Historic Frank Lloyd Wright House Faces Demolition

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - blogment - National News wire - The Infinite Echo

A Phoenix home designed by  iconic architect Frank Lloyd Wright faces imminent demolition, if the home is not granted historic designation soon!

The home, designed and built for one of Wright’s sons during the 1950’s , may be leveled in order to allow the existing property to be divided into two parcels. The home sits along the proposed dividing line.

Known locally as the David and Gladys Wright house, the fate of the home has been the subject of speculation since Gladys passed away in 2008 at the age of 104. David died in 1997. Current owners, John Hoffman and Steve Sells of  8081 Meridian Development Company have already received permission from the city to split the lot.

On Wednesday, the Phoenix City Council had planned to vote on whether the home should be designated an historic landmark. Such a designation would spare the home the wrecking ball for up to three years. However, Phoenix City councilman Sal DiCiccio, who represents the Arcadia district where the home is located, has asked the council to delay the vote for al least two weeks. DiCiccio hopes the delay will allow supporters the time necessary to raise enough funds to purchase and preserve the unique structure.

Earlier in the week, a potential buyer backed out of  purchasing the 2,500 square foot home while it was in escrow.  It was the second deal to fall through in recent weeks. The property, which sits on approximately two acres of land, boasts a sensational view of nearby Camelback Mountain. It is one of a handful of structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright still standing in Arizona.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor


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Crews begin repairs to ruptured Tempe Town Lake dam

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - blogment -National News wire - The Infinite Echo

Crews have begun making repairs to the ruptured dam at Tempe Town lake after runoff from monsoon rains delayed the start of the project for several days.

On July 20th, the day before the crews were to begin maintenance on the dam, one of the four inflatable rubber bladders located on the west end of the dam burst, sending a raging torrent, 15,000 feet cubic feet per second, enough to fill over fifty thousand swimming pools, crashing downstream. Since then, the man made lake has sat empty.

Tempe Town Lake has long been a dream of those living in Tempe and throughout the valley of the sun. In 1987, after years of research and development, the Rio Salado project, which included construction of the lake, was finally put before valley voters.
It was the beginning of what would slowly develop into Tempe Town Lake.

Eight rubber bladder dams, each 16 feet tall and 240 feet in length, were installed along the river, creating a 2-mile long lake with over 220-surface acres of water. Finally, on June 2, 1999, water from the Central Arizona canal began flowing into the Tempe Town Lake. 43 days later, the lake was officially declared full.

Ten years later, Tempe Town Lake has become the top attraction in the valley, with nearly three million people visiting the lake annually. It is the crowning achievement of a project over thirty years in the making. Each year, millions of people enjoy the lake. Some boat, while others choose to walk or jog along the miles of adjoining trails. Valley parents bring their family for an afternoon picnic. Some simply come to the lake to gaze at the beautiful oasis in the middle of the bustling desert city.

Understandably, many valley residents were saddened by the sudden loss of the lake. Thousands of fish left to die on the desert floor were scooped up and fed to alligators at a neighboring zoo. Officials predict it will be November before the lake again reaches capacity.

There is an up-side. Crews working on the first pedestrian footbridge to span the lake say work is progressing much quicker than expected without the water to contend to and predict the bridge will be ready for use by the time the lake is re-filled.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

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Ancient Canals Discovered in Heart of Mesa

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - blogment -
National News wire - The Infinite Echo

Anthropologists, with the assistance of satellite imagery, have discovered the remains of a series of ancient canals, located just south of the Salt River, near the very heart of downtown Mesa, Arizona.

The existence of the canal system, built in the Salt River valley centuries ago by the Hohokam, has long been known, but the extent of this most recent discovery has caught some experts by surprise.

Jerry B. Howard, curator of anthropology at the Arizona Museum of Natural History is one of the experts involved in archaeological studies of the region being conducted before the city of Mesa can permit the area to be redeveloped. Planners had intended to build a massive water park on the property, but all bets are off as to whether that plan can still move forward.


Mesa Grande Pueblo Ruins

"Through satellite imagery, sometimes we can actually see the canals, kind of a signature of them," states Howard. "The soil in them is different than the other soil around them, more porous and moist.”

The area, larger in scope than previously anticipated, is currently home to a golf course and a hospital, the two of which are separated by not surprisingly, the Mesa Grande Pueblo ruins.

These ruins, located near the heart downtown Mesa, were once occupied by the Hohokam Indians, responsible for constructing massive canal systems, still providing water to the Valley of the Sun, hundreds of years after the Hohokam mysteriously vanished.

The Hohokam inhabited the northern Sonora desert region known as the ‘Phoenix Basin’ for centuries before the arrival of the European explorers. They constructed extensive canals and irrigation networks, rivaling those of Ancient Egypt and China. These industrious peoples cultivated a variety of crops, including tobacco, cotton, beans, squash, maize and agave.


Mesa Grande Pueblo Ruins

John Bartlett, Arizona pioneer, was one of the early explorers of the region to document the ruins at Mesa Grande, writing the following about his experience:

"(July 4, 1852) ...A ride of a mile brought us to the table-land, when we made for a large mound or heap which arose from the plain. In crossing the bottom we passed many irrigating canals; and along the base of the plateau was one from twenty to twenty-five feet wide, and from four to five feet deep, formed by cutting down the bank—a very easy mode of construction, and which produced a canal much more substantial than if carried across the bottom".


Mesa Grande Pueblo Ruins

"On reaching the great pile, I found it to be the remains of an adobe edifice from two hundred to two hundred and twenty-five feet in length, by from sixty to eighty feet wide, its sides facing the cardinal points. Portions of the wall were visible in only two places, one near the summit, at the south end, where, from the height of the pile, it must have originally been three or four stories high; and the other at the northern extremity, on the western side...From the summit of the principle heap, which is elevated from twenty to twenty-five feet above the plain, there may be seen in all directions similar heaps; and about a mile to the east, I noticed a long range of them running north and south, which the Indians said were of similar character to that on which we stood."

Today, little of the Mesa Grande Pueblo remains. A fence has been erected around the perimeter of the ruins, and not much can be seen from the roadway. Few residents in the neighborhood are even aware of the ruin’s existence. A sad state of affairs for a culture responsible for so much innovation. Without the canals, the valley would have remained uninhabitable.

B. Thomas Cooper - Editor

Sound and Recording - Sound Foundation - National Newswire - The Infinite Echo - Impeachment Now! - Skate the Razor -
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