White Gates Update!
Members of the historic preservation community and PHX City Council District 6 struck a compromise with Yasser Elshair, owner of 4918 E White Gates Drive LLC, in November 2024. A demolition permit filed in March after the surprise sale of Al Beadle’s White Gates residence in January sparked outcry nationwide. The permit was voluntarily withdrawn to enable discussions about the home’s best use.
Read the full press release here, with five persepctives on the plan, or our shorter summary here.
What's Next?
- The public may weigh in on White Gates at the Dec 16 Phoenix Historic Preservation Hearing by contacting the HP Office at historic@phoenix.gov.
- A link to register to speak at the Dec 16 meeting will be posted here when the enrollment form goes live.
- If you live in City Council District 6 (Arcadia/Camelback/Biltmore/Upper Central) you may voice your opinion directly to your City Councilman Kevin Robinson at council.district.6@phoenix.gov
- Sign the letter to reform preservation policy in Arizona.
- Read article in the Phoenix Business Journal.
- Read article on THX News (with helpful timeline/chart at the bottom)
- Read our recent posts and videos on Instagram if you need more context.
- Share this information with your social circles.
- If you live in the immediate area, reach out to the neighbors bordering the property who will be most affected by demolition. Attend the meeting or write together; your voice matters.
Alfred Newman Beadleis one of Arizona's most respected midcentury architects working in the international style. The Beadle Archive, conceived by Shawn Augustinak in 2006 and now managed by Alison King at Modern Phoenix, has been substantially updated with the cooperation of Al Beadle's family and colleagues in the last four years. Over 100 residential and 100 commercial properties exist, and several have been demolished, so only a fraction are shown here.Future plans for expansion include a complete timeline with years built, locations and proper names for all buildings, unbuilt plans and renderings, vintage photography and updated photographs of current properties. An interactive map of all properties will be made available as soon as privacy concerns are assessed, but a map of publicly accessible commercial properties and multifamily is now available. As these structures come of age we urge owners of Beadle buildings to pursue historic designation of their properties through the National Register of Historic Places and/or City of Scottsdale, Tempe & Phoenix historic registers. Beadle House #11 and Executive Towers both successfully got on the register in 2017, and Roman Roads entered the register in 2018! If you're not ready to contact the HP offices, please reach out to Modern Phoenix for assistance in getting started.   |
 
  Contributions of photography and lore are welcome! While a good deal of Beadle's body of work is remarkably intact, it is frustrating to see some of the buildings decay over the years, or their histories become swiftly forgotten. We're unearthing those tales again and hope that Arizonans recognize the work for its significance, then invest in reclamation and restoration of these iconic modern structures. Some may be close to too far gone, but we're not going to let them go without a fight. |
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 This large section of our archive got a comprehensive overhaul in 2018 |
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| Nancy Beadle | TM Uhlmann |
| Gerri Beadle | Wayne Chaney |
| Ned Sawyer | Janice Fingado |
| Eddie Jones | Richard Elardo |
| Rich Fairbourn | |
| Research Assistant: | Jennifer Gunther |
| Primary Investigator: | Alison King |
| Past Editor: | Shawn Augustinak |
CONNECT
Befriend the estate of Al Beadle on Facebook
DRAWINGS
To order the book CONSTRUCTIONS about Al Beadle's work or purchase the DVD beadlearchitecture, visit Gnosis Media
