Edward L. Varney


Edward Leighton Varney Jr. was an American Modernist architect working in Phoenix, Arizona from 1937 until his retirement in 1985. He designed the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, and Sun Devil Stadium at Arizona State University. He studied under Frank Lloyd Wright and in 1941 began his firm.

Life and career

Edward Leighton Varney Jr. was born on October 11, 1914, in Alameda, California, the son of Edward Leighton, and Frances Deane, Varney. He attended the University of California at Berkeley before transferring to the University Southern California where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture in 1938. That same year he moved to Phoenix and took a job with O.A. Bell Architects working as a draftsman on the Arizona Capital addition. In 1941 he and Charles Gilmore started the firm of Gilmore & Varney. In 1946 he started his own firm, Edward L. Varney Associates. He was soon joined by Reginald Sydnor, and Robert Sexton and in 1963 the firm was reorganized into Varney, Sexton, Sydnor Associates. Varney's firm specialized in designing industrial facilities such as those for Motorola, General Electric, Sperry Rand and Emerson Electric. The firm also specialized in educational structures designing several buildings on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University as well as many schools for the local school districts. Varney is credited with mentoring some influential architects in Arizona, including Ralph Haver, Richard E. Drover, and Frederick P. Weaver. in 1971 Varney was made a fellow in the American Institute of Architects. Varney retired in 1985 and died on June 30, 1998.

Selected works

Varney's works include: