A 2ND ACT {helping is healing}
The sprawling Italianate mansion was built by William Wrigley Jr. in 1929.
QUEEN OF ARIZONA HEARTS Baseball, gum and a sunny hill Judy Pearson | Contributing Writer
The “czar of chewing gum” already owned four palatial homes. But he was building something special on the 100-foot-high La Colina Solana, a sunny hill above his Arizona Biltmore Hotel. It would be an anniversary gift for his wife, Ada. William Wrigley Jr. had made his fortune selling penny sticks of chewing gum and could well afford the home’s $200,000 price tag (over $3 million in today’s dollars). And oh, what a home it would be. Built nine miles north of what was then considered Phoenix city limits, the 16,850-square-foot mansion would sit on 10 acres, with a 360-degree view of the Valley of the Sun. The 30-foot-high foyer rotunda was adorned with a gold-leafed and hand-painted ceiling. And the floor below was laid with tiles made in Wrigley’s Catalina Island estate kiln. The rest of the home boasted pegged oak floors covered in beautiful, hand-woven Spanish
rugs. The oak Steinway grand piano in the living room was one of only two in existence, doubling as a player piano. And all of the chairs were carefully crafted lower than usual to accommodate Ada’s petite frame. The chartreuse, black, turquoise and royal blue art deco ceramic tiles used in the 11 bathrooms also came from Catalina Island. They arrived at the building site via boat, then locomotive, and finally mule train. Every doorknob, hinge, window fixture and switch plate in the mansion was brass, except those in the family bedrooms. They were sterling silver. The mansion took three years to reach its splendor, and William Wrigley planned to spend the early months of 1932 there. But a few weeks after arriving in January, he was stricken with acute indigestion, from which he died at the age of 70 on January 26. FEBRUARY 2020 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 39
