History of Ancala - by Rich Barton

By Mike Zschunke

Ancala was developed by the Barton family; James, Fred and Rich. The Barton's came to the Valley of the Sun in 1983 looking for three hundred acres of land as close to town as possible to build a private country club with homes around the golf course.

A real estate broker was hired to find the land and was told the only land meeting their goal was owned by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the land was not for sale.

Frank Lloyd Wright purchased 750 acres of land in 1937 for $3.50 an acre. Mr. Wright built Taliesin West on the land. At the time of Mr. Wright's purchase, the land was fifteen miles northeast of Scottsdale and twenty six miles from Phoenix. The Barton's were successful in purchasing approximately 580 of the 750 acres of land originally purchased by Mr. Wright . Frank Lloyd Wright's property was the land for Ancala. 

Pete Dye designed the golf course for Ancala. Two world famous architects participated in creating Ancala. Mr. Wright said he could envision homes on the side of the McDowell Mountain's looking like "butterflies alighting on a rock."

Taliesin West did all of the land planning in Ancala with the goal of fulfilling Mr. Wright's vision. The homes in Ancala have accomplished Mr. Wright's vision. The original name on the first filing is "Ancala at Taliesin West." The "at Taliesin West" was dropped in later filings and the name became "Ancala."

Ancala was named after a rock and flower garden in Scotland. It means “haven in the distance,” Barton saw it in a Scottish book and thought it perfect for the neighborhood.

The sequence of events:

1983 Walked the land for the first time

1985 Purchased the original 300 acres of land

1989 Final City of Scottsdale approval to build Ancala including golf 1990 Started construction on Phase One of the lots and the golf course 1991 Opened the golf course and started marketing the lots

On April 21, 1991, Harry and Mary Lempke purchased the first lot, #240, on number three green, building the first home in Ancala. Rich's wife, Jody, and their son, Jeff, sold all of the lots.

 

 

The year of the purchase of the land, the approximate acres and the approximate lots are as follows:

Name	Year	Acres	Lots
Ancala	1985	300	246 (Purchased from Frank Lloyd Foundation)
Ancala East	1993	90	76 (Purchased from McDowell Mntain Ranch)
Ancala North	1995	295	180 (Purchased from the State of Arizona)
Ancala West	1997	65	40 (Purchased from Frank Lloyd Foundation)
Total		750	542

 

The Ancala North land was in the original Mr. Wright purchase but was deeded to the State of Arizona to save Mr. Wright from paying the taxes on the property. Ancala purchased the Ancala North land from the State. The total lot numbers have changed over the years.

The Ancala Casitas were created in the original filing of Ancala containing 42 lots. In the late 1980's, the City of Scottsdale would not approve water for a golf course without the golf course being associated with a resort. That is the reason the original name of the casita's was "Ancala Casita Resort." All 42 of the homes are designed with a second bedroom that has access to the street creating an 84 room resort in Ancala. With this design, in 1989, Scottsdale approved Ancala and the golf course. The casitas were never utilized as a resort. The casitas were built by Sun Cor, a subsidiary of Pinnacle West, the owners of Arizona Public Service.

Ancala was the first golf course in Scottsdale to use the Central Arizona Project (CAP) water. The CAP was completed in 1989.

In 1989, Ancala paid a onetime water resource development fee of $576,000 and ran a water line from the CAP to the Ancala lake with a total cost for the water of approximately $700,000.

In 2006, Desert Mountain paid a onetime water resource development fee of

$2,500,000 and ran a water line from the CAP to the Desert Mountain lake with a total cost for their water of approximately $15,000.000 to build the Outlaw golf course.

Ancala got a great deal for their water which for the record is 100 million gallons of water per year to water the golf course.

 

Ancala Country Club (ACC) was separated from the lots. It was always the Barton's intent to sell ACC to a private country club owner and operator. In 1993, ACC was sold to American Golf Corporation (AGC). AGC built and opened the clubhouse in 1995. For sports fans, Gail Goodrich, the Phoenix Sun and Hall of Fame basketball player, handled the purchase of ACC for AGC.

Ancala built Via Linda as it exists today from the old elementary school to the west to just past the main entrance to Ancala at 118th and Via Linda.

With the addition to the Shea Corridor of Mayo Clinic Scottsdale , Desert Mountain High School and Anasazi Elementary School and Top Ranked Basis School Scottsdale, the City extended Via Linda to 136th Street and today more homes are East of even 136th St up into Hidden Hills Scottsdale.

Available Homes in Scottsdale's Ancala Country Club Community: CLICK HERE: Ancala Homes For Sale

Call Mike Zschunke, Real Estate Advisor, Berkshire Hathaway Arizona Properties Scottsdale at (203)733-5877