Robert Thomas Evans
24 Jun 1888
bornChicago, Illinois, USA
SchooltblData
BiographyArchitect and engineer. Graduated from the Chicago Manual Training School, and went on to earn a BS from the Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago, and an ME degree in architecture from the University of Freiburg, Germany. He began his career in Chicago with the Municipal Engineering and Contracting Co. and the F. C. Austin Drainage Excavator Co. Started his own company, Evans Manufacturing Co., making farm tractors. Worked as executive engineer in charge of Motor Truck Products at the International Harvester Company, and as chief engineer for American Terracotta Co. in building construction, architecture and engineering. In 1923, he moved to Arizona and became a practicing architect. He built the Jokake Inn, c1925, originally designed as a home. By 1923, he became owner and operator of the Jokake Inn and Evans Construction Co. in Phoenix. He also helped remodel the Biltmore Hotel and was architect for Subsistance Homestead Corp., a government agency. He sold his interest in Jokake Inn in late 1930s and built the Paradise Inn, which he managed until he sold it in 1950. He also designed and constructed the original part of Casa Blanca, La Fonda Fiesta, and many of the smaller guest ranches in the Valley, and managed Paradise Ranch in Arizona's White Mountains for fourteen years.
In 1924, he supervised the restoration of the Hayden House as a restaurant for Sallie and Mary "Mapes" Hayden; this project is considered to be the earliest historic building restoration project in Arizona.
He was a member of the Phoenix Country Club, the Arizona Club, and the Valley Club, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Society of Automotive Engineers.
BIO-Evans
HPS-146
Person TypeIndividual
