We're making plans to spend my birthday weekend with a desert getaway over to Scottsdale/Phoenix/Sedona, with an itinerary that mixes architectural and natural destinations (including a brunch at Cafe Zuzu at the venerable Hotel Valley Ho and a stop at Wright's Taliesin West). During our travel research, we happened upon this wrap up of an annual modernist architectural tour in Phoenix...
Now that we know the date of the event, we'll be sure to try to make the effort to schedule an April trip to Phoenix for the 2010 tour. The recent 2009 event sold out, and rightfully so, with spotlights upon the Valley's endangered pool of world-class mid-century modern architecture. 2009's tour was titled The Founding Fathers of Modern Phoenix Home Tour, with restored mid-century modern homes in the Uptown Phoenix and Arcadia neighborhoods including homes designed by Ralph Haver, Al Beadle, Calvin Straub, Ned Sawyer, Harold Ekman and Donn Wooldridge.
Interested in attending? Be sure to sign up about notifications here like we just did and in the meantime enjoy some photos of last year's event above.
On a related note, Modern Phoenix shares a notable find for fans of photographer Julius Shulman. A trip to the Getty Research Institute unearthed over 70 photographs of Arizona architecture by the reknowned photographer, and Modern Phoenix shares the images of his legacy here at Arizona at Midcentury to give us all a look of what once was.
Phoenix and Scottsdale readers, please share your tips of design, architecture and decor resources here. We've only got a couple of days, but we're planning to pack each minute with as much as we can.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I'm from Phoenix and besides visiting Taliesin West, I never knew about all of this. When I go home for the holidays, I'll have to check this out.
view Jess Watson's profile
Go Phoenix! I want to move NOW!
view jeffnyc's profile
I just moved from phoenix to minneapolis in february. Before that, I'd lived in phoenix all 23 years of my life. I had no idea about this. You'll see nice houses from time to time, but I prefer the charm of my grandmother's neighborhood in Mesa. There's a small historical district right by the mormon temple with some really cute houses. Houses that people back then could actually afford. Lots of ranch style housing!
I would recommend going antique shopping. My FAVORITE! antique store is on main street in mesa by the name of Antique Plaza. They are quite affordable, it's two floors and I always find something there. When I was in high school, I did most of my clothes shopping there. They have a vast array of midcentury items at very good prices!
Aside from design - check out Arizona Mills mall. It's always a trip. It's mainly the discount version of stores you normally see in malls, but the people watching is prime. They have a great purikura machine in Gameworks. There's a discount Sanrio store. Just lots of really random stuff. You won't see characters anywhere else like you do at AZ mills.
Enjoy your trip!
view Miss Upsetter's profile
Phoenix has a wealth of design offerings for anyone visiting (or those of us lucky enough to live here!) Because it is such a "young" state, there is a ton of MCM design hanging around from the development heydeys of yore :) Check out this awesome guide that designsponge put together a couple of months ago:
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/08/phoenix-guide.html
Oh, and I think that it is time for an AT: Phoenix, don't you?
view HollyDolly's profile
I was just going to reference the designsponge article as well. It is a great guide to the city. From this list, I would highly recommend Cibo for dinner, The Lost Leaf for drinks, and Lux for coffee (all are in the downtown area). If Lux is too busy, check out Lola for coffee, it is about two blocks north of Lux and is next door to a great furniture store that I can't remember the name of. The Phoenix Art Museum is worth a looksy too. Taliesin is a breath of fresh desert air - enjoy it!
view J Dandy's profile
Wow! I get a bit of a south-westy vibe without all the whitewashed pine logs!!! I love when homes have a taste of their local without being cliche. Beautiful photos.
view slobound's profile
Yes! I agree - it's time for a Phoenix/Scottsdale Board! C'mon don't make us suffer any longer!
view PennyLayne111's profile