Rare Old Map of Paradise Valley, Arizona by USGS, 1965 – Scottsdale, Phoenix & Camelback Mountain
Restored in our London workshop from the original 1983 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.The Collector’s Offer
Choose two eligible works and receive 20% off both. Choose three and the lowest-priced one is complimentary, a maximum saving of 33%.
Mix and match eligible standard maps and fine-art prints. No code is required; the offer is applied automatically at checkout.
Standard made-to-order configurations are included. Bespoke sizes, personalised designs and commissioned work are excluded.
Need delivery to different addresses? Contact us before ordering.
Restored in London • Printed and framed in the EU
Restored from the original 1983 map and printed to museum-grade archival standards. Full description
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Gift message & custom finish
If you want to add a gift message, or a finish (jigsaw, aluminium board, etc.) that is not available here, please request it in the "order note" when you check out.
Every order is custom made, so if you need the size adjusted slightly, or printed on an unusual material, just let us know. We've done thousands of custom orders over the years, so there's (almost) nothing we can't manage.
You can also contact us before you order, if you prefer!
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Published in 1983 using survey data from 1965, the “Paradise Valley Quadrangle” captures a pivotal landscape in the northeastern Phoenix metropolitan area...
Continue readingPublished in 1983 using survey data from 1965, the “Paradise Valley Quadrangle” captures a pivotal landscape in the northeastern Phoenix metropolitan area before decades of intensive expansion transformed its desert margins. Produced by the United States Geological Survey at the detailed 1:24,000 scale, the map centers on Paradise Valley and Scottsdale, with portions of Phoenix and the surrounding Sonoran terrain carefully rendered through contours, roads, canals, and place names. Its date gives it particular historical resonance: this is a view of affluent Arizona communities at a moment when resort development, suburban growth, and new transportation corridors were beginning to reshape what had long been a sparsely settled desert valley framed by dramatic mountain forms.
The United States Geological Survey, founded in 1879, brought a scientific rigor to American mapping that made its quadrangles indispensable to engineers, planners, geologists, hikers, and historians. In this map, that institutional precision is evident in the disciplined grid, standardized symbols, and close attention to elevation. Rather than presenting Paradise Valley and Scottsdale as simply fashionable residential destinations, the USGS situates them within a broader physical system of ridges, washes, slopes, and engineered waterways. Such maps were practical tools, but they now serve as historical documents, preserving the relationship between settlement and terrain before later development filled in open parcels, extended streets, and altered the visual character of the valley floor.
The topography is one of the map’s great pleasures. Mummy Mountain and Camelback Mountain rise as commanding forms, their steep flanks described by tightly spaced contour lines that contrast with the more open grades of the surrounding valley. These landmarks are not merely scenic; they define the geography and identity of Paradise Valley, creating secluded basins, coveted viewpoints, and natural boundaries that influenced patterns of road building and residential design. The contours reveal ridges, saddles, and drainage lines with a clarity that invites close reading, showing how even the most luxurious communities in the region were shaped by the austere geometry of the Sonoran Desert.
Scottsdale appears here at an especially interesting stage in its modern evolution. Known today for galleries, golf courses, resorts, and a polished urban identity, the city on this map is still closely tied to the open desert and agricultural infrastructure that preceded its rapid suburban growth. The Arizona Canal, roadways, neighborhoods, recreational areas, and mapped symbols for landmarks and trails speak to a landscape in transition, where irrigation, transportation, leisure, and residential development intersect. Paradise Valley, now synonymous with luxury homes and resort enclaves, is shown in a more restrained cartographic moment, before later building cycles intensified its reputation as one of Arizona’s most exclusive addresses.
The map’s color scheme, dominated by warm pinks and browns, gives it a distinctive desert character while serving precise cartographic purposes. Urbanized areas, elevation relief, roads, and contours are differentiated with understated clarity, allowing the viewer to move easily between human settlement and natural structure. The Salt River, Arizona Canal, mountain masses, residential road patterns, and park or recreation symbols combine to create a layered portrait of mid-twentieth-century metropolitan Arizona. As both a scientific survey and a historical snapshot, the “Paradise Valley Quadrangle” offers more than geography: it reveals the moment when Scottsdale and Paradise Valley were poised between open desert, engineered growth, and the luxury landscape they would soon become.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Paradise Valley
- Scottsdale
- Phoenix
- Mummy Mountain
- Camelback Mountain
- Arizona Canal
- Salt River
- Residential neighborhoods and roadways
- Parks and recreation areas
- Trails and potential historical landmarks
Historical context & cartographic details
- Titled Paradise Valley Quadrangle
- Produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)
- Historical 1:24,000 scale topographical map
- Created using data from 1965 and published with a 1983 imprint
- Shows varied elevation levels, including ridges, valleys, and desert terrain characteristic of this part of Arizona
- Uses contour lines to indicate elevation changes and topographic relief
- Features a color scheme dominated by shades of pink and brown to distinguish urban areas, contours, and elevation
- Reflects the area before later decades of significant urban development, including expanded housing, commercial growth, and infrastructure
- The USGS has produced authoritative topographical and geological maps since its formation in 1879
Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.
Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Published in 1983 using survey data from 1965, the “Paradise Valley Quadrangle” captures a pivotal landscape in the northeastern Phoenix metropolitan area before decades of intensive expansion transformed its desert margins. Produced by the United States Geological Survey at the detailed 1:24,000 scale, the map centers on Paradise Valley and Scottsdale, with portions of Phoenix and the surrounding Sonoran terrain carefully rendered through contours, roads, canals, and place names. Its date gives it particular historical resonance: this is a view of affluent Arizona communities at a moment when resort development, suburban growth, and new transportation corridors were beginning to reshape what had long been a sparsely settled desert valley framed by dramatic mountain forms.
The United States Geological Survey, founded in 1879, brought a scientific rigor to American mapping that made its quadrangles indispensable to engineers, planners, geologists, hikers, and historians. In this map, that institutional precision is evident in the disciplined grid, standardized symbols, and close attention to elevation. Rather than presenting Paradise Valley and Scottsdale as simply fashionable residential destinations, the USGS situates them within a broader physical system of ridges, washes, slopes, and engineered waterways. Such maps were practical tools, but they now serve as historical documents, preserving the relationship between settlement and terrain before later development filled in open parcels, extended streets, and altered the visual character of the valley floor.
The topography is one of the map’s great pleasures. Mummy Mountain and Camelback Mountain rise as commanding forms, their steep flanks described by tightly spaced contour lines that contrast with the more open grades of the surrounding valley. These landmarks are not merely scenic; they define the geography and identity of Paradise Valley, creating secluded basins, coveted viewpoints, and natural boundaries that influenced patterns of road building and residential design. The contours reveal ridges, saddles, and drainage lines with a clarity that invites close reading, showing how even the most luxurious communities in the region were shaped by the austere geometry of the Sonoran Desert.
Scottsdale appears here at an especially interesting stage in its modern evolution. Known today for galleries, golf courses, resorts, and a polished urban identity, the city on this map is still closely tied to the open desert and agricultural infrastructure that preceded its rapid suburban growth. The Arizona Canal, roadways, neighborhoods, recreational areas, and mapped symbols for landmarks and trails speak to a landscape in transition, where irrigation, transportation, leisure, and residential development intersect. Paradise Valley, now synonymous with luxury homes and resort enclaves, is shown in a more restrained cartographic moment, before later building cycles intensified its reputation as one of Arizona’s most exclusive addresses.
The map’s color scheme, dominated by warm pinks and browns, gives it a distinctive desert character while serving precise cartographic purposes. Urbanized areas, elevation relief, roads, and contours are differentiated with understated clarity, allowing the viewer to move easily between human settlement and natural structure. The Salt River, Arizona Canal, mountain masses, residential road patterns, and park or recreation symbols combine to create a layered portrait of mid-twentieth-century metropolitan Arizona. As both a scientific survey and a historical snapshot, the “Paradise Valley Quadrangle” offers more than geography: it reveals the moment when Scottsdale and Paradise Valley were poised between open desert, engineered growth, and the luxury landscape they would soon become.
Cities, towns and places on this map
- Paradise Valley
- Scottsdale
- Phoenix
- Mummy Mountain
- Camelback Mountain
- Arizona Canal
- Salt River
- Residential neighborhoods and roadways
- Parks and recreation areas
- Trails and potential historical landmarks
Historical context & cartographic details
- Titled Paradise Valley Quadrangle
- Produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS)
- Historical 1:24,000 scale topographical map
- Created using data from 1965 and published with a 1983 imprint
- Shows varied elevation levels, including ridges, valleys, and desert terrain characteristic of this part of Arizona
- Uses contour lines to indicate elevation changes and topographic relief
- Features a color scheme dominated by shades of pink and brown to distinguish urban areas, contours, and elevation
- Reflects the area before later decades of significant urban development, including expanded housing, commercial growth, and infrastructure
- The USGS has produced authoritative topographical and geological maps since its formation in 1879
Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.
Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.
This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 50in (125cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.
The model in the listing images is holding the 16x20in (40x50cm) version of this map.
Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.
Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.
This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.
For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.
Many of our maps and art prints are chosen as thoughtful gifts for homes, offices, studies and meaningful places.
Choose a framed option for the easiest ready-to-hang gift, or choose an unframed print if the recipient may prefer to select their own frame.
We make orders locally in 23 countries around the world, so gifts can often be produced close to the recipient. This helps them arrive faster, travel more safely, and avoid customs or import duty surprises.
- We can deliver directly to the recipient
- Framed pieces arrive ready to hang
- Unframed prints are carefully packed in a strong protective tube
- Almost every order is made locally, for faster, safer gifting
- 90-day returns give the recipient time to decide
If you are not sure what to choose, please contact us. We can help you pick the right map, size, finish or delivery option.
Most orders are made locally and delivered in around 2–3 working days, depending on the product, size and destination.
We print and frame maps and artwork in 23 countries around the world, so your order is usually made close to you or your recipient. That means faster delivery, less time in transit, and no customs or import duty surprises.
Personalised and customised pieces usually take an extra 1–2 working days, because we prepare your design and send it to you for approval before printing.
Very large framed orders can take a little longer, as they need extra care in production and delivery.
Every order is carefully packaged: unframed prints are sent in a strong protective tube, while framed pieces are securely packed with protective materials around the frame.
If you need your order by a particular date, please contact us before ordering. We’ll check the best production route and delivery option for your location.
Express delivery is available at checkout for most countries. Next-day delivery is available in the UK, US, Singapore and the UAE.
Your order is covered by our 90-day returns policy and 10-year guarantee.
Our standard frame is a gallery-style black ash hardwood frame, with a simple, modern look. It is approximately 20mm (0.8in) wide. You can also view some lovely customer photos of framed maps and art.
We use super-clear acrylic glazing, also known as Perspex or Acrylite, instead of traditional glass. It is lighter, safer, and has lower reflectivity, giving the artwork a clearer, cleaner appearance.
Six standard frame colours are available at no extra cost: black, dark brown, dark grey, oak, white, and antique gold. Custom framing and mounting/matting is also available for customers looking for something more specific.
Most maps, art prints, and illustrations are also available as a framed canvas. We use matte cotton canvas, stretch it over a sustainably sourced wooden box frame, and then float the piece within a wooden outer frame. The finished result is beautifully presented, with no glazing between you and the artwork.
All frames are supplied ready to hang, with either string or brackets fitted to the back. Very large frames will include heavy-duty hanging plates and/or a mounting baton. If you have any questions, please get in touch.
We can also supply old maps and artwork on canvas, foam board, cotton rag, and other materials.
If you would prefer to frame your map or artwork yourself, please read our size guide before ordering.
Every Unique Maps piece begins with an authentic cartographic source or an original design from our London studio.
For our historic maps, we source rare originals from libraries, archives, auction houses and private collections around the world. We carefully restore each map for print—repairing age-related damage, balancing colour and improving clarity while preserving its original detail, texture and character.
Once restored, the map is prepared for your chosen size and finish. Your piece is then printed and, where selected, framed close to its delivery destination.
Our map prints use acid-free 200gsm archival matte paper and fade-resistant pigment inks, creating a rich, non-glossy finish designed to last. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.
Canvas, cotton-rag and other specialist presentations are also available. Learn more about our materials and finishes.
Personalising your map
You can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. For personalised designs, we send a proof before printing and you can request changes before approval.
For more complex bespoke commissions, contact our design team.
Original or Aged
Choose Original for true-to-source colour, or Aged for a warmer, richer antique character created with our specialist ageing process. See examples of our Aged maps.
We’ve been restoring and producing maps and art prints since 1984, and we stand behind every piece.
Every order is covered by our 10-year guarantee and damage-free delivery guarantee. If your piece arrives damaged, we’ll replace or remake it free of charge. If anything else isn’t right, contact our workshop team and we’ll put it right promptly.
See our returns and refund policy for full details.
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