Now you feel our pain (possible demo of 44th/Camelback VNB)

[azpreservation]

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... n0630.html

[Circa50]

Its about time!

[azpreservation]

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/jimmu78/2477

Have you contacted your city council member?

Have you signed the petition?

Have you expressed your support to the Arcadia/East Camelback neighbors who are leading the effort to protect the bank and open space?

All can be done at http://www.phoenixneighborhoodcoalition.com/

[JC]

I am half way there azpreservation-
(printed and signed- just need to stamp and mail)
Thanks for all of the updates and for keeping us informed!

[azpreservation]

Now a major national architecture publication has noted our plight: http://archrecord.construction.com/news ... rizona.asp

Thanks to all of you who have formally expressed your view on this issue, but there's still a long way to go in getting it resolved as it should be resolved. More "Modern Phoenicians" need to step up to the plate and communicate their opinion. How, you ask? Visit http://www.phoenixneighborhoodcoalition.com/

[azpreservation]

Bank, open space go together
Arizona Republic, June 22, 2007

The fate of the national award-winning organic architectural setting at 44th Street and Camelback Road, is, indeed, worthy of The Arizona Republic's front page "Iconic 'mushroom' bank focus of preservation fight" June 16). Thank you for your interview with architect Frank Henry, who designed the structure for Valley National Bank, opening in 1967. He explains that the "whole park and the building are all one thing, one composition."

Apparently, this concept of land and building going together is beyond the ken of the present owner, JP Morgan Chase & Co., the "would-be" developer, Opus West, and certain members of the Phoenix City Council.

The spokeswoman for Chase says that "common sense" would dictate the sale of the two acres adjacent to the bank because it "would command a premium price." In place of the open space, now anchoring the building and gracing our city, 57 condos and retail "boutiques" are planned.

Ultimately, the future of the bank and its backyard will be decided by the Phoenix City Council, your story notes. And one councilman is quoted as saying that "they need to develop that green space."

As for Opus West's building track record in the area, one can travel two miles south from Camelback Road on 44th Street to the Arcadia Crossing retail center on Thomas Road. Opus had 68 acres to redevelop and the best it - and the City Council - could do several years ago was to stretch shops in a line, facing west, in the sun, with no protective overhang.

I remember touring the bank with its outstanding stonework and grounds before the bank opened, as a member of the Valley National Bank's publicity and public relations department. It was awesome 40 years ago, and it is all the more awesome today, considering it is one of our last remaining places of beauty in the city.

- Frances Ryley, Phoenix

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... y0623.html

[azpreservation]

City of Phoenix Planning Meeting
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
5:30 p.m.
Devonshire Center, 2802 E. Devonshire (one block north of Indian School and 28th St.)

The purpose of this meeting is to hear public comment and to make recommendations on Case Z35-07-6 to rezone the southeast corner of 44th St. and Camelback Rd. to replace the current open space with high density retail and condos.

If you cannot attend, you are welcome to voice your opinion to:
~ The Honorable Greg Stanton @ greg.stanton@phoenix.gov
~ Planning Director Debra Stark @ debra.stark@phoenix.gov
~ City Planner Katherine Coles @ katherine.coles@phoenix.gov

Before & after (is this what you want?) ~
http://www.box.net/shared/6s9uanxr0i

[modeddie]

Thanks AZ Preservation.

I should be able to attend at least the first hour of this meeting and I've sent e-mails and signed petitions in the event I don't get to speak out.

We've already lost too much; there are some good things happening in Phx, but the situation is very fragile. To lose the old 44th and Cmlbk VNB might be crossing the Rubicon. To develop the corner is one thing; but the souless, uncreative development proposed is a waste.

[Bauhaus_Bearhawke]

Thanks AZ Preservation.

I should be able to attend at least the first hour of this meeting and I've sent e-mails and signed petitions in the event I don't get to speak out.

We've already lost too much; there are some good things happening in Phx, but the situation is very fragile. To lose the old 44th and Cmlbk VNB might be crossing the Rubicon. To develop the corner is one thing; but the souless, uncreative development proposed is a waste.

Unfortunately; you may be being prescient there, my friend.

[modernlover]

Article in The Chicago Tribune For the full deal, you'll have to register. Sorry 'bout that. But at least it's free:

There's an inconvenient truth that preservationists typically gloss over in their ever-more-pressing fight to save mid-20th Century modernist buildings from demolition: Many (though certainly not all) of these buildings are tough to love.

Perhaps it's their cool abstraction, or their labyrinthine floor plans, or their harsh materials, like the serrated concrete that can practically cut your skin. Whatever the reason, the American public has yet to cotton to these buildings. A survey of America's 150 favorite works of architecture, released last February, didn't contain a single structure by Chicago's master of steel and glass, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

But popularity is one thing; quality is another. A half century ago, when Space Age America was infatuated with all things new, there wasn't yet broad-based popular support for preserving old Victorian houses or Beaux Arts train stations that evoked the grandeur of ancient Rome. They were, like today's threatened mid-century modernist buildings, too old to be new and too new to be old. And so, they were shortsightedly torn down. Now the question is whether we're about to make the same mistake again.

Check out the Recent Past Preservation Network - it's a pretty cool site.

[azpreservation]

Tonight the East Camelback Village Planning Committee voted "no" on the OPUS rezoning request. The process continues. Next stop... August City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission meeting.

[PixelPixie]

A lot of good art is tough to love. That doesn't mean it is not good.

Try to love a De Kooning, or even a Pollack for that matter. It takes a shift in perception -- a shift in intellect sometimes -- to see something for what it really is.

[modernlover]

More likely, at least to me, it's a matter of time.

[azpreservation]

Alison visited the site on Saturday and took these photos. I plopped them into a Slide.com slideshow: http://www.slide.com/r/QG69YDne7j85Kgj0 ... w=original

Picture postcard perfect!

[PixelPixie]

Thanks Jim! I went there specifically to look at the open space that would be developed by Opus West. It was a zillion degrees out and those pools of shade were sure welcome. However, I believe that the land as it currently stands is not being used to its fullest potential. There is lots of brown gravel that retains heat, and the fountains are not working (then again, LOTS of fountains are not working in Phoenix right now).

The area looks somewhat unkempt and dead with leaves and litter blowing about. There was a toothbrush and a shredded tennis ball in the gravel (!?!). Dogs and their humans probably aren't that interested in using it because of the gravel. I think the bigger question here is how could that space stop being perceived as a wasteland worth of residential redevelopment and instead as a real asset?