Another Beadle Building

 

This is another Al Beadle building.  I missed it on that day I drove around looking for his buildings.  I happened to be in the neighborhood a few days ago so I finally got the photos.

This one is an office building built up on a platform with the space below open.  The interesting thing I learned about this one is about those diagonal windows.  This is the only one of his buildings with that type a window.  I learned that he was aware that the city would never bury the power lines (seen all the way to the right).  He decided to incorporate the angle of the guylines anchoring the huge power pole into the building's design.  Unfortunately when I took this photo, I failed to get those lines in the shot.

However, I found a photo on line.  Those lines match the line of the windows perfectly.  Very clever!

The Beadle Surprise

 

When I went out on my "Beadle hunt", I had the address of this building but wasn't sure what I'd find. It appears that the Modern Phoenix website is not being updated currently and the photos of this building looked like this on their site:

I was afraid it might have been torn down.

I was surprised to see this beautifully restored building looking very fresh and inviting.  It is now being operated as The Beadle Workspace, a shared workspace facility.  Their website has great views of the building from above and inside.  It's well worth a look here! The eclectic work environment made me smile.  

Finding this building was a surprise and a pleasure.  It's so nice to see that someone has thought enough of the history of the place to name the building and business to honor the original architect.

Roman Roads

 

I discovered this condo neighborhood back in 2015 and commented on its unusual name and appearance.  It turns out that this is an Al Beadle multi-housing development dating back to 1964.  

When I discovered it was another Beadle project, I decided to get new photos.  I drove into the complex to get a look at the fronts of the units seen in these two photos.  It appears that sunlight arrives via the backs which I couldn't see from the roads.  However, that Modern Phoenix website has photos that show the insides of these units showing that the back walls are all glass.  You can see that here.

A Beadle Home

 

Most of the Beadle buildings I'm familiar with are commercial buildings but Beadle also created single family homes.  There are several listed but only a few have a an actual address listed.  Others just give a general vicinity.  This one had a street address so I was able to track it down.  I'm glad I did, this is classic Al Beadle.  

Those "Beatle Balls" are present and the design is very much his style.  Rather than leveling this lot, he worked around the dips and valleys and built the house so it sort of floats over the desert floor.  

That website I found has a lot more photos of this home both inside and out.  You can see them here.  

I Went on a Beadle Hunt

 

At the end of July, I posted a photo of Executive Tower, a mid-century high-rise building design by Phoenix's very own mid-century architect Al Beadle.  I mentioned that I might look for more of the Beadle buildings around Phoenix and that's exactly what I did.  These first three are styles that I wouldn't normally associate with Beadle but I found a website that has archived a lot of his buildings and these three were all on the list.  Above is a small apartment complex called 12th Street Apartments.  The pattern of the blocks on the end is a signature Beadle style.

This is a medical building with multiple tenants.  In fact, my dermatologist was once located in this building.  I photographed it on a Sunday morning so there would be no cars to block the view. This one is called the Missouri Medical Building because it's on Missouri Street. 

This last one has had so many modifications that I think the only thing that remains the same is the shape and size.  It used to be a First Federal Bank but as you can see it's now a pizza restaurant.  It's called "Federal Pizza" to honor the original tenant.  I'll show some more in the next few days.

It was fun seeking out these mid-century gems.  I'm glad I challenged myself to find some of them.

Tall and Sophisticated

 

This tall building is just one block away from the apartments I featured yesterday.  My first job upon moving to Arizona was in an elegant looking building between these two. (that building is long gone)  I remember coming from a small city in Illinois, this apartment building looked so "big-city" sophisticated to me.  The last time I featured this building on my blog was in 2008.

The building was designed by Al Beadle, a much admired, mid-century architect.  There is evidence of his buildings all over town.  I featured two others here and here.   

I should search out more Beadle buildings and do a series of posts! That might be a fun project.

I mentioned above that my first job after moving to Arizona was in beautifully designed building directly across the street from the apartments I posted yesterday.  The building was torn down a long time ago to make way for a parking lot.  (Yes, just like the song!) I spent two hours searching the internet for a photo of that building with no luck at all.  I can't believe that there are no photos to be found in cyberspace.  I spent another hour searching my old boxes of photos and finally came up with this one.  It's faded and pushing way too much green but at least you can get an idea of what that building looked like.  

White Gates

 

This is a historic home called White Gates designed by architect Al Beadle.  Beadle, who won an award for this home, was a well known architect in the Phoenix area.  His mid-century modern designs can be found in a variety of locations around town.  I featured some apartments he designed back in August here. 

The unfortunate thing is that this house has been sitting vacant for many years now.  I understand that the current owner would sell it if he could find someone willing to do the restoration work.  It sits on prime real estate in a neighborhood with multi-million dollar homes.  It has come very close to being demolished several times before.  There is a history and more photos on this site.  

Mid-Century Architecture

This apartment building was designed by Al Beadle, a very prolific architect who most people have never heard of.  There are many Beadle designed buildings and homes in the Phoenix area.  This place is called the Triad Apartments.  Check the link.  There are more photos both inside and out.  This place was built in 1964 and it has the distinctive round bulb light fixtures.  Beadle used those round lights in almost all of his designs.  They quickly became known as Beadle Balls.  

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  More views of Abbey Road Farm.  

Unique Condos

I recently found this unusual looking condo complex in north central Phoenix.  The actual condo units appear to be two story with flat roofs.  But, what caught my eye was the sign out front and the name "Roman Roads".  Both are very unique.

It was such an unusual entrance that I was compelled to turn around and go back for a photo.

Big Box

Big box building, not a big box store.  Here is another building featured in the book I have called "Mid-Century Marvels".  This one dates back to 1967 and it was designed by Al Beadle.  I've featured other Al Beadle buildings before and you can read a little about this interesting character here.  This building doesn't have a fancy name, it's just called the 5th Avenue Medical Building.  Other architects of the era built similar cube shaped buildings during this period and the Hungarian professor of architecture, Erno Rubik created his famous Rubik's cube as a functional teaching tool to help his design students understand three-dimensional objects.