Posts Tagged ‘vanishing phoenix’

May 22, 2011

Recent Articles

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Check out the articles I’ve written recently on other sites: On Firefly Living: Jane’s Walk Phoenix On Downtown Phoenix Journal: 2011 Urban Land Institute Real Estate Summit Starts Today On Vanishing Phoenix: Michael Levine to Michael Crow – A Question About Tearing Down Buildings    

Continue reading

Tweet I can’t believe it’s been one full year since Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner was started!  We started off small, but with fantastic participation at a quality venue, setting the standard for future events.  Kathleen Bartolomei, one of the original founders, had a brilliant suggestion at the first dinner which has helped sustain the dinners every month since.  She installed the tradition of voting for the best cook in the different categories (sweet, savory and later drinks) and the winners would help organize the next dinner.  “Built-in sustainability” she called it and boy she was right!  As the…

Continue reading

Tweet Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of sitting down with historic preservation architect Don Ryden in his office to talk about his fabulous new book, Midcentury Marvels.  In talking with Don, I also wanted to clear up some haziness around what historic preservation really is.  In today’s post which is only the first part of our conversation, Don talks about why Midcentury Marvels is hopefully only the beginning of a movement, and then he talks candidly about why he would never consider Wendell Burnette’s remodel of St.Francis as historic preservation. Below is part I of our conversation… Blooming…

Continue reading

December 22, 2010

“Yes Virginia, there is community in Phoenix”

by: Jim McPherson

Tweet Today’s post is by Jim McPherson, a dedicated and revered community leader here in Phoenix… A few months ago at Hob Nobs Coffee House I chatted with Russ Haan of After Hours Creative about the “ups and downs,” “twists and turns,” and “progress and pitfalls” of getting projects off the ground in downtown Phoenix.  In our conversation we rattled off a dozen or so, but later I got to thinking, “How many projects are we talking about?” Before I go any further, let me define “projects.”  It’s those “fine grain” projects, initiatives, events, and activities organized by individuals and…

Continue reading

Tweet 1.  The City used funds from the Downtown Phoenix Hotel Corporation to buy the Sahara building.  Apparently part of this deal was the temporary use of the site as a parking lot for the Sheraton Hotel.  This is the “done deal” City Manager David Cavazos was talking about. 2.  When several community members suggested the lot become a park or a green space, Jeremy Legg, the City applicant for the parking use permit, mentioned the Civic Space Park is just a block away.  Wait, so we can have TOO MANY green spaces, but never enough parking lots? 3.  The…

Continue reading

Tweet According to the Arizona Republic article today by Emily Gersema, Ramada Inn in Downtown Phoenix Days from Demolition, the $700,000 demolition of the old Sahara Hotel, currently a defunct Ramada Inn, is scheduled to happen later this month. Before we go into why this building is important and why it’s worth saving, let’s first visit the reason why it’s being demolished: The City of Phoenix is planning a $700,000 demolition to make room for overflow parking for the Sheraton Downtown Hotel while there are loads of empty lots all around downtown that would work just as well, not to…

Continue reading

Tweet As Jim McPherson mentioned yesterday, there’s already a criteria in place to evaluate whether a building is worth saving or not, and that is the Phoenix Historic Property Register.  There is also the National Register which is essentially the same but slightly different.  Here’s a look at what they require… The Phoenix Historic Property Register Criteria: The Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission shall evaluate each parcel of property within an area that is included in the application for a demonstrated quality of significance in local, regional, state, or national history, architecture, archaeology, engineering or culture, according to the following criteria:…

Continue reading

Tweet As I mentioned yesterday, there was some strong disagreement in the historic preservation community about my post Why Not All Buildings Should be Saved.  It’s important to hear all points of view on this subject and have a constructive discussion about it.  Below is Jim McPherson’s point of view about the Leighton Knipe house and historic preservation in Phoenix.  Jim is a respected leader in the community.  He serves on the board of the Arizona Preservation Foundation and is the winner of the 28th Annual Governor’s Heritage Preservation Grand Award.  He reminds us that we already have a strong…

Continue reading

Tweet Green building is all about solar panels, smart thermostats and fancy gray water plumbing right? Well, not really.  Those things are components of green building, but they’re not the entire story.  Far from it. The most effective green building happens when ancient wisdom is combined with new technology.  Unfortunately, this ancient wisdom is not as sexy as new technology can be and hence it rarely gets much press. Some examples of ancient wisdom are orienting your building for passive solar design, using the least amount of materials to build, using local materials, and reusing what is usable. Today I…

Continue reading