Latest Articles and Photo Essays

• NEW! Ralph Haver's Hopkins House updated in 2008 View Modern Phoenix website founders Matthew and Alison King's 1946 Haver Home about 2.5 years into rehabbing.

• NEW! Al Beadle's Executive Towers. in 1962 Alfred Newman Beadle designed the tallest highrise residental structure ever in uptown Phoenix. Join us for an insider's tour of this seminal work in Beadle's career.

• NEW! Uptown garden apartments in the shadow of Executive Towers and the Clarendon Hotel. Who knew that Uptown Phoenix had its own version of the Scottsdale garden apartments?

• NEW! Charles and Arthur Schreiber: Modern for the Market Walt Lockley's latest research into the work of the Schreiber brothers, architects of familiar tract homes of Village Grove, HIdden Village and Vilage Meadows. Includes printable souvenir PDF.

• NEW! Jazz Standard: The Lorna House. See Shawn Kaffer's transformation of a Haver Home in Starlite Vista. The latest in our series of articles published in partnership with Desert Living. Includes 28 minutes of audio!

• NEW! Arizona Falls. The perfect first-date picnic spot for lovers of architecture. Bring a sandwich and a friend!

• NEW! Participate in our 2008 Reader Survey of Top Ten Modern Phoenix Neighborhoods and represent your own favorite neighborhoods for the new 2008 map.

• NEW! Save-a-Haver! What happens when a savvy MoPho acquires Ralph Haver's own family home without the sellers knowing it? Pure ModPhx Magic.

• Our map of Modern Phoenix Neighborhoods and points of interest is now all digital! Browse, zoom and click to wherever you want to explore! Amazingly helpful if you have never been to Phoenix or Scottsdale before.

• If you haven't visited our message boards lately, you'll be surprised at our new look and functionality.

LOST IN STUCCOVILLE? Try our new interactive map of Modern Phoenix neighborhoods, vintage retailers and architectural landmarks. We're still in beta but have over 100 destinations and a driving tour programmed in for you! You can still download the old PDF of the 2006 Top Ten neighborhoods here [304 k PDF file]

• History of the Hopkins House, an original 1946 Ralph Haver brick home

• The Rancho Ventura Fifty is Fab Home Tour event, including audio of guest speaker panel.

• Saguaro High School campus photos before demolition in 2007

Highlights from our Forums

Not sure what the forums are all about? We've created this primer of essential reading on our message boards that illustrate the kind of in-the-trenches community activism that the ModPhx community embodies. Education, urban planning, architecture, neighborhood associations, real estate, historic preservation, DIY and gentrification are all addressed here with a healthy sense of humor. And pigeons. Boy, do we have pigeons.

• NEW! Save-a-Haver! What happens when a savvy buyer acquires Ralph Haver's own family home without the sellers knowing it? Pure ModPhx Magic.

• NEW! Reinventing the The Lorna House. Ongoing discussion since 2004 about the role of the architect, whether architecture is supposed to be transcendent, and why Haver Homes are so darn neat.

• NEW! Just when you thought all was lost, Project White Gates kicks it up again. Find out what happens when a dozen strangers stop being complacent and start getting real (serious) about saving one of Al Beadle's early family homes.

• NEW! Are Haver Homes Post and Beam? Our community attempts to collectively settle this topic once and for all. Lavishly illustrated.

• Anyone Else Sick and Tired of this Crap?
  Conversation explodes in outrage over midcentury ranches being leveled and built upon in Arcadia and across the city.

• The Battle for 44th and Camelback
  It's been a long and tough battle, but we finally made an impact in preservation of Frank Henry's Valley National Bank design. The new condo proposal is DENIED by City Council. Read all about it here.
  

• The MoPho SinkHo
  Find out what happens when a 60 year old cesspit septic system collapses in your backyard. Laugh out loud hilarious.

• Be Careful what you Wish For
  Longtime ModPhx members Michael and Stacy boldly go from bad to worse on their master bedroom renovation.

• Washburn Piano Building Slated to be Demolished
  Watch the story of Washburn unfold from the first mention of its threatened status in 2005 until the building's demolition in March of 2007. Includes gory photos of the demo at the end.

- please support our sponsors and advertisers -