ARTICLE ARCHIVE
Modern Phoenix specializes in the primary source documentation of midcentury modern design in Phoenix. We also cover contemporary architecture and rehabilitations of old structures of the Modern era.
We often acquire reprints of articles written and published elsewhere (sometimes long ago) with the author's consent. This page features our articles with substantial interviews and commentary by text, or in-depth photo essays. If you can't find what you're looking for here, try the Google Search on the right, or browse our Architects and Neighborhoods pages for less text-heavy material, deeper links and external resources.
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ARTICLES
- NEW Taliesin Fellow Hulda Drake
- NEW The Colorful Career of Ralph Parachek AIA, founder of Nu Parr Swimwear
- NEW American Evangelical Church by Ralph Parachek
- NEW Star of Paradise has updated history and all new photos
- NEW! History of Park 5th Avenue
- NEW! The Pierre on 5th Avenue
- A surprising update on Roman Roads by Al Beadle
- An update on Beadle's White Gates: how those beguiling ellipsoid screens were made!
- Phoenix lost the Whitacre House by Fred Guirey FAIA
- The Valley National Bank on Scottsdale is adaptively reused by Postino Highland
- Brownmoor Estates by Charles Polacek AIA
- Unboxing Beadle by Jennifer Gunther explores the role of women in midcentury architecture
- The Conn & Candlin office by John Sing Tang gets a fresh new paint job
- Tucson Preserves its Neon Legacy
- Warner House by Charles Montooth AIA seeks a new owner
- A Night of Neutra celebrated the work of Neutra and Alexander in the Painted Desert, as well as the rehabilitation of the Phoenix Financial Center Rotunda for docomomo_us Tour Day
- Stewart Motor Company is threatened by development downtown
- Ralph Haver's own home in Canal North is poised for more rehab
- Bennie Gonzales FAIA: Modern Southwest Master
- The Breech House by Ard Hoyt in Clearwater Hills gets a complete refresh for 2014. You can see it today, or compare then and now.
- Modern Adobe Home by Robert J. Peterson is demolished to make way for new homes, despite being on 2013 "Endangered Dozen" list
- PBSW by Al Beadle has been recently rehabbed into Melrose Marketplace
- Ferguson's Cafeteria designed by Al Beadle was the pinnacle of casual dining in the early sixties
- The HOA at Arcadia Courtyards turns 90s Spanish back into a sharp 60s vibe
- We take a trip up to see Richard Neutra's Painted Desert Visitor Center in Northern Arizona.
- Alison King of Modern Phoenix receives the American Express Aspire Award for emerging preservationists at the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference 2013
- The drama of saving the David Wright House is over. If we forget the lessons of the past, here's our chronicle of the events as they unfolded.
- Remembering Frank Henry 1934 - 2013. Includes biography and memorial information.
- Our favorite buildings on the wacky and wonderful West Side.
- 17th Avenue Parkway Garden Apartment District. Who even knew there was such a thing?
- Ard Hoyt's House of Light in Marion Estates was intended to exploit "All Electric Living" when electricity was cheap and abundant in his Gold Medallion Homes.
- The Marion Estates neighborhood is an enclave of custom, semi-custom and tract homes near the head of Camelback Mountain at 44th Street and Stanford Drive. Features homes by Blaine Drake, Ralph Haver, Al Beadle, and more.
- Sands West, a Polynesian themed subdivision by E.T. Wright
- Phoenix's Street of Dreams:
The Visual Extravaganza that was Van Buren - Van Buren in the 1990s by Michael Levine
- Our interactive map of Vintage Van Buren
- Vintage Neon of Arizona by Jim Hale
- The Phoenix Financial Center by W.A. Sarmiento, a Phoenix Icon
- When good intentions fall short of expectations: the new paint job at the Bank of America makes 20th and Camelback even more of a heartbreak.
- The fiercely independent neighborhood of Sunnyslope celebrates its 100th year. Discover the history and architecture of this charming hillside area.
- Superlite Concrete Masonry Units helped shape Phoenix into the concrete block capital of the world. The architecture that happened along the way is distinctly Phoenician, and modern by virtue of its cost and form.
- Save our Soleri! The Santa Fe Indian School Amphitheater by Paolo Soleri Amphitheater is out of the woods but far from declared saved
- The Shaffer residence by Ard Hoyt in Clearwater Hills was another home in danger of being scraped for something better.
- 5302 Doubletree Ranch Road by Alfred Newman Beadle in 1955
- The Van Ess House from 1964 receives a landmark dedication in Arizona
- Lost, Saved and At-Risk Buildings in Phoenix: The 2017 Year in Review
- The David and Gladys Wright Foundation gifted their home to the School of Architecture at Taliesin on Frank Lloyd Wright's 150th birthday
- The Valley National Bank on Willetta by Weaver & Drover was demolished
- AZ Title & Trust aka the Monroe Building by Weaver & Drover
- The Kramlich House by Al Beadle in Paradise Valley was demolished
- The Postwar Architecture Task Force of Greater Phoenix's Top 25 midicentury buildings on KJZZ.
- The Richert House by Blaine Drake
- Camelview Theater by Edo Belli was demolished
- Apache Country Club Estates in Mesa has marvelously intact tiki style tract homes
- Dean Coffman's Drawing Portfolio
- Architect DK Taylor settled down in Scottsdale and built a beautiful home in Paradise Valley. He even designed the Sandra Day O'Connor house, a work so distinctive it was disassembled brick by brick and rebuilt in Papago Park!
- Beef Eaters Restaurant has been vacant for years. See what it looked like before Changing Hands and Southern Rail saved it.
- There's a reason why exterior lighting looks so funky in Phoenix. Meet James Salter AIA, lighting design virtuoso of the 60s.
- Watch as the façade to Beadle's 341 building on Camelback gets scraped for something "better".
- Farewell, Mountain Bell. On September 27, 2009, Phoenix witnessed the demolition of Al Beadle's Mountain Bell Building. Our 360º coverage of the event includes historic photos, interviews with preservation specialists and the design community, a talk with Nancy Beadle and high-quality video of that fateful day.
- The Stewart Motor Company aka Circles Records by W.Z. Smith
- Piecing Together Paradise Gardens on its 50th Birthday. Al Beadle didn't want to be cited as the architect behind Paradise Gardens in North Phoenix, so why is he still getting credit 50 years later? David Tyda ventures out to set the record straight, and finds it's still kinda crooked.
- A trip to the Getty Research Institute unearthed hundreds of photographs of Arizona architecture by renowned photographer Julius Shulman, and we brought over 70 of them back. In loving memory, we present this tribute featuring his Arizona work rarely found in printed anthologies today.
- Fred Guirey, FAIA, designed some of the most unique homes in the Phoenix area, and much of the roadside architecture we drive by every day. Includes original photos from the 1940s, a roster of his built projects and an interactive map of his architecture in the Valley.
- Calvin C. Straub, FAIA inspired thousands of students in who attended his World Architecture lectures at Arizona Sate University. An accomplished architect in his own right, this "father of California post-and-beam architecture" fused the arts and crafts tradition with modernism.
- The Scoville House by Blaine Drake: A Requiem in Shades of Grey. How Phoenix lost a rare custom home to marketing, monsoon and miscommunication.
- Tearing down the Arcadia / Camelback Legacy
- Holy Houses! Midcentury Modern Churches from the Iconic Age of Phoenix
- Saguaro High School campus photos before demolition in 2007
- Charles and Arthur Schreiber: Modern for the Market Walt Lockley's research into the work of the Schreiber brothers, architects of familiar tract homes of Village Grove, Hidden Village and Village Meadows. Includes printable souvenir PDF.
- Al Beadle's Executive Towers. in 1962 Alfred Newman Beadle designed the tallest highrise residential structure ever in uptown Phoenix.
- Uptown garden apartments in the shadow of Executive Towers and the Clarendon Hotel.
- The Cedar Street Residence by coLAB
- Washburn Piano building's date with demolition
- The ASU Campus is chock full of 1960s modern architecture
- Banking on Progress: The Valley National Banks of Phoenix, Arizona
- Hoskin Ryan Consultants and Jack Black Rehabilitate a Midcentury Modern Valley National Bank
RALPH HAVER LORE
- The Ralph Haver Archive NOTE: Your favorite pages may have been moved and now reside in the archive.
- Biography of Ralph Haver AIA
- Jimmie Ray Nunn FAIA: An Honest Architect
- James Salter AIA: Design Director of Haver's Firm
- Haverhoods: The definitive directory to all confirmed Ralph Haver neighborhoods we know of. If it's not in here, it's not confirmed.
- The professional portfolios of Haver, Nunn & Jensen. And Nelson. And Collamer. And Associates. According to his staff it was still "Haver, Nunn-the-less". View over 27 of the firm's award-winning projects in Arizona (many of them long gone) including the Cine Capri theater, the Koko Club, First Federal Savings and Loan, Barrow's, The City of Phoenix Municipal Complex and Coronado High School.
- Do you have a Haver Home? Use our Ralph Haver Taxonomy to find out.
- Growing Up Haver has all new and charming vintage photography to update our classic oral history by Bucky Haver.
- The Arizona Bank by Ralph Haver & Associates on Thomas Road is transformed into Sherwin-Williams paint store
- Terra Del Sol by Ralph Haver for Perfect Arizona Type Homes: Wilmot Vista, Donna Vista and Grande Vista in Tucson are included
- Carlos Terrace by Cheuvront Homes in Tucson features a Haver or three
- A time capsule in Janet Manor shows original finishes useful for future Ralph Haver restorations.
- The Rancho Ventura Haver Hive in Town and Country 1 learns what it is like to build community in Claudia Hartman's Story of RE.
- The Pueblo Bonita neighborhood by Haver, Nunn and Collamer is chock full of triplexes and may be one of Phoenix's best-preserved 1960s neighborhoods.
- NEW Mañana Vista near the Biltmore marked the humble start of a national homebuilding empire aka Hoffmantown
- NEW Holiday Park multifamily homes in Scottsdale are confirmed to have Haver provenance
- UPDATE Marlen Grove has an updated history, vintage ads and all new photos
- UPDATE Town and Country Manor has new photos and neighborhood history
- Commercial and Civic buildings by Ralph Haver's firm
- Ralph Haver's Koko Club was a swank hot spot near the Biltmore in the mid 50s
- The Revlon factory by Jimmie Ray Nunn FAIA still stands today, but now in lipstick red
- Jazz Standard: The Lorna House. See Shawn Kaffer's transformation of a Haver Home in Starlite Vista. Published in partnership with Desert Living, includes audio with the architect
- Jazz Standard, Track 2: Original Photos of The Lorna House. View Shawn Kaffer's Haver home before it was transformed into a modern gem.
- Save-a-Haver! What happens when a savvy MoPho acquires Ralph Haver's own family home without the sellers knowing it? Pure ModPhx Magic.
- The Triangle Building, suspected to be by Ralph Haver
- Ralph Haver's original office building on Architect's Row, long demolished
- Country Club Apartments by Ralph Haver in the late 40s
- Marlen Grove radio spot on NPR
- The Evertson House in Marion Estates by Ralph Haver, a rare two-story "Swedish Modern" home
- The Grebles Residence in the 50s; a Haver tract home in Northwood modified by the Grebles Family
- The Hobza + Bageant remodel in Ralph Haver's Marlen Grove
- History of the Hopkins House, an original 1946 Ralph Haver brick home
- Ralph Haver's Hopkins House updated in 2008 View Modern Phoenix website founders Matthew and Alison King's 1946 Haver Home about 2.5 years into rehabbing.
- The back patio porch at The Hopkins House is finally on its way to restoration after decades of enclosure.
- St. Charles Vintage Steel Cabinet Installation at the Hopkins House, a 1946 Haver design
HOME TOURS
- 15th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2019 featuring the Haverhoods
- 14th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2018 featuring Marion Estates
- 13th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2017 featuring Paradise Gardens
- Best of the Beadle Boxes Bus Tour 2017
- 12th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2016 featuring Uptown Phoenix
- 11th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2015 featuring Southern Scottsdale
- 9th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2013 Left of Central tour featuring homes west of Central Avenue in Phoenix
- 8th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2012 featuring Marion Estates neighborhood and nearby homes of Frank Lloyd Wright
- 50 fun photos by fans on our 2012 home tour in Marion Estates.
- Jacob Lichner's photos of our 2012 tour homes.
- 7th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2011 Secrets of Sunnyslope tour featured the Sunnyslope neighborhood in the north central mountains and foothills of Phoenix
- 6th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2010 Return to Paradise tour featuring midcentury modern homes in Paradise Gardens, Paradise Valley and Uptown Phoenix
- 5th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2009Founding Fathers of Modern Phoenix tour featuring the Uptown Phoenix and Arcadia neighborhoods including homes designed by Ralph Haver, Al Beadle, Blaine Drake, Calvin Straub, Ned Sawyer, Harold Ekman and Don Woldridge
- 4th Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2008 Village Grove tour featuring homes by Art and Charles Schreiber for Allied Homes
- 3rd Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2007 featuring Marlen Grove by Ralph Haver in Phoenix
- 2nd Annual Modern Phoenix Week 2006 featuring Paradise Gardens by Al Beadle in North Phoenix
- 1st Annual Modern Phoenix Home Tour 2005 featuring Windemere by Ralph Haver in Phoenix
- NEW Driving tour of the Wacky and Wonderful West Side
- Tucson Modernism Week 2014 Home Tour Wrap-up
- Docomomo US Tour Day 2015 featured five midcentury modern properties across Central Phoenix.
- 2011 DoCoMoMo Tour featured the Phoenix Financial Center, Valley National Banks, homes in Sunnyslope, Paradise Gardens and Clearwater Hills
- Student Shelters are a practical part of the architecture curriculum at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West
- Jane's Walk 2011 featured the Calle 16 business and mural district
- Jane's Walk 2010 featured early industrial midcentury architecture by familiar names like Weaver & Drover and Ed Varney.
- 2007 Rancho Ventura Fifty is Fab Home Tour, including audio of guest speaker panel
- 2008 AIA Home Tour
- 2007 AIA Home Tour
- 2006 AIA Home Tour
- 2005 Tucson AIA Home Tour
- 2004 Tucson AIA Home Tour
- Mezzo in Modern Phoenix
- Cal Straub Alumni Reunion at the Whiffen Residence
- v2 Launch Party 2006
VINTAGE GRAPHIC ARTS
- Photos from the Ernest A. and Billie W. Uhlmann Family Archive illustrate the glory days of the swingin' Safari Hotel in Scottsdale.
- Photos from the Ernest A. and Billie W. Uhlmann Family Archive illustrate the glory days of the Bali Hi Motor Hotel
- Vintage postcards from the golden age of roadside hospitality in the Valley of the Sun
- Chef Joe LaVilla's collection of vintage menus from Valley restaurants showcases impressive and whimsical design. They just don't make menus like they used to, do they? Nor can you get Prime Rib for three bucks anymore.
- Not only do we have menus, we have restaurant ads, too. Check out the charming signage, renderings and gimmicks used to draw midcentury diners in.
- Dean Coffman's Drawing Portfolio
- Al Beadle's Safari Hotel Vintage postcards
- Village Meadows Brochure from the early 60s
- Our obsession with vintage graphic design goes even further with our favorite local vintage illustrations.
- Roadside Relics — Neon sign photography in Tucson in Kingman by Jim Hale
- The Paradise Gardens marketing brochure circa 1960, compares the model home illustrations to how the homes look today.
- A Survey of Multifamily Condos and Apartments in Central and Uptown Phoenix, featuring great design by familiar architects. Produced using resources compiled by the Historic Preservation Office of the City of Phoenix.
MATERIALS, METHODS, HOW-TO
- The Guirey House gets some desperately needed TLC after it's wood was painted over by an owner that just didn't get it. Glass-blasting was the answer.
- The Summer of Sandblasting. Three MoPhos relate their experience and advice on sandblasting block.
- Sandblasting 101 by Bill Tonnesen, Landscape Architect
- Dress it up! Flooring options for midcentury modern concrete floors
- Tour of the Superlite block manufacturing plant
- Good Modern Fences Make Good Modern Neighbors
- Superlite Headquarters on Seventh Street (demonstration yard was demoed in 2007)
- Research your midcentury modern home using primary sources. A visual guide by Alison King with 50 minutes of audio by John Jacquemart
VINTAGE REPRINTS
- Vintage brochure of The Valley National Bank by Weaver and Drover at Indian School and Central Avenue.
- The Phoenix Municipal Building put out a neat little brochure about their Haver and Varney-designed building to help educate the public.
- The Lou Regester (now Copenhagen) furniture store by Ralph Haver put out some swanky ads in its day.
- Fifteen full reprints of the AIA's vintage magazine Arizona Architect from 1957 to 1959 in PDF format. Watch the Founding Fathers of Modern Phoenix debate, develop theories, party and gain national recognition for their architectural accomplishments. Reproduced with kind permission of the Arizona AIA.
- 1960s coverage of the award-winning Phoenix Municipal complex by Ralph Haver in downtown Phoenix by Arizona Architect magazine by the AZ AIA.
- A Student's-eye view of their brand new high school, Ralph Haver's Coronado High. From the 1967 Coronado High yearbook themed "Our Town".
- Multifamily housing designs by Ralph Haver
- Extensive documents from a 1946 Ralph Haver home
- Aerial Phoenix as seen through vintage postcards including the Phoenix Municipal Building by Ed Varney and Associates, and the Phoenix Financial Center by W.A. Sarmiento
- The Parade of Homes circa 1956 and 1957, photographed 50 years later
- Coronado High School 1967 Yearbook scan of Ralph Haver's Architecture [PDF]
- The Steel and Glass Man by Gene Garrison, an Al Beadle interview from the 80s.
- Architect of old Cine Capri left design legacy in Valley By Johanna Haver
ROAD TRIPS
- Learning from Le Corbusier at his Studio/Apartment in Paris, 1931
- The Modern Mecca of Sarasota, Florida
- The Ticky-Tacky Boxes of Westlake, CA
- The Rice House by Richard Neutra in Richmond, Virginia
LANDSCAPING
- A collaboration between Tonnesen, Inc. and the Kings creates a modern steel fence around their vintage Haver Home.
- How to remove your midcentury grass lawn by Scott McMahon.
- The Danleys' Dramatic New Landscape in Haver's Windemere
- Desert Landscaping Tips for the DIYer
- David Kenyan's Delicious Ranchburger Makeover in Tempe
- Mr. Natural's Desert Aquarium in Haver's Marlen Grove
- Contemporary Landscaping with Xerophytic Plants by Thomas Park of Xerophytic Design
- Choosing a Landscape Pro Who is Apropos, by Allen Kalchik of DesertDesigners
- 20 Questions with Environmental Designer Troy Bankord by Alison King and Daniel Germani
RETRO INSPIRED ARTISTS
- Modern Quilts by Artist Regina Alexandra
- Steel Sculptor Al Glann
- Jason Hill's Retro-Future Looks Bright, an art exhibition and interview
- Phoenix Contemporary Design Fair 2008
- Contact Design Show 2007
GOOD READS ELSEWHERE
- Preserving Phoenix's Modern Past in Images AZ magazine
- Ralph Haver: Modern Visions for the Valley of the Sun on Curbed
- Palm Springs’ newest modernist gem? A revived ‘70s Al Beadle design on Curbed
- Alison King takes you Where Cantilever Meets Coyote: Postwar Architects in Post-Wright Arizona
- Saving At-Risk Architecture: Local modernism gets the spotlight during Architecture Week in Tucson
- Three Architects’ Approach to the Arizona Desert, including Judith Cahfee and Will Bruder
- Simple, Contemporary Lines Perfectly Suit Couple
- Remodels turn three foreclosure homes into gems
- Rediscovering the midcentury modern look
- A Modernist Update in Marlen Grove featuring architects Jim Koehler and Roberta Clay
- Investors’ remodel turns Willo home into modern showpiece
- Valley’s Midcentury Modern properties draw a following
- Is Paradise Gardens a genuine Beadle design, or just suffering from Beadle Mania?
- Exploding Downtown (From 2003, but still relevant)
- The Buena Terror on AZCentral and Allan Gruber’s video of the same on YouTube
- Cinema Treasures celebrates the Cine-Capri
- History of Van Buren Street, including lots of info on the modern era and its motels
- History of Yesco: the Young Electric Sign Company, responsible for much of the midcentury neon signage in Arizona
- Desert Modernism: The Beautiful Boxes of Phoenix Architect Al Beadle on Curbed
- The wikipedia entry on Ralph Haver, co-written by Modern Phoenix members.
- Is the Kon Tiki hotel doomed for demolition?
- Movie about Joe B. Wong, an architect who helped shape midcentury Scottsdale, on YouTube
- Roadside Peek Arizona has classic midcentury roadside architecture and signage
- Sands West: Hawaiian living in Phoenix
- Everyday Modernism in Phoenix by ASU’s Dan Hoffman
- Authenti-city by Nan Ellin
- Postwar homes in Scottsdale slated for historic status
- Return to the Usonian House by Matt Taylor
- The Jocobs House, a 1936 Usonian design and now vacation home in Wisconsin
- Usonian Style at everything2.com
- A. Quincy Jones and Pueblo Gardens: The First Modern Tract in Tucson
- The Photographer’s Right: Architectural Photography and Copyright
- Homes with a History: Phoenix architect Harold Ekman
- Facades and gates of Ralph Haver’s Rancho Ventura by Hector Acuna
- A proper obituary for John F. Long, the man who built up Phoenix
- The Desert Speaks offers landscaping solutions for several climates in Arizona
- Gammage Auditorium by Frank Lloyd Wright turns 50
- A Factual and Fictional history of the Financial Center in Mesa by Tim Boyle