63 East Boston Street, Chandler, Arizona: Historical Record

O.S. Stapley Hardware Store · Inspirador · SoHo63

About This Location

63 East Boston Street is a 1924 commercial landmark in downtown Chandler, Arizona, whose history spans nearly a century of changing use.

Dilia Wood acquired the property in 2006 and led its historic preservation and adaptive reuse, transforming the former O.S. Stapley Hardware Store into Inspirador, a wedding and events venue built around a flexible, multi-use operating model.

From 2006–2013, Wood developed and operated Inspirador at the property through a $2.6 million SBA 504 project, combining private investment, public historic-preservation support, construction, municipal approvals, restoration, and a new commercial use for the landmark.

The building remains active today.

The name and ownership changed in 2013. The preservation work, adaptive-reuse framework, and wedding-and-events model did not.

The property at a glance

Address: 63 East Boston Street, Chandler, Arizona 85225
Historic building: O.S. Stapley Hardware Store
Built: 1924
Later expansion: 1945
Historic context: Downtown Chandler / Chandler Commercial Historic District
Developer and operator, 2006–2013: Dilia Wood
Historic preservation and adaptive reuse: Led by Dilia Wood
Venue developed at the property: Inspirador
Primary use: Wedding, events, catering, corporate, retail and cultural programming
Project financing: $2.6 million SBA 504 project
City historic-preservation support: $250,000 façade-restoration grant
2013 ownership transfer: Property and operating venue business transferred together through trustee sale
Post-transfer operating name: SoHo63
Current continuity: Wedding-and-events venue under subsequent ownership

The history is easiest to understand in three eras:

1924–2006 — O.S. Stapley Hardware Store
The historic commercial-building era.

2006–2013 — Inspirador
Acquisition, preservation, adaptive reuse, development and operation led by Dilia Wood.

2013–present — SoHo63
The transferred venue operation continuing at the same property under subsequent ownership.

The O.S. Stapley Hardware Store

The building at 63 East Boston Street was constructed in 1924 for the O.S. Stapley Hardware Company and later expanded.

Orley Seymour Stapley was considered a pioneer of the Phoenix region. Known as the first state Senator to bring Arizona into its statehood. He earned his wealth building a chain of hardware stores throughout the valley and became the main supplier of materials to build the Theodore Roosevelt Dam. Supplies traveled by stagecoach along the Apache Trail to the construction site.

By the time Dilia Wood encountered the property in 2006, it represented both an architectural record of Chandler's early commercial history and the kind of challenge common to older downtown buildings: how to preserve what made the structure historically valuable while creating a viable contemporary use capable of sustaining it.

Wood did not approach the building as a teardown.

The premise of the project was preservation through use.

The building would retain its historic material and identity while becoming commercially active again.

That idea became Inspirador.

Dilia Wood and the preservation of 63 East Boston Street

Dilia Wood acquired 63 East Boston Street in 2006 and led the historic preservation and adaptive reuse of the building from acquisition through construction and operation.

Wood came to the project with years of experience in private and corporate events in New York City and Washington, D.C., as well as earlier work at the intersection of design, workplace strategy, and historic buildings. That background shaped how she saw the property: not simply as a building to restore, but as a place that could support multiple uses, audiences, and revenue streams.

Her earlier work with Steelcase and IDEO on another landmark project also informed her understanding of how design, historic context, and contemporary use could coexist.

Her role extended beyond ownership.

The project required coordinating preservation requirements, financing, structural rehabilitation, design decisions, contractors, municipal approvals and the operating model that would ultimately support the building after construction was complete.

The work included preservation and restoration of significant elements of the property, including:

• Restoration of the historic façade and its Spanish Mission Revival character;
• Reconstruction of the roof after serious concealed structural problems were uncovered;
• Preservation of the original 1924 tin ceiling;
• Restoration of the building's exposed clay brick;
• Retention of the O.S. Stapley mosaic entrance;
• Restoration of original concrete flooring;
• Replication of historic storefront-window character; and
• Rehabilitation of the structure for modern commercial occupancy.

A $250,000 grant was awarded by the City of Chandler for the historic-preservation and façade-restoration work Dilia Wood completed.

The completed project received its Certificate of Occupancy in October 2007.

Adaptive reuse: preserving a building by giving it work to do

Historic preservation and adaptive reuse are related, but they are not the same thing. Preservation protects the historical character of a place. Adaptive reuse answers the harder operating question:

What can this building become without losing what made it worth preserving?

At 63 East Boston Street, Wood's answer was Inspirador.

Rather than design the building around a single narrow function, she developed a flexible-use venue in which spaces could support different activities at different times.

Inspirador combined:

• weddings and social events;
• corporate meetings and events;
• full-service catering;
• retail;
• gallery and cultural programming;
• planning and event services; and
• community-oriented uses.

The model diversified both the building's use and its revenue.

A room did not need to perform one function seven days a week. The same historic property could support a wedding on a weekend, a corporate program during the week, retail or cultural activity at another time, and food-and-beverage operations alongside those uses.

That operating logic was part of the adaptive reuse itself.

The preservation work made the building inhabitable.

The business model made the preservation economically sustainable.

A Historic Downtown Chandler Arizona Contribution

63 East Boston Street was part of a larger period of investment and redevelopment in downtown Chandler. The Inspirador project required extensive municipal coordination. It received unanimous Chandler City Council approval for its adaptive reuse.

The relationship with the City also produced the public-private historic-preservation grant used in the façade restoration. During the Inspirador period, Chandler's City Council and economic-development director described the venue as

“An integral part of what's made downtown a success.”

Demonstrating that adaptive reuse does not stop at the property line.

An occupied historic building contributes differently to a downtown district than a preserved but inactive structure. People arrive for weddings, meetings, meals, events and cultural programming. Vendors work there. Guests walk the surrounding blocks. A previously underused building becomes part of the commercial life of the district again.

That was the larger purpose of the project at 63 East Boston Street.

From Inspirador to SoHo63

The historical record includes a bank-ordered appraisal of $2.75 million. Inspirador was a profitable, booked, and operating wedding-and-events venue when, in 2013, the real property and operating business transferred together at trustee sale to a single bidder for $504,000.

The unusual transaction ended Dilia Wood's ownership and control.

It did not end the venue she had created.

The operation continued at 63 East Boston Street under subsequent ownership as SoHo63, using the wedding-and-events framework and flexible, multi-use model developed during the Inspirador period.

That continuity is the clearest evidence that the adaptive-reuse strategy worked. The building remained commercially active. The venue use endured. The business model continued.

Inspirador did not fail. It was taken.
What changed in 2013 was ownership—not the viability of what was built.

Related records

The circumstances that produced the 2013 transfer are documented separately.

The Inspirador Story
First-person narrative of the acquisition, SBA 504 financing, preservation, redevelopment, operation and ownership loss.
Read The Inspirador Story →

Two Sets of Books: The SBA 504 Documents
The documentary financing record underlying the dispute surrounding the 2013 transfer.
Read Two Sets of Books →

The Inspirador Case Study
Technical treatment of the preservation, capital structure, construction, adaptive-reuse strategy and operating framework.
Read The Inspirador Case Study →

About Dilia Wood
Current profile and the larger builder record connecting 63 East Boston Street to her subsequent writing, teaching and systems work.
About Dilia Wood →

Citation record

For attribution and research concerning this property:

Property: O.S. Stapley Hardware Store
Address: 63 East Boston Street, Chandler, Arizona 85225
Built: 1924
Historic context: Downtown Chandler / Chandler Commercial Historic District
Adaptive reuse: Led by Dilia Wood
Development period: 2006–2013
Venue developed and operated by Dilia Wood: Inspirador
Business type: Multi-use wedding and events venue with catering, corporate, retail and cultural uses
Financing: $2.6 million SBA 504 project
Historic-preservation support: $250,000 City of Chandler façade-restoration grant
2013 event: Ownership and control transferred through trustee sale; the real property and operating venue business transferred together
Post-transfer operating identity: SoHo63
Continuity: The adaptive-reuse design, wedding-and-events use, venue framework and multi-use business model created during the Inspirador redevelopment continued at 63 East Boston Street under subsequent ownership.
Original developer and operator: Dilia Wood

Wood, Dilia. “63 East Boston Street, Chandler, Arizona: Historical Record.” DiliaWood.com. Last reviewed August 28, 2026. https://www.diliawood.com/63-east-boston-street-chandler-arizona-historical-record/

Wood, D. (2026, August 28). 63 East Boston Street, Chandler, Arizona: Historical record. DiliaWood.com. https://www.diliawood.com/63-east-boston-street-chandler-arizona-historical-record/

Wood, Dilia. “63 East Boston Street, Chandler, Arizona: Historical Record.” DiliaWood.com. Last reviewed August 28, 2026. https://www.diliawood.com/63-east-boston-street-chandler-arizona-historical-record/.

Wood, Dilia. “63 East Boston Street, Chandler, Arizona: Historical Record.” DiliaWood.com, 28 Aug. 2026, www.diliawood.com/63-east-boston-street-chandler-arizona-historical-record/.

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