The High School~Superior Home Tour

When I read the high school building in Superior would be on the Home Tour this year, because it is a private home, I had to see who would want to live in a three story 25,116 square foot brick and plaster structure built in 1924-25!

The last class graduated in 2000. It was sold in 2003 by the Magma Copper Company for $1.00 to Elijah and Marjorie Cardon, and partner Berdelle Jarvis. The school is not on the historical registry, but the outside of the building has been preserved.

The structure needed to be stabilized before any remodeling could take place. When purchased in 2003 the roof was leaking, half the windows were gone, vandals had kicked in all the doors, birds and critters had been invading, and drug parties were frequent. Leaking evaporative coolers had also ruined some of the floors. The first priority was to secure the property with a 10' high wire fence, which is still in place.

When the Cardons returned from a 2 year missionary trip to East Germany in 2009, they began to remodel the high school as their personal home.

the owners' bedroom suite

wall wardrobes from Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas

(all the furniture in the school has come from 

hotel liquidation sales and antique stores)

this area used to be the teacher's lounge 

the girls' lavatory has become

a powder room, dressing room, and closet

the owners' private library in a former classroom

the chalkboards and floor are original

the sitting and receiving room of the owners

formerly the chemistry room

doll collection of Elijah's aunt from travels and

mission trip locations in glass cases along the far wall

one of the 2 guest suites we saw

each has a queen bed and sitting area,

large bathroom and a small kitchenette

and its own private outside entrance

long canvas drapes keep out the sun and are thermal insulators

high school gymnasium

used for youth retreats and during training sessions

another guest suite just off the large gymnasium

was the former recruiting office

has its own outside entrance, AC, foyer and kitchenette

remodeled girls' lavatory off the gym

and part of the guest room

more of the guest room bathroom

All the doors have been replaced by similar doors of the period. Many of the windows have been replaced or rebuilt using the same glass to keep out the gusty winds and the rusted and rotten frames and sills have been replaced. All the plumbing and electrical have been brought up to code. Original wood floors have also been restored. BUT...it still looks and feels like an old high school.

We did see some other remodeled rooms on the tour, about 10 stations in all. Beginning in 2011, the Cardons hosted youth conferences and retreats. They have provided overnight housing for 50 conferences averaging 250 youth per event, hosting about 10,000 kids. The youth on retreat donate their time and skills for Superior community projects. So on occasion, the school rooms and hallways still ring with the noise of high school kids.

The Home Economics room (kitchen) is the storage and prep area for retreat meals. The sewing room  across the hall is used as a conference and meeting room during retreats.

The high school has also hosted the Superior Prickly Pear Festival (held in August), the Superior Hall of Fame, firefighter training and many high school reunions. In fact, the day we were there, about 20 Superior firefighters entered the building before us and disappeared somewhere. The lower level of the building is rented to a heavy equipment contractor. Another old building with a new life and purpose.

Next blog post will be the private homes we toured during

the Superior Home Tour

The Barmacy~Superior Home Tour

Located across the street from the Magma Hotel is the rebuilt and newly refurbished Superior Barmacy, also purchased in 2012 by Miguel Sfeir and Los Cedros Superior LLC. The building occupying the corner of Main and Magma has been a pharmacy/drug store since it was built in 1913, until 2003 when it began a rotation of various owners and businesses and finally falling into major disrepair. The roof had fallen in and the walls had to be propped up with supports when Sfeir rescued the building or what was left of it.

building is not on the Historic Registry

patio to the right

reminiscent of the days when teens and adults sat at the counters

and tables drinking cokes and visiting

 Miguel and his son, the owners

of The Superior Barmacy, bar and restaurant

the original 100+ year-old wooden beams were used to build

 the the swinging doors, the bar and bar step, the wainscoting, 

and the outdoor bar

elegant red and black color scheme

gorgeous glass chandeliers

above the swinging doors

7 big screen TVs 

ladies' restroom tiled in red and white

men's restroom tiled in black and white

large modern kitchen and prep room in the back

basement storage area with dumb waiter

the original vault

probably used to safe guard medicines and cash

on the outdoor unfinished patio making a plan 

for the next stop on the tour

The unfinished Barmacy patio was the location of the Superior theater, built in 1923, also built with brick from the local brick company. The theater was overhauled in 1937 and expanded to 200 main floor seats, 250 balcony seats, and 300 box seats. It also had heating, AC and a modern (for 1937) sound system.

In the 1950s the Uptown Theater's schedule was Kids' day on Saturday. They could watch serials, westerns and cartoons all day. Monday was Mexican Movie Night. Tuesday was "naughty night" when movies of naked women were shown and men sometimes attended with "soiled doves" from the local bordellos. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were big social nights when the new releases ran in the theater. 

The patio has a sloped floor replicating the theater floor. A stage at the south end of the lot is raised such that folks seated at the tables at the flat north end of the patio will be able to see the stage more easily. There are two pass-through windows to the Barmacy along the east side of the patio. Concrete and gabion walls (wire cages that hold rocks) are along the west and street side of the patio. 

The Barmacy and the patio are also expected to be open for business in mid-March. 

Next blog post from the Superior Home Tour

The Superior High School...now a private home

The Magma Hotel~Superior Home Tour

It has been 5 years since my last visit to the Superior Home Tour. Five Years??? WOW! Late last week I saw a poster advertising the home tour. That led to some research as to what was being shown this year. After learning the Magma Hotel and the Superior High School among other buildings would be part of the tour, I coerced Hubby by asking friends if they would like to go. They were game and thus the four of us headed to Superior on Sunday. First stop was breakfast at the Buckboard Cafe.

The following several photos are of the Magma Hotel from the 2014 Superior Home Tour. It was obvious something was happening to the historic building, but I did not get much information. I now have the information...

January 26, 2014

January 26, 2014

building to the east of the hotel

January 26, 2014

one of my favorite 'framed' photos

also from January 26, 2014

January 27, 2019

John M. McPherson and wife, Anna, of Canada moved to Superior in 1902 and built the two-story hotel in 1910-1912 using red brick from the local brick factory. The 13,500 square foot Magma Hotel was home to the local newspaper and used as a hotel and boarding house. The hotel housed a phone booth where locals could make long distance calls until 1923. It also housed the Magma Cafe and the bus depot.

A screened-in seasonal sleeping porch for men was added in the 1920s as part of the boarding house. The hotel/boarding house also was home to an insurance business, a pharmacy, attorneys, and realtors over the years. Later, once the buildings began to decline, a hair salon, rooms for rent and the Superior food bank were located on the first floor and a restaurant was in the east wing. (white building)

In 1994 the Magma Hotel was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. In 2010 the Magma Hotel was purchased by Miguel Sfeir from Chili and Scottsdale whose goal was to return the historic buildings to their previous grandeur.

Plum trees and palm yucca adorn the landscaped courtyard and arched portico where the main doors to the lobby are located.

dining room to the right of the lobby

seats 40+ people at 9 tables

3 ornate wood sideboards for buffets

large windows overlook a slender garden in the rear

replicated tin ceiling in the dining room

luxurious carpet runner on the main staircase

which branches to the left and right

the left leads to the second floor 8 rooms in the red brick hotel

the right leads to the patio over the dining room which leads to

the boarding house (white building)

the largest of the first floor 8 hotel rooms

rooms decorated in tone-on-tone blue, cream or green

hotel rooms have white bedding

each room has a metal framed queen bed, an enlarged (modern) bathroom,

an open shelved closet, a replica crown and dental shelf on the wall,

chair railing, a light/ceiling fan fixture

AND a flat screen TV

view of Main Street and Picket Post Mountain

from the sleeping porch veranda

one of the 6 bedrooms on the second floor 'boarding house'

tone-on-tone green paint

patterned bedding matching the paint color

rooms' ceiling light/fan fixture

curtain rods in place but no curtains yet

The Tea Room is the first floor of the 'boarding house' intended to be a quiet place with its flocked wall paper, tiny stage, 5 low and 5 high-top tables, ornate bar, and

glass and iron chandeliers on the replicated original tin ceiling.

"The lovely Magma Hotel has been restored to its 107 year old glamour, through trial and tribulation, by Miguel Sfeir (and his son). Superior is envisioning a bright future with the Magma Hotel as its centerpiece." The hotel and restaurants are expected to be open in March and ready for visitors. I will be one of them!

More Superior Home Tour in the next post...

The Barmacy

I Did It!

I've had a goal for a couple of years and I finally reached it this week. I'm not a big goal setter, but if I get involved in a hobby or activity for a long time, setting a goal helps me keep my interest and enthusiasm for continued participation. I think that may be true for most sports and hobby enthusiasts.

Hubby reached his goal almost a year before I reached mine. That was okay with me as we approach things differently. But he was quite instrumental in helping me reach this goal. He chose the location and I got to choose the day. Not that the day, January 22nd, was important; it was a day with nothing else on the calendar. But January 22nd is a big deal now as it is the day I found my 20,000th geocache!

We got up at 5 AM (if you REALLY know us, you know that is not typical!) to drive through Phoenix's early morning rush hour traffic from the east side of the valley to the west side and beyond...

There was only one accident on the west bound lanes, but a couple on the east bound lanes. The accident was not serious, no ambulance or firetrucks. We only reduced our speed until we were around the vehicles along the side of the 4 lanes.

The location for our day of geocaching was nothing special. We arrived about 7:30 to begin our day of jumping out...well...climbing out of the jeep and walking 20' to a pile of rocks and locating a small container with a piece of paper. 

The road for the first maybe 20 miles was paved with very level, wide shoulders. There was some traffic, mostly locals. It was open range country, but we did not see any cattle in the 28 miles. However, we did see evidence of them.

Then the road became gravel, but continued to be very wide and level. The only traffic we encountered on the gravel road were gravel trucks hauling a load from farther north.

The desert floor is green from the winter rains. The temperatures have been cool which contributes to the green grass.

Most of the geocaches along this road are in a small pile of rocks and easy to find. This one was different as it was a tree or brush root/trunk. It is too cold for snakes, so reaching into a piece of wood is not a worry right now.

Probably the scenery highlight for me was seeing a small cluster of blooming poppies. We really do not see them in January and some years, like last year, we do not see them at all. Moisture at the right time of the year (fall and early winter) is the key to abundant wild flowers.

It was cool, maybe 50º so the poppies were not really open. And there was quite a breeze blowing, but the camera on my new phone takes video (live) and then selects the best still photo for me. SHEEZ! But it gives me a nice clear photo...

I do not know the name of this little purple ground flower, but they are rather abundant right now.

So back to the goal of 20,000 geocaches. I started the day at 19,811. Although we found and signed about 200 of the 331 caches in this series, I wanted my 20,000th one to be somewhat special. When we started the run that morning we had no idea how many we might find, how hard they might be, etc., etc. So getting 200 geocaches wasn't exactly what we had planned. 

The night before I had solved a puzzle cache created by a Canyon Vistas geocacher. The final location of her puzzle was not far from our place, but out in the desert...a short walk. Hubby and I agreed to end our trail run with 200 finds. I wasn't too excited to drive back home in afternoon rush hour. Nor was he! By 2:00 we were on I10 heading east ahead of the really ugly traffic.

When we got home, I quickly made a sign while Hubby put the geocache on the GPS. We parked Lil' Red as close as we could. We crawled through a barb wire fence that many before us had also done, and headed into the sun for this special geocache.

 (I am holding Signal, the geocaching mascot. It was given to me by another AZ geocacher to give to my grandkids. Rather than GIVE it to them, it is going to have geocaching adventures and at the end of the year, there will be a book to share with Miss W and Mcbe.)

A Rose Between Two Thorns

This is an interesting chart showing my geocaching history. The dotted lines show the number of geocaches I/we have found each year, beginning the end of 2012. The shaded area shows how I/we have reached the 20,000 mark. You can see 2016 was a very big year for us. And you can see that 2018 was NOT a big geocaching year. Hubby's health, my hip replacement, our move to a new community and home all contributed to geocaching placed on the back shelf.

Another interesting tidbit is the following chart showing the rankings of South Dakota geocachers. I am currently #5, Hubby #4. (We rank in the 40s standings for AZ geocachers.)

There will be several celebrations to mark the occasion of 20,000 geocaches. But more about those as they happen. For now I am just basking in the accomplishment of a personal goal, one I never imagined in August 2012 when I encouraged Hubby to buy a GPS and try geocaching in the park at the end of the block.