Posts Tagged ‘David Wright House’

Tweet *We’d like to mark the passing of architect Frank Henry on July 28, 2013, a Taliesin Fellow who was instrumental in saving the David Wright House. Our condolences to his friends and family. His passing is a true loss for the architectural community in Phoenix.* Today’s post is by contributing writer James Gardner: A group of citizen experts involved in historic preservation in Phoenix have formed a task force specifically to protect post-war (1945-1975) architecture. Led by Modern Phoenix mastermind Alison King, the aptly named Post-War Architecture Task Force (PWATF) just held its first face-to-face meeting on Monday, July 15th….

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Tweet Tis the season to be jolly! After an epic 6-month long saga that has been nothing short of a roller coaster, the David Wright House is finally in good hands with plans in place to preserve it in perpetuity. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, the organization that first brought the threat of demolition to our attention, has come to the rescue! The preservation organization facilitated the purchase of the property by an anonymous benefactor that will transfer it to an Arizona nonprofit. The new owner will push forward a landmark designation by the City that will protect the…

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Tweet I had a feeling it was too early to celebrate. Many media outlets reported two weeks ago that a preservation-minded buyer had purchased the David Wright house from the existing owner – 8081 Meridian – who wanted to demolish it in order to build two McMansions on the site. This meant that the house was going to be saved for sure. Why? First, the new owner had no plans to demolish it. And second, the new owner would most likely give his permission for the city to put a landmark designation on the house. But alas, the Business Journal…

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Tweet In a multidisciplinary panel discussion held Monday night at the College of Design North building on the ASU Tempe campus, a group of design and development professionals shared their takes on the greater issues behind the ongoing push to preserve the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed David and Gladys Wright House in the Arcadia area of Phoenix. The discussion was moderated by Craig Barton, director of the Design School that is part of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Speakers included practicing architect and ASU architecture professor Paul Zygas; director of the ASU Master of Real Estate Development program…

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Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Will Novak: On Tuesday night (Oct 2nd) the case to recommend a landmark status historic overlay on the beautiful David and Gladys Wright home in Arcadia went before the Camelback East Village Planning Committee. If you weren’t there, be sorry you missed it; for a moment I thought it would turn into WrestleMania XXIX. Before going into detail about what happened at the meeting, a bit of an overview of City processes is needed. As you probably know, the City is divided up into 15 “Villages” each with its own Village Planning Committee….

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Tweet Here are a few important updates on the David Wright House: 1. As a note of interest regarding the attitude of the current owner and his disregard for the public interest in his new acquisition, Jim McPherson reports that, “the current owner of the David & Gladys Wright House invited PHOENIX Mayor Greg Stanton and guests to tour the building and grounds today…the mayor and a few others from the State Historic Preservation Office, Planning Commission, and Historic Preservation Commission (stood) in front of the chain link fence. They couldn’t get in. The property owner did not show up. He did…

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Tweet Yesterday afternoon as a full house with an electric atmosphere at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting at Phoenix City Hall, surprising many of the commissioners who’re used to seeing only a handful of seats taken at these meetings. Everyone was there for the landmark designation recommendation for the David Wright House. It’s a no brainer that the David Wright House is worthy of a landmark designation, but the rub lies in that the owner has not given permission for this designation. And in Phoenix, we don’t normally go through with a historic preservation designation without the owner’s approval due…

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Tweet There has been a lot of talk about the David Wright House as of late. You may even be sick of hearing about it. But the battle to save it is far from over. Yesterday I had the privilege of going to tour the house which I had heard was in quite a state of disrepair. But our tour proved otherwise. Many of us remarked at how well the house has withstood its 61 years and how it remains in great condition. The new owner, John Hoffman, who is the center of what I’m sure is some unwanted attention,…

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June 25, 2012

Preservation vs. Profit

by: Christina Noble

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Christina Noble: “Today we are reminded that architecture is, paradoxically, a fragile art form… The preservation of the Gladys and David Wright house will be our touchstone, our acknowledgement that our history informs our future, our celebration of, and call for, excellence in our community.”  – Will Bruder, words intended for the Planning Commission hearing for the Gladys & David Wright house in peril of demolition, Bloomingrock.com Phoenix is not known for its architectural heritage – the climate and the landscape are our most memorable features. Our city’s landmarks are the mountains that…

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Tweet The decision to initiate a historic overlay and landmark designation process for the David Wright House at the Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday June 12 came surprisingly quickly. Only Zoning Attorney and former Phoenix Historic Preservation Commissioner Grady Gammage spoke, though many others had prepared remarks in support of the motion to help save the historic landmark from possible demolition. Among the attendees and those who had prepared to speak were some heavy hitters on the local architecture scene including Eddie Jones, Wendell Burnette, Phil Weddle, Jack Black, and Matthew Salenger. Gammage spoke eloquently, emphasizing that the Commission wasn’t…

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