A historic downtown skyscraper that was once Tucson’s tallest building has entered a new chapter as Treasury 1929, an event venue for weddings, private gatherings, music and more.
The 10-story Corinthian-style building has stood at Stone Avenue and Congress Street, in the heart of downtown, since 1929, when the Consolidated National Bank building opened just weeks before the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday.
“Then the crash came and they stopped building banks like this,” said chef and owner Daniel Scordato as he prepared small dishes for a private dinner back in June.
Scordato, who also owns Vivace, is the owner of Treasury 1929. He said he wanted to use the space to create an event kitchen rather than a traditional sit-down restaurant.
He had never opened a business downtown. But in 2023, after J.P. Morgan Chase decided not to renew its lease, property manager Crystal Moore invited him to see the space.
“We met on the corner, I shook his hand, I thanked him for coming and walked him into the space,” Moore said. “I think he was just caught off guard on the grandeur and the beautiful Italian marble — I mean, it’s just an amazing space.”
Scordato said he immediately envisioned the building as a wedding venue.
“And when I saw it, I fell in love with it,” he said. “I literally saw the bride and groom walking down the marble steps, and I thought, ‘This is for me.’”
Four banks have occupied the building over its 94-year history. Scordato kept that connection to its past in the venue’s name: Treasury 1929.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. Venue manager Athena Padilla said it is the oldest bank building still standing in Arizona that was built after the state was admitted to the U.S.
“You can’t beat that. Nobody can claim that except us,” Padilla said.
Renovations began in August 2024 and were completed five months later before its official opening in February of 2025. There were some restrictions on what could be changed because of the building’s historic designation.
Some of that history remains visible.
“You can actually see the footprints of 96 years worth of people standing in front of the teller window in one-inch-thick Portuguese marble,” Padilla said.
Padilla also discovered handwritten signatures dated October 1929 on a marble table leg. Moore said the building’s historic status requires its exterior to remain close to its original design.
The building’s history also shapes its newest uses.
The subterranean bank vault now houses Emerald 1929, a speakeasy that opened this past summer. Padilla helped launch the space and now manages the venue.
Music has also found a home in the building. Dr. Fanya Lin, a pianist and professor, has performed two piano concertos in the main lobby.
“What’s really interesting for me is how it’s a very open space. And so the sound travels very easily and it has a lot of enhanced acoustic echo,” Lin said.
Without a traditional stage, the lobby creates a different relationship between performers and audiences, Lin said.
A new opera series is also scheduled to begin at Treasury 1929 at the end of September.
Weddings have already become an important part of the venue’s new life. In February 2025, Moore’s daughter became one of the first brides to walk down the building’s marble steps.
Because the building also contains offices and apartments, Moore said the owners wanted to make sure events would not disturb residents. They hired a DJ to test high-volume music and bass levels throughout the building.
“We went up into the apartments to make sure that those apartment dwellers would not be bothered,” Moore said.
Padilla says the goal is to make the building and its events the focus rather than the people behind them.
“I want the space and the actual event to just be the best. That’s my legacy. That’s all I care about,” she said. “They don’t need to know my name.”
For Scordato, the project is about preserving a piece of Tucson while giving it a new purpose.
“The fact that it was always a bank the whole time — I think that was also a big factor,” he said. “I’m just glad that I can revitalize it and bring it again into the focus of Tucson.”
