Lois Grunow Medical Clinic 330/365

Grunow Memorial Clinic, built in 1931, is named for Lois Grunow who died two years earlier at the age of seven. The building was endowed by her parents, owners of a successful manufacturing company. This Spanish baroque building is dubbed by some as the most beautiful building in Phoenix. The entrance façade and windows have Churrigueresque detailing. The lobby, equally ornate, is decorated with period-style furniture which appears to be original and is called the Renaissance Room. The building is still used for medical offices and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the City of Phoenix Historic Preservation List.


Older Phoenicians know about the Grunow Clinic from one of Arizona’s most spectacular and grisly murders. Winnie Ruth Judd, dubbed the “trunk murderess” by the press, worked as a secretary in the building. She was accused of killing her two roommates in 1931, dismembering their bodies and shipping them in trunks to Los Angeles. The case was sensationalized in the papers both in California and Arizona. Mrs. Judd was convicted of one of the murders and originally sentenced to death by hanging. She was later found to be incompetent and spent much of her life in the Arizona State Hospital, although she escaped seven times. She was eventually pardoned by the governor of Arizona in 1971. Many Phoenix residents of that day believed she took the blame for a crime committed by a prominent businessman who they contend was protected by the Phoenix business establishment.

Pictures of the interior of the building can be found at FKH Photo Journal.