Annual conference with off-site tours spotlights historical treasures of the State of Arizona.

Phoenix, Arizona – After holding the event virtually last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Arizona Preservation Foundation held its annual Historic Preservation Conference for 2021 at the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired DoubleTree by Hilton in Tempe, Arizona, Oct 27–29. 

 

The two-day event for those in the fields of historic preservation, archaeology, cultural resources management, architecture, and planning, concluded with off-site tours of significant historic sites, including the nationally recognized L. Ron Hubbard House at Camelback.

Tempe Mayor Corey Woods opened the conference, which included presentations by State Historic Preservation Officer Kathryn Leonard and Arizona Preservation Foundation Board President Jim McPherson. This year’s theme was “Layered Landscapes.”

Historic locations showcased at the conference and off-site tours were:

● The Charles T. Hayden House, home of Charles Trumbull Hayden, father of Senator Carl Hayden, who also owned Tempe’s historic Hayden Flour Mill

● The Oid'bad Do'ag, an andesitic butte officially known as Tempe Butte, which rises 350 feet above downtown Tempe

● Niels Peterson House, a Victorian home designed by James Creighton and constructed in 1892

● The L. Ron Hubbard House at Camelback, a 1950’s post-modern ranch-style home where L. Ron Hubbard lived between 1952 and 1954, when he founded the Scientology religion.

“The L. Ron Hubbard Camelback House is among the finest examples of a historic restoration we have in Arizona,” said Leonard. “History was made here. The nationally recognized site is of significance not only due to the high degree of integrity preserved by the restoration, but for its historical association with the founding of the Scientology religion, now a worldwide movement.”

L. Ron Hubbard House at Camelback welcomed preservationists from Tempe, Mesa and Phoenix who were presented with an overview of the research and restoration process, followed by an in-person guided tour of the fully restored 1950s post-modern ranch-style home.

John L. Jacquemart, Phoenix historian, author, and historic preservationist was on the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission when the L. Ron Hubbard House on Camelback received National Historic Designation. “I’d like to thank the L. Ron Hubbard House on Camelback for being stewards of history and preservation and thus caring for our historic resources as essential for future generations,” he said.

Mr. Hubbard’s Camelback home, meticulously restorationed to its exact 1950’s condition and appearance, is recognized in the National Register of Historic Places, received the Governor’s Heritage Preservation Honor Award at the 2007 Arizona Historic Preservation Conference, and bears a Historic Site Marker from the Arizona Historical Society.

The National Historic Register of Historic Places describes the house as, “Meticulously restored to reflect the period of Hubbard’s residence,” with “a high degree of historic integrity. The nomination has been accepted at the national level of significance due to the extent of Hubbard’s influence and the fact that, translated into many languages, his philosophy and religious ideas attracted followers nationally and internationally.”

The city is also home to the Church of Scientology of Phoenix dedicated in June 2012 by Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige.

It was in Phoenix in 1952 that L. Ron Hubbard arrived at the discovery that gave birth to the Scientology religion: the isolation, identification and exteriorization of the human spirit. During the formative years of the religion, Scientologists traveled to the city from across three continents to hear Mr. Hubbard speak. He delivered over 600 lectures in Phoenix—more than in any other city in the world. These lectures, along with seminal Scientology works he authored in Phoenix, comprise a significant portion of the religion’s fundamental scripture.

For more information on the Church of Scientology Phoenix, visit www.scientology-phoenix.org. To learn more about L. Ron Hubbard’s Camelback Home, visit www.lronhubbard.org/landmark-sites/phoenix.html