This view of the Phoenix Financial Center shows what the other side of that tall, curved building looks like. Those gold vertical piers break up the glass windows facing onto the manicured grounds below. The original tenant was Western Savings, a now defunct savings and loan bank. Western Savings was a victim of the Savings and Loan crisis of the 80’s. In the photo you can see a balcony about half-way up the tower. In 1964, the building only rose to that point. The second half was added four years later. Supposedly, the architect’s original vision called for another tower mirroring this one and encircling the center core. The two buildings would have served as tall brackets for the two small round buildings in front.
I'm usually ambivalent about modern architecture but I really do like this. The curves are pleasing, of course, but also the colour of the stone against the blue sky. Nice..
ReplyDeleteI like this financial building. It's very similar than some hotels in Spain that was built in the same decade.
ReplyDeleteSharon,
ReplyDeleteI have been in the building and have worked in a high rise across the street from it, and I had no idea the top half of the building was addded four years after the bottom half.
The punch card side of the building is seamless. It gives no clue that the top half was added later. The color match of the facade is exact. Even the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. contains a line across it that separates where construction stopped during the Civil War, as after the war they did not find an exact color match for the granite used for the exterior.
The side that you showed today faces north, so it is shielded from the intense Arizona sun. The curved punch-card side of the building that you showed yesterday, with very small slit windows, faces the sunny southern side of the building.
I like the many textures and patterns of this building — very interesting! I like yesterday's 'punch card' facade. ;D
ReplyDeleteThe February 2009 theme poll is up! Please vote if you haven't already :)
Wow - this is quite a spectacular building from any angle! Very striking!
ReplyDeleteA true landmark in the city.
ReplyDeleteLovely building. I wonder if it will be full of empty offices over the next year, as a result of the credit crisis.
ReplyDelete