Archive for March, 2007
MoPho Gem Pulls Record Price
As I mentioned the other day, Modern Phoenix is holding its 3rd Annual Modern Phoenix Expo this weekend. I hope you were more successful than I finding the time to enjoy the seminars today. Maybe better luck for me tomorrow…
Speaking of the distinctive MoPho style, did you notice the sale, reported in today’s Arizona Republic, of Chase Tower for $166.9 million?
The state’s tallest building sold this month for the highest price ever paid for an office building in metropolitan Phoenix.
This beautiful, shiny skyscraper, originally home to Valley National Bank, was built in the early ’70s, but the idea of the tower, meant to revitalize downtown Phoenix, had been envisioned for a decade before it was built.
Valley Bank Center was designed by important mid-Century modern architect, William Becket. Becket is well known for his influence on commercial LA buildings, including the Capital Records Building and Cinerama Dome. I’m personally glad that the grand building he brought to our town is one of soaring, sleek elegance rather than kitsch. Whatever flavor of Modern Phoenix you prefer, here is a building that surely makes you proud of our downtown.
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A fun side-note for Modern aficionados is this reflection I found in Matt Hinrichs’ Scrubbles.net archives:
Wednesday, July 19, 2000
This is strange – from the August 1973 issue of Phoenix magazine, concept sketches of a nightclub in downtown Phoenix’s newest hotspot, the Valley Bank Center (now the Bank One building). “The Prime Interest, located at the concourse level, will feature a cocktail lounge and separate dining/dancing area.” A veritable swingers’ paradise, I’m sure. Of course, it may have never looked this exciting. When I first went there in the mid-’90s, the Eero Saarinen tables and chairs were all that remained – and they were gone within two years. The mirrored ceiling is a nice touch; very Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
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No commentsAJ’s for CityScape?
Downtown needs a super-market. Will it start at the top of the food chain?
No commentsApril Showers Bring May Flowers…
… This was the refrain I learned as a child growing up in Northfield, Ohio — a suburb that developed at the midpoint between two erstwhile industrial giants, Akron and Cleveland. I suppose April showers bring May flowers was a mantra made to pacify lively children, who had been forced inside too long during a bitter winter off Lake Erie, into staying inside yet another month during the dank, gray days of early spring.
But here we are, in our Phoenician paradise where we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in nearly 100° temperatures!
If like me, you’re tired of looking at your frost-damaged landscape, be patient just a little longer. The Arizona Republic warned us to “hold the shears.”
So what about getting a jump on enjoying why so many of us moved to Arizona… the beautiful weather and forever-green yards? There are some wonderful garden events coming up.
Be sure not to miss The Encanto Palmcroft Historic Home Tour and Street Fair, this Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. Tickets are $18, on sale at Phoenix College.That is, unless you’re taking in the Master Gardener Garden Tour, also this Saturday from 9 AM to 4 PM. This tour is of gardens in the Camelback Corridor that have been designed, planted and maintained by Master Gardeners from the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. If you don’t already have your tickets, you can buy them the day of the tour for $20 at Squaw Peak Elementary School, where the first garden in the tour will be on display.
Or, for a taste of Mid-century Modern Phoenix, plan on attending the Third Annual Modern Phoenix Home Tour and Expo. Seminars will run all day Saturday, with a self-guided tour of Ralph Haver’s Marlen Grove from 2 to 5 PM on Sunday.
But, oh-oh: 
Well, March showers can be a welcomed respite from all the heat! So I hope you’re able to take full advantage of this weekend’s annual events. And in the coming weeks, don’t forget the other events posted in the Republic. And, as the rains subside, bringing our desert into bloom, do try to make a point of visiting our incomparable Desert Botanical Garden.
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