Casas Adobes Plaza is an upscale

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that ...

located at the southwest corner of North Oracle Road and East Ina Road in

Casas Adobes, Arizona Casas Adobes (Spanish: "''Adobe Houses''") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in the northern metropolitan area of Tucson, Arizona (in Pima County). The population was 66,795 at the 2010 census. Casas A ...

(United States), just northwest of

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. The attempted assassination of Representative

Gabby Giffords Gabrielle Dee Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is an American retired politician and gun control advocate who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned ...

, and the murder of chief judge for the U.S. District Court for Arizona,

John Roll John McCarthy Roll (February 8, 1947 – January 8, 2011) was a United States district judge who served on the United States District Court for the District of Arizona from 1991 until his murder in 2011, and as chief judge of that court from 20 ...

on January 8, 2011 occurred just across North Oracle Road from Casas Adobes Plaza at the La Toscana Village.

History

Casas Adobes gets its name from a subdivision built by developer Silvio "Sam" Nanini in the 1950s. Casas Adobes has come refer to the entire unincorporated area of the Northwest that is north of Tucson's city limits and between the towns of

Oro Valley Oro Valley, incorporated in 1974, is a suburban town located north of Tucson, Arizona, United States, in Pima County. According to the 2020 census, the population of the town is 47,070, an increase from 29,700 in 2000. Dubbed the "Upscale Te ...

and

Marana Marana may refer to: * Maraña, a village in León, Spain * Maraṇa, the Pali/Sanskrit term for death * Marana, Arizona, a town in Pima County, Arizona, United States * Marana, Estonia, a village in Estonia * Marana, Syria, a village in Syria ...

.http://the-chamber.com/casas-adobes-northern-pima-county-communities.html Along North Oracle Road, Sam Nanini would make his mark. Mr. Nanini and his wife, Giaconda, moved to Tucson in 1948 seeking to cure Mrs. Nanini's

bronchial asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, coug ...

. The Nanini's were immigrants from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, who first moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Nanini immediately worked to begin an upscale shopping plaza in the remote area northwest of Tucson that today forms the heart of the Casas Adobes community. Beginning in the mid-1950s, Nanini developed three subdivisions on about 300 acres that became the heart of the Casas Adobes community and was considered by many to be Tucson's first suburb. All of the homes were built with adobe, or mud, bricks. Nanini and his son William later built the Tucson National Resort and Country Club and the adjacent million-dollar home subdivision, the Tucson National Estates. Casas Adobes Plaza was built with the same red-brown adobe brick of their Casas Adobes subdivision, and with the intent to mimic the neighborhood markets of Sam Nanini's hometown in Italy. The area has continued to add subdivisions and today it has nearly 60,000 residents.

About

Casas Adobes Plaza, was designed by a protégé of

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Josias Joesler in the late 1940s. The plaza features Spanish Colonial architecture.

References

{{Shopping malls in Arizona Shopping malls in Pima County, Arizona Shopping malls established in 1948