Henry Jaastad

Henry Jaastad (1872–1965) was an influential Tucson, Arizona architect. His firm created over 500 buildings and Jaastad was Mayor of Tucson for 14 years.

Personal information

Jaastad was born in Norway and in 1886, he emigrated to the United States. In 1902, as a skilled journeyman carpenter, he worked on the Willard Hotel, Owl's Club, and Desert Botanical laboratories in Tucson, Arizona. In that same year, Jaastad was able to start his own contractor business where he would design small but remarkable residential buildings for private individuals. He worked in neighborhoods within Armory Park, West University, and North Speedway. In 1904, two years later, Jaastad became a naturalized citizen of the US. In 1908, he completed extensive courses in architecture and he enrolled in the University of Arizona where he was a part of an electrical engineering program. In 1922, Jaastad officially became a registered architect, and held his architecture license until 1959.^[1]

Extant buildings

• Patagonia City Hall, Patagonia, Arizona. 1900
• Diego Valencia House, 432-43 South Convent Avenue, Barrio Viejo, Tucson, Arizona. 1907
• Reilly Funeral Home, 102 East Pennington Street, Tucson, Arizona. 1908
• Brick Row House 440-446 South Convent Avenue, Barrio Viejo, Tucson, Arizona. 1909
• Old Nogales City Hall and Fire Station, 136 Grand Avenue, Nogales, Arizona. 1914
• Odd Fellows Hall, 135 South 6th Avenue, Armory Park, Tucson, Arizona. 1914 (credited to Jaastad, but more likely designed by Ely Blount while working in Jaastad's office)
• Manning-Johnson House, 455 West Paseo Redondo, El Presidio, Tucson, AZ. 1916 Owned many years by Emery and Ann-Eve Johnson and now occupied by a law firm which has removed most of the residence's noted original grandeur and historical interior and exterior features.
• Safford Middle School, 200 East 13th Street, Armory Park, Tucson, Arizona 1918
• Paul Lawrence Dunbar 1-9 School, 325 West 2nd Street, Dunbar Spring, Tucson, Arizona, 1918
• Commercial Building, 41-47 South 6th Avenue. 1918
• Tucson Medical Center Buildings: Erickson House, Arizona Patio Building, Education Building (to be demolished), 4 Court Buildings (to be demolished) 1926-1927
• Tucson High School and Vocational Educational Building, Lyman & Place/Henry Haastad, Associate 1924
• Saint Augustine Cathedral façade remodel 1929
• Grace Lutheran Church 1949

Demolished Buildings

• University Methodist Episcopal Church 1924 Demolished 1987

• El Conquistador Hotel 1928

• Safford High School (original) 1915 Demolished mid 1990s

References

Sources

• Nequette, Anne M. and Jeffery, R. Brooks. A Guide to Tucson Architecture. University of Arizona Press 2002.

• Regan, Margaret. Remembering Rockfellow: Although Her Name is all but Forgotten, Tucson's First Female Architect Left Her Mark. Tucson Weekly Jan. 31, 2000.

• Regan, Margaret. Class Struggle, Tucson Weekly. December 2, 1999.

External links

• Henry O. Jaastad at Find a Grave