tucson Museum of Art's ceramics studio offering studio art classes to both children and adults.

The J. Knox Corbett House, completed in 1907, is a mission-revival style two-story home restored and furnished with period pieces from the American Arts and Crafts era.

An exhibit of more than 100 photographs by Ansel Adams was on display at the Tucson Museum of Art. This was an exhibit to be viewed in a leisurely manner--but not photographed. With each viewing of Adams' work or reading about his techniques, our regard for his photography grows.

We also attended an interesting lecture/slide show by Kay Jensen on Han and Beyond: The Renaissance of China, part of the Museum's "Art Talks" series.

As we walked around the courtyard, we found sculptures worthy of study. I liked the juxtaposition of this modern sculpture against a background of the dome of the Pima County Courthouse (1929) and the Bank of America building.

Placed around the Museum's courtyard were these sculptures of benches. I could not find the sculptors, so they are presented here without names or credits.





Although inviting, the benches went untested. It was time for lunch and a nearby table awaited us.