Attachment B - Pages from Midcentury Marvels Book.pdf
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MIDCENTURY MARVELS Commercial Architecture of Phoenix 1945-1975 City of Phoenix Historic Preservation Office and Ryden Architects, Inc. 196 LODGING Michael Lundgren 197 1959 CITY CENTER MOTEL The function of roadside archi- tecture is to attract attention through dra- matic forms. Architect William D. Knight Jr. and builder Ben Paller used this design approach here to create visual excitement through complex and contradictory visual relationships. Many themes of the Googie style can be traced to the ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright who rooted his buildings firmly in the earth, built walls of natural stone, wood and bricks, and spread out sheltering roofs like the boughs of a tree. At Wright’s As a rare, surviving local example of Googie-style roadside design, the City Center Motel dynamical- ly balances the imagery of nature and technology. Its ponderous, battered stone pylon set amid lush greenery of raised planters counterbalances the audacious launch of the angular carport roof. This sleek, soaring roof plane is itself a billboard adver- tising itself—a fi ne motel demonstration of Wright’s “form and function are one.” 612 West Van Buren Street Taliesin West, the heavy desert stone walls provided a sturdy platform for the support of lightweight roof canopies. He used the metaphor of “cave and bower” for this con- trasting visual arrangement. On the other hand, many European Modernists insisted that boxlike buildings should be set in contrast with nature as man-made machines for living in- dependent of the environment. As shown on the vintage postcard above, original plantings enhanced the base of the building and created a visual buffer from the street. The glare of the sun is cut by the ornamen- tal space-age metal screens. In concert with the architecture, the futuristic roof sign catches motorists’ attention as they cruise the old highway searching for suitable lodg- ings near the center of the city. As is typical of highway motels, the lobby and drive-thru canopy makes the big architectural state- ment while the guest room wings are fairly simple functional buildings that are little more than decorated boxes. Barbara Stocklin Postcard Collection