Douglas B. Sydnor: Historic Buildings Define Our Spirit

March 16th, 2021

For Douglas Sydnor, FAIA, worthy historic buildings are our village elders. They tell us about sculpted spaces. They tell us about crafting community and ourselves. Distinguished in their graying, they offer new insights into our shared future.

The prominent Valley architect established Scottsdale- based Douglas Sydnor Architect + Associates in 1993. He has practiced exclusively in Arizona for 40-plus years, completing 225 commissions, and his work has received more than 60 professional design awards and been extensively published. The American Institute of Architects, for example, awarded him its Arizona Architects Medal in 1992.

“The firm tries to maintain a healthy mix of new work with a continuing commitment to celebrating our architectural heritage through historic preservation and adaptive-reuse projects –– particularly in Scottsdale’s downtown,” explains Sydnor, the founding chairman of the Scottsdale Historic Preservation Commission. “We have attempted to physically save historic architecture and also develop a broader awareness of its being threatened.”

Among his current adaptive-reuse projects in Scottsdale is restoring and contemporizing the 1955/56 Kiva Craft Center on Fifth Avenue in Old Town designed by Thomas Stuart ‘T.S.’ Montgomery. Originally called Craftsman Court, the landmark center helped propel young Scottsdale into national prominence as a Native-American crafts focused city.

“For decades, Doug has proven his commitment to the architectural heritage of Arizona and Scottsdale as a passionate proponent of historic preservation,” says Don W. Ryden, AIA, a Phoenix architect who is collaborating with Sydnor on the Kiva Craft Center project and the proposed renovation of the Kimsey Building, also on Indian School Road downtown. “He has led his own campaign to develop community awareness and understanding of Arizona’s built environment, especially regarding post-WWII Modernism.”

Ryden adds that Sydnor, as chairman of the AIA AZ Architectural Archives Committee, has also helped to conserve the working drawings and renderings by mid-20th century Arizona architects. “These threatened intellectual resources reflect both the art and the craft of architects before computer-aided drafting,” he explains. “If significant historic buildings must fall to the wrecking ball, perhaps the efforts of architectural historians like Doug may, at least, save the original drawings of the places that defined a community’s spirit.”

A FATHERLY FOUNDATION

Sydnor’s commitment to the architectural heritage of the Valley derives from his father, Reginald ‘Reg’ Gene Sydnor, AIA (1928–2004), an exemplar of 20th century Phoenix architecture. He and his contemporaries helped create the robust today’s design environment: Lescher & Mahoney; Ed Varney and Robert Sexton, FAIA, his former partners; Al Beadle; Fred Weaver and Dick Drover; Bennie Gonzales; Ralph Haver; and Blaine Drake.

A West Virginia native who came to the Valley after the Second World War, the elder Sydnor was active with Edward L. Varney Associates, A.I.A., Phoenix, from 1955 to 1965. He became a partner in 1965 with Varney Sexton Sydnor Architects until 1980.

During 42 years of practice, ‘Reg’ Sydnor (“Redge”) completed 250 projects in Arizona, Washington and California, predominantly healthcare and commercial. These include the 1957 Motorola Governmental Electronics Plant, Scottsdale (with Edward L. Varney Associates) and the 1981 St. Joseph’s Hospital Medical Center Additions and Renovations (with Varney Sexton Sydnor Architects). The firm also completed six Valley homes, beginning with the 1966 Sydnor Residence in today’s Paradise Valley.

“While growing up in Phoenix, I witnessed numerous architecturally significant structures being demolished unnecessarily, and this continues to this day,” says Sydnor, who has written books on Arizona historic architecture including Plugger: The Architecture of Reginald Sydnor (2011). A 50-year Scottsdale resident, he has been a columnist for the Scottsdale Republic and writes on historic architecture for the bimonthly Arizona Contractor & Community Magazine.

Those buildings were sometimes bladed and then sat for a decade before being developed. “Obviously, there were no imminent pressures to improve the property in the first place, but the community may have lost a historic jewel in the process,” he adds.

Some of these jewels are the 1923 Scottsdale High School, Lescher & Mahoney Architects, Scottsdale; the 1931 Fox West Coast Theater, S. Charles Lee, Phoenix; 1945 Palms Theater, Lescher and Mahoney Architects with William L.
Pereira, FAIA, Phoenix; 1966 Cine Capri Theater, Henry George Greene with Haver, Nunn, & Jensen, Phoenix; and the 1968 Guaranty Bank, Jacob John Schotanus, Jr., AIA, Scottsdale.

As a young man, Sydnor realized that in many cases if the property owner or developer had wanted to save an historic structure, there would always have been a way to accomplish that while redeveloping the property to meet zoning ordinances and market demands.

Because he has experienced these losses, his résumé also includes service on 200-plus boards, commissions, committees and design charrettes furthering historic preservation in the Valley.

“In his nearly 50 years of volunteer leadership, Doug has advocated for the arts, Scottsdale history and historic preservation, libraries, community leadership education, architectural professional development/standards and business issues,” says long-time friend and collaborator, Joan Fudala, community historian in the city of Scottsdale. “He continues to be the ‘go to’ guy to get things done in Scottsdale.”

The two, for example, co-hosted the Scottsdale Heritage Connection Salon Lecture Series, 2017–2019, on historic architecture, arts, schools and housing.

“The Phoenix area is a relatively young community with not the largest inventory of important historic structures,” Sydnor says, “so we need to step up and preserve the best of what remains for current and future generations to learn from it, respect it, cherish it, and, hopefully, protect it.”

BALANCING THEN AND NOW

Born in Bremerton, Washington, Sydnor moved with his parents to the Valley in the 1950s and graduated from Saguaro High School in Scottsdale. He received a bachelor’s in Architecture at Arizona State University in Tempe and later a master’s in Architecture at Harvard University, where he learned from architects such as Jerzy Sołtan, a Le Corbusier associate and Richard Meier, also a Corbu admirer, as well as abstract-expressionist painter, Helen Frankenthaler.

From 1977 to 1980, he worked for Varney Sexton Sydnor Architects, in Phoenix. From 1980 to 1989, he collaborated with his father at their Sydnor Architects, P.C., also in Phoenix. He opened his firm when his father retired.

On his own, Sydnor has delivered historic preservation projects as well as award-winning new-builds such as the 1998 Scottsdale Community College Applied Sciences, 2009 City of Scottsdale Appaloosa Branch Library and the 2016 Barry and Peggy Goldwater Library and Archives Study.

“Doug has an uncanny ability to balance contemporary design with appropriate historic preservation,” Fudala says. “This delicate balancing act has allowed his clients and his community to benefit from his sensitivity for the past as well as his vision for the future.”
In early 1993, for example, as Sydnor was opening his firm, he was project architect with the DLR Group of Phoenix on the Scottsdale Artists School Rehabilitation, an adaptive reuse of the Scottsdale Grammar School No. 2, 3720 North Marshall Way. Lescher & Mahoney Architects, the distinguished Phoenix-based predecessor firm of DLR Group, designed the building in 1928.

For the 16,016 square foot Spanish Colonial Revival one-story, the team refinished the interior and exterior as well as created five large art studios, a reception area, gift shop, public restrooms, gallery, visual arts library, administration and staff lounge.

“This program adapted extremely well to the existing floor plan, as an earlier tenant had removed most of the interior partitions, and the original north and east classroom wings bathed the new studios with a wonderful diffused daylighting by which to paint and sculpt,” Sydnor explains.

To replace some of the original clay roof tiles, the team visited a south Phoenix bone yard and discovered a few palettes that had been salvaged from the partially razed 1930 Good Shepherd School for Girls and Church in Phoenix.

The building was placed on the Scottsdale Historic Register May 23, 2000.

A few miles north, the 1967 Valley National Bank, 4821 N. Scottsdale Road, was one of 40-plus Valley National Bank branches in the Phoenix metropolitan area designed by Weaver and Drover Architects of Phoenix (now DWL Architects) during the 1950s through the 1970s.

The 22,000square foot building included three levels with the main banking floor above the street level, a mezzanine in the high-ceilinged public lobby and a basement that could become a bomb shelter –– a poignant Cold War memory. Political pressure from officials and community members helped ensure that this Native American-influenced architectural building was not lost, Sydnor says.

Among the renovations his firm completed were internalizing some breezeways and adding spaces to optimize street presence for future retailers. Fronting Scottsdale Road, some precast architectural concrete panels were kept intact; others were removed to open up the project’s center section.

In 1997, the team completed the project on the buildings’ 30th anniversary. Today, Postino’s Restaurant, Design Within Reach, Sachi Salon and other retail tenants continue to make the original bank a continuing community investment.

KIVA & KIMSEY

Two current downtown Scottsdale projects are the adaptive reuses of the Kiva Craft Center and the Kimsey Building.

Artist and educator Lloyd Kiva New created the 31,000 square-foot Kiva Center; the seven one and two-story artisan suites, built of CMUs and wood, opened from 1955 to 1958.

Architect Montgomery designed the lower scaled Ranch-styled modern retail structures around a centralized courtyard with a water fountain, shade trees, indigenous landscaping and seating. Breezeways between the structures lead visitors to the courtyard.

A Native American from Oklahoma, New asked artists to create on-site, where visitors watched and purchased crafts. These included leather handbags, dresses, gold and silver jewelry, custom dyed fabrics, perfume, custom clothing, mosaics, glass art, sculpture and pottery.

Sydnor will complete site improvements in the breezeways and courtyard with new landscaping, shade trees, seating, a reflecting water feature with custom mosaic glass tile, a multi-use plaza and integrated public art such as a mural.

An “Art Garden” environment will offer a cool microclimate, an urban oasis, and celebrate the original purpose of creating and selling artistic crafts. “We hope to embed artifacts in the new concrete slabs at the original tenant suite entries that were the types of crafts created in that suite,” Sydnor explains. “In this way, the center will tell the fascinating and rich story about the original activities here, beginning in 1958.”

Kiva Craft Center has been on the Scottsdale Historic Register since 2002, and Sydnor and the owner, Sunbrella Properties, will be applying for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places once the revitalization is completed this fall.

A few blocks away, the partnership of Gensler + Sydnor is pursuing city approval to rehabilitate the Kimsey Building, designed in 1962 by Haver and Nunn Architects. Of the 14 Haver buildings in Scottsdale, five have unfortunately been lost.

The developer, PEG Companies of Provo, Utah, is proposing a 480,000 square foot mixed-use project on 3.3 acres. The original Kimsey Building will offer residential amenities on the first level and six second-level townhouse units with high-pitched ceilings. A new structure, with below-grade parking, will have 230 residential rentals and a 168-room boutique hotel. Completion is expected in late 2024.

The project will repair and respect the original building envelope and offer new structures with step-back forms, landscaped terraces, wrap-around balconies and cantilevered shading devices. Also planned is a gallery focusing on the 110-year Kimsey family legacy, Haver, and possibly the greater context of MidCentury-modern architecture in Scottsdale.

“Integrating the 1962 Kimsey Building in this larger mixed-use project is a wonderful and unique opportunity to demonstrate how to balance saving our architectural heritage while addressing the current market demands for urban residential and hospitality uses,” Sydnor says, noting that the project is probably the first of its type to adaptively reuse a structure in a larger new development in Scottsdale. He adds that the team is pursing various entitlements and hopes to gain the approvals by April.

The buildings remind all of us about our stewardship role as a community.

“The most dynamic towns and cities have managed to hold onto the full spectrum of their architectural heritage, which has provided for a healthy rich mix of structures for all to enjoy,” Sydnor says.

“Much of the architecture in the past was constructed with very durable materials and in an amazing thoughtful, crafted manner that we simply could not begin to recreate or afford today. Those hand-crafting skills, patience and funding are no longer with us. And once a building is lost, it is gone forever.”

This is the first in a continuing series on contemporary Arizona architects working to preserve our built heritage. (david@azwriter.com).

This article originally appeared in the March 2021 Issue of Defining Desert Living. Read the rest of the magazine here.

Market Update – February 2021

February 28th, 2021

Here are the basics – February 1, 2021 compared with February 1, 2020 all areas & types:

• Active Listings (excluding UCB & CCBS): 5,180 versus 11,974 last year – down 56.7% – and down 14.5% from 6,055 last month
• Active Listings (including UCB & CCBS): 9,727 versus 16,035 last year – down 39.3% – and down 0.6% compared with 9,788 last month
• Pending Listings: 7,070 versus 5,969 last year – up 18.4% – and up 15.2% from 6,135 last month
• Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 11,617 versus 10,030 last year – up 15.8% – and up 17.7% from 9,868 last month
• Monthly Sales: 7,330 versus 6,464 last year – up 13.4% – but down 26.8% from 10,015 last month
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $217.59 versus $182.18 last year – up 19.4% – and up 2.9% from $211.50 last month
• Monthly Median Sales Price: $339,000 versus $289,900 last year – up 16.9% – and up 2.1% from $332,000 last month

You might have been hearing rumblings that this market is crazy, and those rumblings are right. It is a little nutty to say the least, but we are here to help you understand exactly what is happening.

As you may have noticed, this market very different than it has been in past years. In our pre-COVID days we would have expected to see a typical increase in listings in the month of January. Unfortunately, that did not happen this year. The number of new listings in January was the weakest on record, and, while demand softened a bit, it was still strong enough to absorb the low amount of listings that entered the market.

Supply hit an all-time low in January, surpassing the former record holding year of 2005, but appreciation is still trending up. In fact, appreciation has already surpassed 19% and is projected to reach 30% by the end of the 2nd quarter of 2021.

What does this mean for you as a seller? Well, as we have said before, it means that NOW is a great time to sell IF you have a plan in place for where to go once your sale is complete. Knowing that it is a great time to sell might make you think that now is not a good time to buy; however, that thinking would actually be incorrect. While interest rates are slightly rising, they are still very low and real estate is still appreciating. This means that NOW is also a great time to buy!

If you are looking to buy in this market, we highly suggest you reach out to us and our team of professional agents. While it is still a good time to buy, that doesn’t mean that it is an easy time to buy. You will benefit from the knowledge and connections our agents have now more than ever!

If you are looking to sell your home, we would be happy to help you determine the current value of your home in this crazy market. By using a seasoned REALTOR®, we can help you price your property appropriately to maximize it’s value. We can also help you determine which offers are the best offers and what to do in situations that might arise such as lagging appraisals.

If you are ready to buy or sell in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek, Carefree, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Peoria, Glendale, Avondale, Sun City or any of the surrounding areas, or if you just want more information on the current real estate market, please reach out to us at info@azarchitecture.com. We are happy to help!

New Life in the Old Pueblo

February 24th, 2021

Every culture who resided in Tucson left their mark on the town.

As Arizona’s oldest and still inhabited city, Tucson couples a somewhat milder desert climate, scenic mountains, and rich history with a vibrant, historic downtown area with arts, dining and activities.

The earliest residents lived there more than 4,000 years ago. If you trace the architecture left behind by the conquistadors, up from Mexico to Tucson, a rough timeline of the city’s development emerges, when Spaniards and Apaches fought for the land.

As early as 1691, Spanish Jesuit missionaries founded a mission in Tumacácori, near Nogales. Inexplicably, the Mission Revival at Tumacácori sits intact as it was, while time has reduced the fort in nearby Tubac, established almost 100 years later than Tumacácori, to its walls.

In 1775, General Hugo O’Conor rode into now Downtown Tucson, and founded the military presidio, Fort Tucson, once an 11-acre fort. In the eventual rubble, arose the city whose initial population of only 500 people grew to more than half a million, according to the last census.

Walk About

The further you follow the winding roads back into the Catalina Foothills to the north, a picture develops of early Tucson.

Its foothills and the neighboring Casas Adobes historic district, once a respite for horse ranchers in the mid-1940s, retains the charm of simpler days, even as a shopping and recreation destination.

The Casas Adobes Plaza looks eternal as it did in 1948, when the Mediterranean-influenced mall first opened. Meanwhile, various hiking and guided tours outside its walls mirror the tranquility and breeze those ranchers experienced way back then.

The populated valley below gives an indication of that time, as well. If you’re standing next to a historic building downtown, the ground beneath your feet is likely painted a thin line of turquoise. “The Turquoise Trail” twists and turns for two and a half miles through various landmarks, both past and present.

The local historic preservation foundation holds walking tours of the neighborhoods, whose architecture range from turn-of-the-century Spanish Revivals to present day Contemporary Moderns.

Even in the time of Social Distancing, curious souls can use an app called Vamonde for their own self-guided tour of the Turquoise Trail.

The app and pamphlets signify 20 restaurants, as well as 15 museums and galleries packed into this small dense area. The most notable restaurant was the Café Poca Cosa, which prior to the pandemic, ambitiously generated new Mexican cuisine twice daily, an endeavor warmly acknowledged in droves of culinary publications. Yet, these eateries are a microcosm of the many options that exist just beyond the downtown setting.

Follow the streetcar, named the Sun Link, connecting most of these landmarks and services, or follow the trail, where the rails don’t stalk. The great thing about downtown (and most of Tucson) is the combination of different eras within the same area.

The city consists of many rich flavors, both literal and figurative, which has been fostered through a mixture of stubbornness and determination. In 2016, Tucson was awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as the only City of Gastronomy in the United States.

Patronage the Arts

It’s easy to gather that downtown Tucson appreciates history and culture, which even extends to their galleries. The independent Etherton Gallery showcases 20th Century’s photographers, from Edward Weston to Garry Winogrand, up to contemporary art photographer Ralph Gibson.

Several blocks south, another prestigious museum sits: Tucson’s own Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) displays the best of national and local culture; exhibitions in the past included personal knick-knacks by noted jeweler Alex Streeter and the self-reflective work of Alex Von Bergen.

Those aren’t the last options, a Center for Contemporary Photography and a campus Museum of Art are both situated on the University of Arizona campus.

A City in Amber

Most of the places mentioned are temporarily shuttered, or their services reduced, in lieu of the current global pandemic. But, if this event were weighed against the overall history of Tucson, it’s a mere pinpoint on a larger timeline.

The past and the future are inextricably linked with the city’s development, almost as a city of amber, and not simply a new thing replacing something old.

Tucson survived thousands of years of change and development and it’s sure to be a city of vast culture for the foreseeable future!

This article originally appeared in the September 2020 Issue of Defining Desert Living. Read the rest of the magazine here.

IN FOCUS: Darren Petrucci of A-I-R, Inc.

February 10th, 2021

One of the most innovate and inventive Architectural firms located in Arizona may be one you have not yet heard off, but you should have.

Founded in 2001 by Architect and Principal Darren Petrucci, Architecture – Infrastructure – Research, Inc. (A-I-R ) is an architecture and urban design firm focused on translating advanced research methods and sustainable practices into elegant design solutions that respond to each client’s particular needs and desires.

A-I-R always seems to find a special group of intelligent and enlightened forward-thinking clients who are interested in a collaborative environment that focuses on design solutions that engage the site, environmental conditions and the client’s desires.

The result is always interesting and visually stunning. From the “ghost wash house’” in Paradise Valley to pioneering sustainable, living buildings, A-I-R melds intellect and global design into thoughtful and beautiful buildings: the architectural equivalent of Ferrari and Pininfarina delivering an all-electric, solar powered, sporting vehicle…innovative, gorgeous, functional and elegant!

Trained as both an architect and urban designer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Darren is also a Professor in The Design School at Arizona State University, a Senior Sustainability Scientist in the Global institute of Sustainability, and affiliate faculty in The School of the Future of Innovation in Society. This unique background and expertise in architecture, urban design, the science of sustainability, technology, and materials informs the design practice of A-I-R producing cutting-edge, intelligent, and beautiful designs.

A-I-R  is currently designing two duplex residences that they call Gemini 4 and Gemini 28 located at the base of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. These projects are designed to meet the stringent sustainability rubric of the Living Building Challenge (LBC). When completed these projects will be the most sustainable residential buildings on the continent of Africa.

Always pushing the innovation envelope, A-I-R’s Gemini Projects significantly raise the bar for global sustainability though their development of a patented precast form that will allow the building structures to be sourced and fabricated locally. This precast system is erected quickly and can be reused rather than demolished.

Lucky for all of us, Petrucci has several designs built and in development, including some astounding hillside homes right here in the Town of Paradise Valley. This global player is leaving an important contribution and lasting visual gift to his home town too!

This article originally appeared in the September 2020 Issue of Defining Desert Living. Read the rest of the magazine here.

Robert T. Evans: Masterful Adobe Design

January 27th, 2021

Robert T.  Evans is probably best known as the architect of the Jokake Inn and its gathering of related properties on the southern and southeastern slope of Camelback. All of that has vanished. The sole remnant is that handsome evocative adobe double-tower standing along the entry to the Phoenician.

The surrounding property had been purchased in 1915 by his mother, Jessie Benton Evans. The Jokake Inn first opened in 1922, expanded as a resort in the winter season of 1927, did well, attracted nationally-known well-heeled clients, added the Jokake School for Girls in a low-slung arcade next door in 1933, and for long years offered such pleasures as moonlight picnics, tea dancing, motion pictures, gymkhana, and quail hunting in the lonesome American outback.

Back in 1930 that double bell tower was easily the tallest structure in the Scottsdale area. It was a strong vertical signal of thereness, with the Inn standing as both symbol and substance of civilization. Back then the cities of the valley were distant and distinct as planets, set into a vast emptiness where a motorist might stop to kill rattlesnakes not for sport but as public service. I imagine some of their guests were awfully glad to see that tower.

So already Evans gets points for historic significance. He and his mother are near the very root of many different historic themes in the valley. Immigrants from Chicago? Check, and as relatively early pioneers Evans may have directly and indirectly drawn others like Walter Bimson here. Wild-west prep schools? Their Jokake School for Girls was a prime example. Frank Lloyd Wright? Wright stayed at the Jokake Inn in 1927 when he consulted at the Arizona Biltmore, and was another Chicago immigrant, come to think of it.

There’s more. Tuberculosis? Evans came to the valley to cure his. Art colonies? Jessie Benton Evans by herself counted as an art colony. The valley’s history of resorts, and especially resorts as economic tools to lure midwestern industrialists out to the valley? Emphatic double check. One of the Jokake guests was John C. Lincoln, thus inspiring Lincoln to buy a chunk of desert land, build the Camelback Inn, hire mean old what’s-his-name to run it, court rich clients, and sell land, just as Evans did but on a grander scale.

Given that Evans’s best known architectural work was adobe, and having his mother Evans as a primary client, it would be easy to write him off as an amateur or naif.

The opposite is true.

By the time Evans arrived in the valley in 1923 at the age of 35, he’d traveled extensively with his mother in Belle Epoque Europe as a kid, earned a Master of Engineering degree from the Armour Institute in Chicago, had studied architecture at the University of Freiburg, and happened to be the son-in-law and sometime employee of William Gates, head of one of the premier terra cotta companies in the U.S.

Also, importantly, his mother had been hired by the Santa Fe Railroad and the Fred Harvey Company to paint — and visually mythologize — the southwest just as they’d hired Mary Colter to do the same architecturally. Evans had visited not only Europe but Mexico and New Mexico with an eye towards materials. So he was personally familiar with Colter and the novelistic charm of her work and the invented regional backstories cleverly worked into her buildings. Nearly a hundred years after, and in the rear view mirror, you have to forgive people for confusing all that elaborate railroad-company myth-making for real history.

Evans looked like a young Herbert Hoover. Physically weakened from tuberculosis and restricted to the dry valley air, unable to continue his executive engineering job with International Harvester, he once again took up architecture. With all that training he still only presented himself as an engineer and builder. Supposedly they called him “Adobe Bob” although that’s not easy to say out loud.

As an architect Evans was active from 1924 through 1947. All of the work is in Arizona, much of it more or less clustered around the Jokake property, and much of it for guests of the hotel. He ceased designing in 1947 and died in 1962. I get the sense that his architectural work hasn’t been fully explored.

Not all of his work was adobe. There’s Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Scottsdale as a significant work and about 35 private houses on his commission list. There’s a house for Duncan McDonald. There’s a house that Robert Goldwater came to own. One designed for John C. Lincoln. One for Donald Kellogg, which later sprouted an onion dome and blossomed into the Casa Blanca Inn. And one for the Newhall family, regrettably now demolished.

To see what Evans was capable of, drive over and have a look at the 1930 Rose Eisendrath house, near the southeast corner of Papago Park. It’s been recently, wonderfully, thankfully resuscitated by the city of Tempe. Eisendrath was the widow of a Chicago glove manufacturer and ran that house like a small resort unto itself, with organized camping expeditions and automobile desert tours and a citrus grove on a 40-acre property.

Today, inside and out, the Eisendrath House still carries a certain voltage. To be honest, if there’s any such thing as strict adobe architecture, this isn’t it: there’s a wood frame and a concrete foundation hidden under there, and many of those vigas support only themselves. But of course that’s not the point and who cares. Just take a good long look at all that playful irregular Pueblan massing, the vigas and lintels as color and formal punctuation, and especially, somehow, those finned exterior steps and their promise of direct communion with the sky. It’s romantic, very deliberately romantic. It’s got sensitivity and soul.

What more can you really ask for?

This article originally appeared in the September 2020 Issue of Defining Desert Living. Read the rest of the magazine here.

Our Unique Visual Wealth: 30 Years of Jarson & Jarson

January 8th, 2021

Founded 30 years ago by Scott and Debbie Jarson, the real estate firm specializes in the sale of homes with architectural, design, cultural and historical significance. The couple call these properties part of our community’s “Unique Visual Wealth.”

“We have a credo and a mission statement that we hold our decisions up against: to sell, creatively market and promote good architecture and design regardless of price,” says Scott, who, growing up in the Valley, was inspired by homes and other properties the couple have sold during the last three decades.

Originally known as Jarson & Jarson, their shingle is now azarchitecture Jarson & Jarson Real Estate, with five employees and 14 sales agents, headquartered in the Will Bruder-designed Loloma 5 live/work building (2004) in downtown Scottsdale. “We realized that some people know us only from the internet, and they related more to azarchitecture.com, so we combined these two into one name everyone can relate to,” Debbie explains.

“A house we’d represent could be anything from historic to modern, a building with style and substance,” he explains. The structure may be adobe, the long-time desert building material; a design by Mid-Century Modern exemplar, Al Beadle; or the hand-crafted redwood interior of the midtown Phoenix home architect Fred Guirey built for himself and his family in the 1950s.

Or, perhaps it’s a sensitive post-World War II restoration of a Ralph Haver in North Central Phoenix by the noted designer/builder. The home may have been disregarded and kept in disrepair through the next decades; recent owners sensitively revived it. Vital again in a gentrifying area, it’s market strong and now historically significant.

“We want to share the knowledge we have with those that will celebrate this very interesting place with us. We want to promote good design and perhaps help build or save some good houses,” explains Jarson, who is the company’s director of sales and creative development. Raised in Arizona, he attended Scottsdale public schools and graduated from ASU with a Fine Arts degree.

“Our company allows us to connect with like-minded individuals who share enthusiasm for great design. We get to introduce, connect and celebrate unique talent and useful resources,” adds Debbie, the firm’s designated broker who trains and mentors the firm’s sales agents. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, then the Tobe–Coburn School of Fashion Careers in New York City before settling in the Valley.

Debbie notes that Jarson & Jarson was Arizona’s first real estate company to publicize the architect’s name in its marketing. “We believe the architect or designer should get credit for his or her work and for adding to our heritage of creative desert design,” she says.

In addition, during the past 30 years, the company has advocated for historic and architectural preservation, Scott notes. He and Debbie were intensely involved in saving the David and Gladys Wright House (1952) in the Arcadia area of Phoenix when a developer recently threatened to demolish that residential vision of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum (1959) in New York City; they received the Wright Spirit Award from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy for those efforts.

Scott was also an original member of the Phoenix mayor’s Post War Modern Task Force and chairs the Hillside Building Committee for the town of Paradise Valley, where he and Debbie live in a Will Bruder-designed hillside home, completed in 2008.

“And, from a lifestyle perspective, our real estate firm promotes, supports and advances better living, conservation and life-enhancing ideals through architecture,” she adds. “This is especially appropriate in our desert city.”

Says Bruder, “Scott and Debbie have steadfastly championed modernism in the Valley.” Since working with the couple while designing the Vale of Tempe condominiums (2004), he has been impressed with their sensitivity to and advocacy for Valley architecture.

“For every listing, they create a narrative that highlights importance of these properties in the story of the Valley’s built environment. Often they educate prospective buyers, who may be two or three times removed from first owners, on the historic context and importance of a property,” he adds. “Scott and Debbie get the big picture of the place and its architectural legacy.”

The Weave of the Valley

The Jarsons married in 1982; a mutual friend had introduced them a year earlier. Debbie was working at Bobby McGee’s, the landmark restaurant adjacent to Papago Plaza, Scottsdale’s pioneer retail strip center which has just been demolished for mixed-use development. “We had an immediate and wonderful romance which has lasted ever since,” he says.

He followed Debbie into the business. “We had a very successful early career in general real estate. But I was just not happy,” Scott says. “Somehow, selling tract homes and ignoring our architectural heritage made me feel like I had become ‘part of the problem.’” Because both of them loved design, art, architecture and history, she suggested focusing on “Architecturally Unique Homes.”

They contacted Peter Shikany, who had a year-old graphic design firm, ps:studios in Phoenix; he created a branding program for the new company. Shikany and the Jarsons have become close friends and continue to work together. In fact, he and his wife, gallery owner Lisa Sette live in the well-known House of Earth + Light (2006) by architect Marwan Al-Sayed, a sale completed by the Jarsons.

“The ability to connect architectural knowledge and expertise to the buying and selling of homes puts them in a unique position for their clients. There are no others who honestly operate from this viewpoint,” Shikany explains. “Because of this knowledge, they have been able to cultivate respect and friendships within the architectural and design communities and have been instrumental in raising awareness and helping to create a vibrant architecture movement in Arizona.”

Scott explains that “defining an architecturally unique property isn’t black-and-white.” The couple have, however, used five basic guidelines: the home offers a unique piece of history; it has been significantly published; it was designed by a significant architect; it offers a unique use of materials; and the home represents a particular period or architectural style.

Occasionally, the choice is intuitive: “We have always been committed to preserving the region’s history and to ensuring the environmental and architectural integrity of Southwest desert communities, so sometimes, you just know it when you see it,” she notes.

Scott believes that the growth of Metro Phoenix can be read through its architecture and design. “It’s a new place and, being where it is, in the West, a place that has had a sense of optimism and unlimited opportunity from the beginning. But, we do seem to have what I think of as ‘waves’ of creativity –– periods that the Valley has done the best in. The building inventory of unique design created during these times reflects the very best part of ourselves.”

“I am proud of our special place in the sun, but sometimes I hear from visitors and others that our area is just too ‘beige,’ not colorful enough with architectural panache and pizazz. We can be, yes, but we’ve delighted in introducing people to ‘threads’ in the creative weave that is our Valley: moments of design that reflect time and place or just a particularly creative spark of genius.”

“It’s not nostalgia, which can be narrow and dangerous,” he adds. “It’s about saying, ‘Yes, here we took a chance!’ It’s about art.”

Stewarding Our Visual Wealth

To celebrate their firm’s 30th anniversary, the Jarsons are selecting a few examples of the metro area’s Unique Visual Wealth –– architectural art –– and discussing one per story.

Some of these places are threatened with demolition or significant alteration from their original use. These include the first location the couple has chosen, Kiva Craftsman’s Court (1955, T.S. Montgomery), whose future is uncertain as the city of Scottsdale’s envisions a revitalized downtown including high-rise development.

Significant residences need advocacy, too, such as Paolo Soleri’s Cosanti (1956–) in highly desirable Paradise Valley. These kinds of homes are often vulnerable because the land they are built on has become so valuable that the new owners prefer to raze and build larger contemporary-style homes.

“Given the metro area’s relatively young age, the depth and range of the history and architecture of homes here is really quite remarkable,” Jarson says. “But our lack of awareness of this history makes these homes and buildings fragile because they are taken for granted or ‘in the way’ of progress.”

He notes that Bruder was the first person to share the saying with him, “Architecture is the most fragile of the arts.”

“The ‘artist/architect’ creates this three dimensional thing of beauty. Its original design is usually the purest, but time, elements, change of owners, encroachment, design ‘trends,’ even HGTV, all take their toll on these buildings,” Scott explains. “Slowly, then all at once, these homes and buildings become something different, most often diminished.”

Owners of these significant properties should, then, have a keen sense of responsibility.

“Scott and Debbie’s interest in culturally significant architecture, specifically homes, goes beyond connoisseurship and into stewardship,” says Darren Petrucci, principal of the architectural firm, A-I-R, in Phoenix and Suncor Professor of Architecture & Urbanism in The Design School of the Herberger Institute for Design and The Arts at Arizona State University.

“Their passion and commitment to finding the right buyer for a significant work is commendable, and, I am sure, sometimes detrimental to their bottom line, but the long view of their efforts outweigh the short-term gains,” he adds.

“If an owner appreciates the original intent of the architect, he or she can make reasonable changes that won’t affect the overall design,” Scott explains.

This is important because generally the new owners can’t return the house to its original, observe the building code in place decades ago or use the construction materials and techniques; they all change. “These designs are really habitable snapshots of the time they were designed in,” he says.

Building an exact copy of a Haver-designed tract home of the 1950s would be difficult. The signature thin single-pane glazing, the near-zero insulation, the antiquated HVAC system: These would not meet building codes or current lifestyle expectations.

“So today’s duplicate would be more efficient, yes, but the lightness of design, the delicate nature of how the roof connects to a small row of narrow clerestory windows, the thin roof that appears to almost ‘float’: All of this would be lost,” he explains.

Materials are also important to consider. In the mid-20th century, wood and lumber, such as clear redwood, were much more available, as in Guirey’s home from the 1950s, he explains.

“But that redwood is cost prohibitive today, and it’s difficult to obtain boards of the same clear quality. “Once they are painted white by a subsequent owner to ‘brighten’ and modernize the interior, that wood is usually lost and, with it, the look and the intent of the architect. Very few would take the effort to restore it again.”

Scott and Debbie Jarson and their associates are available at 480.425.9300, info@azarchitecture.com and azarchitecture.com.

Brown is a Valley-based writer (azwriter.com).

On the Shelf – Curated Clutter Free Products for 2021

December 30th, 2020

The chef Alton Brown has a handy name for kitchen gadgets that serve one function, which are then stowed away for interminable lengths of time: Unitaskers. They take up much-needed storage space and cause many headaches. These single-purpose tools often originate from the domain of infomercials, which are already of dubious purpose, quality and origins.

This term could be applied as an overarching phrase when describing many items stashed in drawers in our house. In effect, the ‘On the Shelf’ lists featured in issues of ‘Defining Desert Living’ are a way of cutting through the proverbial clutter and spotlighting designs for their clarity.

In a long year that benefited from the re-examination of many “so-called” necessities, we’re proud to spotlight the best of these products which give something to admire with their good design. Without further adieu, here’s a compilation of the best products featured in our last two issues of Defining Desert Living in 2020:

Stagg [XF] Pour-Over Set by Fellow — $99

What is it: Stagg will help you consistently brew the perfect cup. The double-wall, hand blown, borosilicate glass carafe allows for longer heat retention and no exterior condensation.

Why we like it: This is a remarkably pure design: Boiling water from a tea kettle is poured into the filter and produces hot coffee into the doubled-wall glass container at the bottom – which also doubles as a pitcher. No mess. No cords. And a very long shelf life. Easy to clean and store. You can’t say the same for a coffee machine.

Polaroid OneStep 2 Viewfinder I-Type Analogue Instant Camera — $72

What is it: Polaroid Originals’ ‘OneStep 2’ camera takes its cues from the 1977 model but with the addition of a few high-tech updates like a 60-day battery life, built-in strobe flash and a high-quality ‘2ft to infinity’ lens. It’s also fitted with a tripod mount on the base and a self-timer.

Why we like it: Everyone loves a polaroid! A print lends an instantaneous quality to it that somehow artificially ages it beyond the moment it was taken. This design takes everything right about this iconic product, like the design of the case assembly and style of print, and updates it to modern day with a few choice design and functionality choices not available a few decades before. Fun times at the party (whenever those happen again)!

Fez Wool Blanket by Sophie Probst — $250

What is it: Fez tributes the wonderful culture discovered on a recent voyager from designer Sophie Probst to the north and eastern part of Africa. These real New Zealand wool blankets will keep you warm at home or out.

Why we like it: Never discount a classic. Something like this draped over a couch gives a space texture and character to a room and keeps you warm if your house is also drafty. This is the type of blanket that goes a long way and will last too!

Anecdote Candles by Anecdote — $14 – $24

What is it: Candles are designed to remind us of stories worth sharing. Candles are hand-poured using natural ingredients with no additives, dyes, or preservatives

Why we like it: As humans, sometimes we consume without considering the effect it has on our bodies. These scented candles are the genuine articles without the baggage of artificial smells. And this brand is already after our own hearts with its Mid-Century Modern scent, which is described as “clean lines, and atomic sunbursts.”

Ceramic Cooling Carafe by Magisso — $70

What is it: If drinks by the pool or a sunny brunch are in order, this carafe is primed to be your new BFF. It’s made from black ceramic and it’s got a really handy trick: Simply soak it in cold water for 60 seconds and it’ll keep the contents cool for (wait for it) up to four hours.

Why we like it: What it says on the tin. We’ve all left cold bottles of water in our cars on a warm day and returned to find hot water in the container, in their place. This product posits that we can go for a dip in the pool, answers calls in the house and return to collect the pitcher and find still cold liquid inside. Sign us up!

Click & Grow Smart Garden — $99 – $199

What is it: Fresh herbs can truly elevate any dish. For those who don’t have a green thumb, Click & Grow can grow, water and nurture your herbs for you (all you have do is plug it in and fill the water tank once in a while).

Why we like it: Simple design with none of the bulk that typically define an aero garden. It’s a flexible design that can be stored when not in use and can be an excellent conversation piece when it grows a patch of rosemary! What’s more to love?

The select products were featured in the September and December Issues of Defining Desert Living. To view the full lists, they can be found in the aforementioned links.  

Market Update December 2020

WHEW! What a year it has been! In a year of complete uncertainty, one thing has remained certain – real estate is a good investment!

We’d like to start this final market report of 2020 by taking a quick look at the stats. These are the ARMLS numbers for December 1, 2020 compared with December 1, 2019 for all areas & types:

• Active Listings (excluding UCB & CCBS): 7,388 versus 13,869 last year. Down 46.7% from last year, and down 14.9% from 8,682 last month.
• Active Listings (including UCB & CCBS): 12,481 versus 18,322 last year. Down 24.1% from last year, and down 10.2% compared with 13,901 last month.
• Pending Listings: 7,347 versus 5,864 last year. Up 25.3% from last year, but down 6.6% from 7,862 last month.
• Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 12,389 versus 9,572 last year. Up 29.4% from last year, but down 8.2% from 13,081 last month.
• Monthly Sales: 9,205 versus 7,131 last year. Up 29.1% from last year, but down 3.6% from 10,024 last month
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $207.71 versus $179.92 last year. Up 15.4% from last year, and up 0.2% from $207.71 last month.
• Monthly Median Sales Price: $330,000 versus $281,000 last year. Up 17.4% over last year, but down 0.6% from $332,000 last month.

Per ARMLS data analyst Tom Ruff, we already broke records in November and are on track to do the same in December. According to Ruff, “We begin December with 28.2% fewer homes for sale today than we saw one year ago, with many areas showing record lows for the number of homes available. At the same time, demand increased 27.4% year-over-year, with ARMLS reporting the highest sales volume for any November in history. Low supply and high demand can only mean one thing: higher prices. The average sales price was up 18% and the median sales price rose 16.8% yearover-year…. My guess, sales volume in December will approximate 9,500. The highest sales volume ever in December occurred in 2010 when ARMLS reported 8,401 home sales. When the December sales are reported we will see another new record.”

If you have been keeping up with our monthly market report, you will notice that we have set or broken records many months in 2020. How is this possible to keep breaking records month over month during a pandemic? It seems that much of it is due to the inbound migration from other states to Arizona. Per the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, nearly 70,000 people move to Arizona from California each year to take advantage of the lower cost of living, affordable housing options, and lower income and property taxes.

Because no one has ever seen a market quite like this one before, it is understandable how some people might feel uneasy. It might even make some people wonder if and when the market will “crash”. While it is true that no one has ever seen a market exactly like this one before, experts have been tracking data in the real estate market for a very long time. And, data doesn’t lie. What data does is show us patterns that will most likely occur in various scenarios, even this one.

A deeper dive into the historical data will show that in order for the market to crash like it did in the mid-2000’s, we would need the number of active listings to exponentially increase and the demand for homes to drastically decrease. Fortunately, this does not seem to be happening any time soon. Tina Tamboer, Senior Housing Analyst with The Cromford Report, does a good job of explaining why. Tamboer states, “Because population growth has consistently outpaced housing growth every year over the past 10 years, rents and values are projected to continue rising through 2021 in Greater Phoenix unless builders are able and willing to ramp up production at ludicrous speed.  They are doing their best, but even 25,549 permits issued and 19,889 sales closed on brand new single-family homes through October this year hasn’t proven to be enough to satisfy the level of demand for housing that has descended on Greater Phoenix.  Sellers need not worry about their home values declining anytime soon.”

So, if you are thinking of selling your home in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Cave Creek, Carefree, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Peoria, Glendale, Avondale, Sun City or any of the surrounding areas NOW is the time to do it! We have a team full of experts that are familiar with the market. Contact us at info@azarchitecture.com and we will put you in touch with the agent most familiar with your area and/or type of home.

If you are thinking of buying a home, it is still a great time as home values are still appreciating! However, in this market, it is imperative to have an agent who knows how to get a contract accepted and a deal closed. Our team stays on top of the market to ensure that their clients have the best shot at getting the home they want even in these crazy times!

While there were many negative things that came out of 2020, we plan to take a few of the positive things with us into 2021, like this booming real estate market! We are so thankful for our team of agents (aka essential workers) and clients like you that have stuck with us through the madness. Cheers to a brand New Year full of health, happiness, and cool architecture to call home. Bring it on 2021!

Home Buying 101 – A Quick Guide to the Homebuying Process for 2021

December 23rd, 2020

Have you decided that you are ready to purchase a home? With Phoenix rents continuing to rise faster than the rest of the country and interest rates at all time lows, now might just be the perfect time to purchase a home in the Valley of the Sun. If you have kept up with our monthly market reports; however, you know that we are currently experiencing a pretty strong sellers market. No need to worry though! Many experts are predicting home values to keep rising in 2021. This means that you could benefit from this appreciation if you chose to buy early in 2021. If you follow the steps outlined below, we feel confident that you will be able to call yourself a homeowner in the New Year!

1. First and foremost, find THE RIGHT REALTOR® for you! Many other home buying guides might place this step a little further down the list; however, we know that in a market like this, having the right representation and guidance from the get-go can help insure you get the home you want at the best price. A good REALTOR® will know the market, and more specifically, the area where you are looking to purchase. They can help guide you through every part of the process and help prevent and fix any pitfalls that can arise in the process. Depending on your price point, your offer might end up being one of many. If this is the case, it will benefit you to have a seasoned REALTOR® who knows how to write offers that have the best chances of being accepted. With nearly 90,000 licensed agents in Arizona, chances are you know someone (or several people) with their real estate license. Unfortunately, this is not the best time to rely on your family member or friend that only writes a contract every year or two. In this market, you need an agent, preferably a REALTOR® that is skilled in contract writing and real estate negotiations. Our firm is home to many successful, full-time, seasoned REALTORS® that can help you guide you through the home buying process. You can see their bios here.

2. Once you have chosen your REALTOR®, you need to figure out exactly how much house you can afford. If you haven’t ever created a budget, NOW is the time to do so. In order to figure out exactly what you can afford to pay for a home, you will need to have a good idea of what your monthly expenses look like. You need to be well aware of what you have coming in each month and the stability of the origin of those funds as well as what is going out each month. If you have a financial planner, he or she might be able to help you take a close look at your finances and help you determine exactly what you can (and can’t afford). If you have chosen the right REALTOR®, they can help you by showing homes that fit within your parameters. If the REALTOR® you choose to use insists on showing you homes outside of your price range, you might want to reevaluate that relationship. Your REALTOR® should have your best interest at heart.

3. Next, if you haven’t already, NOW is the time to start saving for a down payment. If you are looking to obtain a conventional loan, you will ideally want to plan on saving for a down payment of at least 20% of the purchase price of the home to avoid having to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). The down payment isn’t the only cost you will have though. You should also  plan on saving approximately 2-5% of the purchase price of the home to pay your closing costs. This money will be due along with your down payment when you go to close on your home.

4. The next step is to get pre-approved for your mortgage loan. Your lender will need some information from you regarding your assets and income in order to provide you with a pre-approval. If you do not have a lender you trust, just ask your REALTOR®. He or she should be able to give you several options for reputable lenders in your area that are well versed in various types of loans. Some people think it will be easiest to use your current bank as your lender. This is not always true. As the borrower, you have the ability to shop around for the best rate on your loan.

5. Finally, we get to the fun part – House Hunting! While many people spend time looking at homes on sites like Zillow or Redfin, unfortunately, these sites are not updated in real time. Oftentimes, when a client finds a home on one of these sites, it is already under contract. Your REALTOR® can set you up with a portal on his or her MLS that only shows you homes that fit your search criteria. The best thing about the portal is that it is updated in real time. In a sellers market, it is important that you don’t waste too much time looking at homes that are already under contract. Your REALTOR® can set up your portal to alert you when new homes come onto the market.

6. Once you find the perfect home, it’s time to make an offer. Your REALTOR® should work with you to create the best possible offer. This can be a nerve-racking time. It is important to have clear expectations about what can possibly happen after your offer is submitted. In this market and depending on your price point, your offer could be one of many. Best case scenario, your offer is accepted as-is. If this happens, kudos to you and your REALTOR®. Worst case scenario, your offer is rejected or ignored. If this happens, your REALTOR® can help guide you through what to do next. Typical scenario, your offer is countered in some way. Again, your REALTOR® will be a valuable resource in helping you decide what to do if this happens.

7. Once your offer is accepted and the final contract is signed the next step is to open escrow. Your REALTOR® should have given you title and escrow company options prior to writing your contract. When your contract is accepted any earnest money indicated in the contract should be wired or delivered to the title company to be held in escrow.

8. Once the contract is accepted and if inspections were not waived, a proverbial clock starts for the buyers “due diligence” period also known as the inspection period. Again, this is an important time to have a seasoned REALTOR® on your side. Because these things are time sensitive, it is imperative to have someone in your corner who is well versed in the real estate contract deadlines and required paperwork. The first thing to set up is your home inspection. Your REALTOR® should be able to provide you with a few different options for various home inspectors. In addition to the home inspection, you may opt for other types of inspections on the property such as a termite inspection, roof inspection, septic inspection, well inspection, sewer line inspection, mold inspection, pool inspection, etc. Payment for these inspections will fall primarily on the buyer. If issues arise from any of the inspections, you will work with your REALTOR® to fill out the BINSR (Buyers Inspection Notice Sellers Response) and either ask the sellers to fix the issues or credit you money back so that you can fix them yourself. The sellers may opt to do either of those things, or they might opt to do nothing. Depending on the issues, and how badly you want the home, you may have some hard decisions to make based on the sellers response. If the sellers agree to make repairs, you will be given the chance to do a final walk-through prior to close to make sure all of the agreed upon repairs have been made.

9. One more hoop to jump through… the appraisal! Unless it was waived in the purchase contract or by your lender, your lender will order an appraiser to come out to appraise the current value of the home. Because of the current sellers market, some experts predict that we might start to see an increase in overpriced homes that do not appraise for the purchase price. If this happens, you will need to talk with your REALTOR® about your options to possibly negotiate with the seller and continue with the purchase or walk-away. Your REALTOR® should be able to guide you through any sticky situations and help you come to a final decision.

10. Inspections done, appraisal done, final walk-through done, now it’s closing time! In Arizona, the title company will set up a time for you and the sellers to sign your final documents separately. At this point, you will pay your down payment and closing costs. Once funds have been received from both you and your lender, the title company makes sure the sellers are paid. They will also record your deed with the county recorder. Once the deed has been recorded, the title company will notify your REALTOR®. At that point, the home is yours! Most often, your REALTOR® will meet you to give you the keys to your new home. CONGRATULATIONS and WELCOME HOME!

If you are thinking about buying or selling a home in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Peoria, Glendale, Goodyear or anywhere else in the Valley of the Sun, we want to be a resource for you. Please reach out to us with any questions at info@azarchitecture.com.

Market Update November 2020

November 24th, 2020

Here are the basics – the ARMLS numbers for November 1, 2020 compared with November 1, 2019 for all areas & types:

• Active Listings (excluding UCB & CCBS): 8,682 versus 14,525 last year – down 40.2% – but up 7.4% from 8,101 last month
• Active Listings (including UCB & CCBS): 13,901 versus 18,322 last year – down 24.1% – but up 4.5% compared with 13,305 last month
• Pending Listings: 7,862 versus 5,919 last year – up 32.8% – but down 1.7% from 7,999 last month
• Under Contract Listings (including Pending, CCBS & UCB): 13,081 versus 9,716 last year – up 34.6% – but down 0.9% from 13,203 last month
• Monthly Sales: 9,992 versus 8,037 last year – up 20.5% – and up 3.6% from 9,641 last month
• Monthly Average Sales Price per Sq. Ft.: $207.37 versus $174.14 last year – up 19.1% – and up 4.3% from $198.84 last month
• Monthly Median Sales Price: $332,000 versus $285,000 last year – up 16.5% – and up 1.6% from $326,800 last month

If October of 2019 was a good month in real estate in Maricopa County (and it was), October 2020 was GREAT! In fact, in the most recent ARMLS Stat Report, data analyst Tom Ruff says, “Since the March and April market step back, ARMLS housing numbers have been running at a frenzied pace, leaving housing analysts running to their thesauruses in search of new superlatives. We expected a record October for home sales, and a record October is just what we got. October in a word was prodigious.”

As we have mentioned before in our monthly market update, one of the driving factors behind this market is a shockingly low amount of listings. According to a recent talk given by Tina Tamboer, Senior Analyst for the Cromford Report, we did see a slight surge in listings during the month of October; however, that surge has already seemed to slow a bit.

The lack of listings coupled with increased demand and historically low interest rates leads many experts to believe that our market won’t be making a turn around any time soon. According to Ruff, “When you pair the number of homes listed (7,824) with the number of listings under contract (12,586), it becomes readily apparent that our current market trends will not be changing anytime soon. Homes are selling quickly, and sellers are getting their asking price, in many cases more than they are asking. The momentum of our current market will propel our current trends into 2021. While current market conditions cannot continue indefinitely, there are no foreseeable changes in sight. In other words, the beat goes on.”

Another factor driving the current market is in-bound migration from places such as California and Texas. In a recent article posted by the Scottsdale Area Association of REALTORS®, Vanessa Vogel, senior research analyst for CBRE in Phoenix, said, “migration has only accelerated from California to Arizona amid the pandemic, for both office-using and industrial jobs. Office workers have newfound flexibility to work remotely while industrial users still want to be in driving distance to the ports. Employers can find a high-quality workforce and location at a lower cost in Arizona.”

Interestingly enough, it is not just the affordable housing market that is being impacted. Luxury sales are soaring too! According to the Cromford Report, “During October we saw 37 closed listings over $3 million in Maricopa County. This is not only the highest total for any October in history, it is the highest total for any month in history!” In turn, with the rise in prices and overall lack of supply, the market for homes under $300k is essentially disappearing all together.

In a nutshell, we are still very firmly in a sellers market. This is great news for anyone looking to list their property now. If you have questions about what you need to do to get top dollar for your home or how to best bring your home to the market, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We have a team of agents ready and willing to help you.

As for those buyers out there, don’t fret! The Phoenix Metro Area is still a great place to buy a home. In fact, Wallethub recently listed 5 Phoenix Metro Cities (Gilbert #5, Peoria #17, Surprise #20, Tempe #23 and Chandler #25) in it’s list of Best Real Estate Markets. According to the article, those five cities made the top 25 places to buy a house in the US. To determine the Best Real Estate Markets, their experts used “24 key indicators of housing-market attractiveness and economic strength.” You can read the full article here.

If you are looking to purchase a home, you need a great REALTOR® on your side now more than ever. Reach out to us directly at info@azarchitecture.com, and we will pair you with the right agent to fit your needs. Whether you want to buy, sell or just chat about real estate or architecture, we are here for you! We have been in this game for many years, and we love what we do.

Untangling Phoenix’s Messy Historic Preservation Problem

November 20th, 2020

Much of Phoenix simply does not look as it did even half a century ago.

It is obvious whenever you see an old photograph of the sparse streetscapes of Phoenix, with simple block structures and the original carriages parked out front, and plug that a rough address into street views on Google Maps. It will be dramatically different.

Over the summer of 2020, two 100-plus year old structures, the Steinegger Lodging House and the Wakelin Grocery Warehouse, were demolished by their respective property owners. Although circumstances differed, both properties were designated on either the National Register of Historic Places, or the Phoenix Historic Property Register.

In the case of the 131-year old Steinegger Lodge, which sat next to the Professional Building/Hilton Garden Inn, it evoked palpable and unifying anger regarding why a structure clearly historic, and on the National Historic Register of Historic Places, could be so easily met with a large backhoe and demolition crew.

Compounding the collective angst, there was no requirement to salvage, and no effort by the property owner to retain any vestiges of the building. Nineteenth century millwork, bricks, and the original staircase crunched by the force of a crane. The same was true with the Wakelin produce warehouse a few weeks later.

This was a tragedy to the local preservation community — but by no means isolated. When you learn about Phoenix’s historic preservation problem, it becomes clear that a mixture of unique issues, rather one simple failure, are at play.

The buildings’ status on the different historic registers did not prelude the building from demolition by a motivated property owner. According to Jim McPherson, a local activist and vice president of the Arizona Heritage Foundation, the system is “honorific,” and without the weight of official government protection.

However, putting a historic property on the National Register of Historic Places is a gateway to grants, credits, property tax relief and other incentives. According to Chris Cody, the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, this is where confusion with historic preservation begins when a mere gateway to preservation is interpreted as cudgel for protection.

“When you become involved with the National Register, you’re effectively bringing the Keeper of the National Register in as an appeals body for local zoning decisions,” Cody said. “A lot of these towns in the valley are still leaning the National Register too heavily for this stuff, which creates entanglements, issues with misperceptions.”

In the case of the Steinegger Lodge, built in 1889, more than two decades prior to Arizona‘s incorporation into the Union, the current conditions of the structure hastened its demise.

The lynchpin of its destruction began in 2008 when the lodge and its roof were significantly damaged by construction workers renovating the neighboring Art Deco style Professional Building, rehabilitating it as the Hilton Garden Inn.

The Steinegger had already been declared unsafe for occupancy when it was shut down by the city in 2004. But, exposure to the elements further deteriorated the foundation, bowing the wood flooring and destabilizing the exterior brickwork. Until destruction, the roof of the lodge was left significantly damaged.

When the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission opted not to give the building preservation status, it was on the basis of findings in a report that they requested that the building owner prepare to verify the actual condition of the building rather than its historical value.

“I think that [report] took the wind out of the opposition,” local preservation activist Roger Brevoort said.

Brevoort notes while a plan to save the lodge existed and several monetary offers and incentives were potentially available, the findings of the inspection report, overseen by structural engineers, who had previously inspected the building in 2005, sealed its fate.

“In our opinion the building is structurally unsafe to occupy.  It should be condemned and torn down to prevent the possible collapse into the adjacent buildings during the occurrence of an earthquake or high wind event,” the final report read.

Over several days in early July, the demolition was slowly carried out, taking down the original structure and its subsequent expansions. Again, no effort was attempted to salvage the brickwork or design features, which was carted off to a landfill.

To local activists, like Steve Dreiseszun, it is indicative of favoring the expediency of business than preserving the architecture of the past.

“It would have been a substantial investment to save that building, but in my view it was oversold as far as its inability of anyone to save it,” Dreiseszun said. “The question was never asked, ‘What would it take to save it.’ It was automatically assumed that it was a hardship.”

In the Historic Preservation community, the circumstances of how the lodge was eventually demolished is referred to as Demolition by Neglect, where a structure is allowed to decay, whether intentionally or not, without intervention by the property owner to the point where demolition is inevitable.

If there was a bittersweet silver lining in the road to demolition of the lodge, it’s that city ordinances allowed communities time to mobilize — albeit unsuccessfully. Several groups. Including Preserve Phoenix, the voice for advocacy in Phoenix garnered major attention on social media.

Due to a recent change to Phoenix Historic Preservation ordinance, a property owner can no longer simply pull a demolition permit on a 50-year old commercial building in Phoenix and teardown the historic structure the next day.

The ordinance now requires a 30-day waiting period on destruction before it a structure can be legally demolished. This is a new development in local historic preservation, as until recently activists only learned of about demolition permits when the wrecking balls appeared on-site.

This was exactly what happened to the lodge when the property owner took out a demolition permit in early June – it delayed destruction by only a month. If the Historic Preservation Commission had initiated a historic overlay, that action could have granted even more time for the owner to evaluate options and have a discussion with the preservation advocates who were offering alternatives.

When the Phoenix commission votes to give historic status, it starts a countdown clock of a single year to allow the city and a building’s property owner to negotiate on terms to save the structure. This doesn’t guarantee a building’s survival, but it might give the building a second chance.

If it seems like the city is slow-moving to act, it’s partially by design. In decades past, the Historic Preservation Office was a much more forceful entity. Now, under the city’s current Planning & Development department, the office works closely with other city planners to move historic interests, while not impeding business.

To outsiders, that same dynamic of being frustratingly impartial affects the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission, which is comprised of different occupational segments of the community. Yet, McPherson thinks that balance of its members is a good thing. The committee includes people from a variety of backgrounds, including a realtor, historian, archaeologist, attorney, and general citizen representatives.

“Those folks are nominated by [city] council members, so that could inject a little bit of politics because sometimes the person nominated is not a diehard preservation advocate, which again you want the balance, you want the dialogue,” McPherson said. “But, I have seen a trend where commissioners have not been as aggressive on the advocacy side.”

The membership of the Commission does change as terms expire. However, to activists, the current commission makeup is not as aggressive as it has been in the past.

According to Brevoort, the shadow of Prop 207, a land use law which passed in Arizona in 2007, looms over the city’s decision-making as the fate of structures continue to come up. Proposition 207 passed with 60% approval. It potentially requires the government to reimburse land owners when regulations could result in a decrease in a property’s value.

The concern is that if an action by the city devalues a person’s historical property, then the owner can sue for monetary damages. Brevoort says there’s never been a successfully-tried Prop 207 case but this hasn’t stopped city attorneys from erring on the side of caution, thereby hindering efforts at designation by the City Historic Preservation Office. This is true in Phoenix, and in other Arizona cities, he says.

It’s a solitary job for a group of loosely coordinated citizens to preserve the city’s architectural history; because of its age as barely a century old city, Phoenix already had a deficit of existing 19th Century architecture.

Back in 2014, McPherson and his organization spearheaded a successful effort to save the Art Deco Civic Building on the Arizona State Fairgrounds. The task to save this WPA project, built in the 1938, often met fundamental barriers, like access to the state fair board in charge to start a dialogue. It took months to arrange a series of meeting with the various parties. All of which is to say it is very time-consuming, almost full-time, to save a single building

“It would be nice to have the 600-pound gorilla, which is Phoenix, be able to stand up on its own and have that initial effort and we’d come in, the Arizona Preservation Foundation, comes in, if you really do need that support.”

But, one more unavoidable reality concerning the present state of Historic Preservation is the following: There’s simply no dedicated state or local funds for such projects. Bonds are exhausted. The nearest dedicated historic preservation funding, the Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund, will be available again in 2029, but not before more important line items like education are funded first.

On top of this, Arizona has not enacted a State Investment Tax Credit to coincide with the Federal Investment Tax Credit for income-producing renovations, which increase the effectiveness and economic viability of both credits. At present, 38 states have a state-level credit that is in all cases a hugely successful preservation and economic development incentive.

This doesn’t mean homeowners are hopeless. There is a state property tax reduction program for residential owners of non-income producing properties. There are 8,000 homeowners in the program statewide, according to Eric Vondy, with the AZ State Parks Office. The program reduces the homeowner’s burden if they are inclined to maintain or restore their property. The tax reduction program is technically a reclassification program of what that property owner owes in taxes, which amounts to almost a 50% reduction.

In a perfect world, Brevoort, McPherson & Dreiseszun offer similar, yet differing perspectives for better preserving the local architectural record, from integrating salvaging materials into the demolition permit, reusing those materials, and mandating a building plans with a property owner if they were to demolish and rebuild.

According to Cody, minor solutions, not structural changes would go a long way to addressing the gaps in ordinances, like the city finally implementing demolition by neglect ordinances and making demolition applications come with required re-hearing every year in the event they’re denied, which would bring Arizona to the historic preservation standards of the rest of nation.

Cody, the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer comes to Arizona with an education of Historic Preservation from cities like New Orleans and Charleston, the latter of which he called the “golden goose” of preserving its architectural history.

In a place like Charleston, their Historic Preservation office takes a much more proactive role in preservation. Cody gives an example of an occasion when two comparably historic buildings both structurally failed at about the same time, which left no other recourse than to demolish.

However, as a condition to approve a demolition permit, the city required the property owners to make 3D scans of the structure and drone footage to extensively document the structures’ existence.

But, strong historic preservation itself is conditional upon government departments, like the Historic Preservation Commission, being empowered to use their authority to act to set conditions rather than concessions.

If there’s a built-in fault to that logic, as Dreiseszun sees it, when concessions were already made to the property owner, there are deficits to the value of the building itself.

“I hear a lot, ‘It’s a hardship to the owner. It’ll be too costly.’ Well, it’s always gonna be that way because you have to advocate for the building,” Dreiseszun said. “When you’re advocating for the owner, they’ve lost their responsibility.”

Get out and explore The Valley of the Sun!

October 27th, 2020

Frank Lloyd Wright once stated, “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” We believe this to be true as well. We are lucky to live in such a spectacular place. After even a minor amount of exploring, it is easy to see why Wright chose to build his beloved winter home and desert laboratory, Taliesin West, right here in the Valley of the Sun.

Now that the weather is starting to cool off in the Phoenix Metro area, it is the perfect time to head outdoors and explore the plethora of multi-use trails in and around your neighborhood. Whether you want to hike, bike, go horseback riding, take a Jeep Tour or sit and observe nature, there are so many fabulous places to go right here in the Valley of the Sun. We even have several paths in or near Phoenix that have been deemed “barrier free” which means that anyone can enjoy these particular trails even if they are using a wheelchair, pushing a stroller, encouraging young children or slower walkers to hike, recovering from an injury or just beginning a fitness routine for the first time. Having these trails close by is just one of the many benefits of moving to Arizona!

While we realize that this incredible state has much more to offer in the way of trails, we thought it best to narrow our focus and dedicate this particular post to a few of our favorite trails in and around Phoenix. Feel free to click on any of the red text below to read more about these magnificent parks and trails.

Phoenix Parks/Trailheads

• Camelback Mountain
• Deems Hills Recreation Area
• Lookout & Shadow Mountain
• North Mountain & Shaw Butte (The Penny Howe Barrier Free Trail is barrier free)
• Papago Park (the Crosscut Canal Trail & Elliott Loop Trails are barrier free)
• Piestewa Peak & Dreamy Draw
• Rio Salado Habitat Restoration (The North Overbank and South Overbank Trails are barrier free)
• Sonoran Preserve (The East Skip Rimsza Paseo and West Skip Rimsza Paseo Trails are barrier free)
• South Mountain Park/Preserve (The Judith Tunell Accessible Trail is barrier free)
• Reach 11 Recreation Area (Barrier Free Access Nature Trail is barrier free)

Scottsdale Parks/Trailheads

• Brown’s Ranch Trailhead  (The Jane Rau Trail is barrier free)
• Gateway Trailhead (The Bajada Trail is barrier free)
• McDowell Mountain Regional Park trailhead (The Nursery Tank Trail is barrier free)
• Lost Dog Trailhead (Lost Dog Wash Trail is barrier free)
• Pinnacle Peak Park has a trail for hiking, horseback riding and rock climbing.

Cave Creek Parks/Trailheads

• Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area Map (PDF)
• Cave Creek Regional Park
• Desert Foothills Land Trust

East Valley Parks/Trailheads 

• Usery Mountain Park in Mesa (The Merkle Barrier-Free Trail is barrier free)
• Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction (The Native Plant Trail is barrier free)

Physical activity and fresh air might be more important now than ever before. While we encourage you to get out and be physically active, we also want to make sure you stay safe. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC recommends the following when visiting public parks and recreational facilities such as the trails and trailheads mentioned above:

• Visit parks and recreation areas that are close to your home.
• Don’t visit crowded parks or campgrounds.
• Carefully consider use of playgrounds, and help children follow guidelines.
• Stay at least 6 feet away from people you don’t live with.
• Wear a mask.
• Wash your hands often and don’t share items with people you don’t live with.

If you are looking to move to Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Cave Creek, Carefree, Peoria, Glendale, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler or any of the other surrounding cities, let us know. Our team of agents at azarchitecture can help you find the neighborhood that best fits your lifestyle. Contact us directly at info@azarchitecture.com, and we will put you in touch with an agent in your desired area.

“Leave the roads, take the trails.” – Pythagoras