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Historic Phoenix Architecture

December 28th, 2009

New home buyers come to Phoenix, Arizona for the booming economy, but they are lured to stay because of historic features that the city offers. If you are moving to Phoenix, you want a Phoenix real estate agent who has a firm understanding of the local real estate market and is working for you to help you find your dream property. There are many new homes in Phoenix that have been influenced by the stunning historic architecture that you can see around town, and your historic architecture is ready to work with you so that you can find and acquire just the right Phoenix property for your purposes.

One historic property in Phoenix, Arizona that exemplifies one of the beautiful architectural styles is the Union Station in downtown Phoenix. This building, built in 1923 by the Santa Fe and the Arizona Eastern (representing the Southern Pacific) railroads, features the Mission Revival style. This style emphasizes stucco wall surfaces, red tile roof, wide overhanging eaves, shaped Mission dormer or roof parapets, and porch roofs that are held up by large square piers that usually have an arch above them. This style was popular in California, owing to the Spanish influence in that region. It moved from California to other parts of the West when the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railroads used the style for the stations they built. Mission Revival style began to be seen in the early 1890s and continued in popularity until 1920, or near the end of the first World War.

Another famous Phoenix building is the Luhrs Building, designed by Trost & Trost architecture firm from El Paso, Texas and built in 1924. Henry C. Trost was the designer, and his work evidences his ability to design in many styles, most notably Art Deco, Mission Revival, Prairie and Pueblo Revival, many showing the influence of the famed work of Chicago school architect Louis Sullivan. The Luhrs Building emphasizes the top half of the upper stories through the use of a heavy cornice and marble ornamentation, both of which are in keeping with the Prairie style and Sullivan influence.

An architect famous for his work in Southwestern architecture is Will Bruder. He designed the Burton Barr Central Library, including such features as an open, one-acre large reading room and the “Crystal Canyon,” the name for the stairwell and elevator that utilize glass and steel. Sunlight into the building is directed by motorized louvers on the southern side of the building, and on equinox days you can enjoy the sunlight alignment.

The rich history of these buildings continues to influence the design style of new homes in Phoenix to this day. Phoenix realtors know where to find historically influenced properties, so contact them today.

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Territorial Architecture in Santa Fe

December 25th, 2009

Santa Fe, New Mexico is home to some of the finest examples of Territorial architecture, one of the best known Old West building styles. Like Pueblo Revival architecture, the Territorial style combines many historic building techniques with modern touches, and its prevalence in Santa Fe has helped the city become a hot spot of southwest architecture. For anyone buying or selling property in the Santa Fe area, a general knowledge of this attractive and adaptable building style is a must.

Territorial architecture can generally be described as a mix between Pueblo and Victorian building styles. As the name suggests, it was developed in the Old West’s territorial pre-statehood days, when this vast region was populated by European and American settlers who brought with them Victorian two and three store building traditions, but often found pueblo building techniques to be more practical. Territorial homes often feature flat walled and roof construction, but with adaptations like large windows, in contrast to the small light portals, which were traditionally used to block as much heat as possible.

Territorial architecture typically includes more exterior wood than Pueblo buildings, especially near window frames and doors. Old building techniques like central courtyards and stone on stone construction keep these homes cool in the southwest heat, and have been elegantly updated to fit with modern building styles. Many Territorial buildings also include a touch of Art Deco or Art Modern, forms which nicely complement the simple aesthetics of the traditional southwest. While Territorial buildings often follow tradition closely, most new homes in this style use the latest building materials to emulate the elegance of Old West. Here, smooth stucco is often used in place of thick plaster on exterior walls.

Homes and buildings in the Territorial style can be found throughout the Southwest, but Santa Fe has fostered this building form more than most other cities. The city’s 1957 Historical Zoning Ordinance brought Territorial and Pueblo architecture into the 20th century, with its requirement that all new buildings in the city standard to be traditionally styled. There’s no better place than Santa Fe, New Mexico to see how this remarkable building style has developed since the pioneer days.

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Understanding International Architecture

December 18th, 2009

The look of many high-end homes and building campuses is informed by International architecture. It’s a style few builders use to its full extent today, but one that still influences a variety of building movements, from art-deco to post-modern, and is preserved in many cities throughout the world.
International architecture has been widely studied and celebrated for introducing many innovative design aspects. Architects who developed the style also brought about new ways of thinking about design that re-shaped the building world, and modern art in general. The movement was founded on three defining principles: the expression of volume rather than mass, balance rather than preconceived symmetry, and the expulsion of applied ornament. These principles show up in features like exterior heating ducts, irregular but balanced building shapes, and architecture that takes its shape from the inside of the building, as opposed to the outside. Internationally-styled buildings are also generally more functional than other types, although new and avant building methods tend to make them seem more form-oriented. International architect Le Courbusier famously described these functional houses as “machines for living. “
Other characteristics of the International style include transparency (called the honest expression of structure), whether through glass or portals between sections of the building, adoption of steel and concrete as supplementary building materials, and use of mass-production building techniques.
Unlike other building movements that gained momentum over time, the International style has a definite and well-documented origin: the International Exhibition of Modern Architecture in New York City in 1932, which showcased only works done in the new International style. A book titled The International Style: Architecture Since 1922 by Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson recorded the exhibition, and identified the new movement’s three founding principles. While many architects had been working with various aspects of the style for decades, the 1932 exhibition and its accompanying book provided the outline and principles that identified the new architectural style.
International architecture was so-named because it was defined by such a broad base of architects from around the world. The style became more worldly as it grew, particularly in the late 1930s when many high-profile German International architects left their country for Turkey, France, Venezuela, Kenya, and India. International architecture’s lack of a central national or historic reference is also one of its strengths.

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