Flagstaff commissioners ask for deeper review of City Hall study, request additions on courts, protests and local masonry

The Flagstaff Heritage Preservation Commission on May 21 declined to accept a phase 1 historic resources study for 19 West Birch Avenue — the former City Hall — and asked the consultant team to return with additional local research and analysis. The commission voted to request revisions and to review a revised study at a future meeting; staff and the consultants set an expected return in July.

The commission’s request centers on whether the property meets Flagstaff’s local significance tests (Flagstaff criteria B and D) even if it would not be listed nationally. “I see some missing items being a long lifelong resident. That used to be a city jail also,” Commissioner Jesse Dominguez told the consultants during public discussion, pressing the team to include court and jail use, the fire-department horn and civic events in the historical record. Several other commissioners said the report should examine midcentury civic functions and the local use of Malapai stone in construction.

Cornerstone Environmental, the consultant that prepared the report, recommended that the building was not eligible: “we found that the study building was not significant in any of the above areas,” Sam Hemsley said in the presentation. Jack (Cornerstone) and Sam walked commissioners through the building’s history, construction, and prior civic uses dating to the early 1950s, and noted the building’s interior and exterior had been substantially remodeled since its original construction.

Commissioners pressed the team to broaden sources and to sharpen local context. “I would like to say that, actually, I don't agree with your findings of the building not being significant, particularly at the local level for Flagstaff,” Commissioner Alicia Hayes said, arguing the building’s international-style elements combined with the Malapai basalt facade give it distinctive, locally meaningful character. Other commissioners requested more archival research (city council minutes, court records), oral histories, additional historic photographs (including NAU/Klein collections), and investigation of local masons and construction methods.

The motion the commission passed directed Cornerstone and staff to revise the study to: (1) re-evaluate eligibility under Flagstaff criteria B (association with persons/events) and D (architectural/engineering methods), (2) research court and jail functions and civic events (including reported protests and strikes of the 1960s), (3) look for oral histories and additional historic photographs (NAU/Klein Library, Arizona Memory Project, local newspaper files), (4) assess construction methods (clarify whether Malapai stone is veneer or structural), (5) address post–World War II development context for Flagstaff, and (6) reduce emphasis on interior changes where not relevant to exterior significance. Chair Dale moved the motion and Commissioner Duffy Westheimer seconded it; the motion carried without opposition.

Cornerstone told the commission it would pursue the requested additional research and favored returning in July, depending on timing and available records. Consultants also said some municipal records from older periods may be incomplete because of past flooding of city archives, but they agreed to attempt records requests and to perform additional oral-history interviews and photo searches.

Next steps: staff and the consultant will pursue the expanded research items and return a revised report for the commission’s review. The action does not itself alter the property or halt any unrelated permitting; it only requires the study be revised and re-presented before the HPC issues a final significance finding or any subsequent certificate determinations.

Why this matters: If a resource is found to be locally significant under Flagstaff’s criteria and retains sufficient integrity, the commission can require mitigation or recommend preservation measures during later reviews; if it is not found significant, demolition or redevelopment projects proceed without those preservation conditions.