Why Phoenix Needs Old Buildings

The theme for this Year’s Jane’s Walk Phoenix is “New Ideas for Old Buildings. Phoenix is a city that really ‘came of age’ after World War II and did not experience significant growth until air-conditioning and the automobile were prevalent among the middle class. As such, the city does not have a large amount of ‘old’ buildings (at least by eastern standards), and we have done a poor job preserving what once existed. Nevertheless, Phoenix does boast some great historic neighborhoods, such as Willo, Encanto-Palmcroft and FQ Story (and 31 others) and has done a decent job preserving (or at least retaining) some of our older civic buildings and churches.

Photograph courtesy of Levine Machine

One area that we haven’t given much love to, however, is our warehouse district. In many other cities, warehouse districts have been epicenters of, not only their arts and culture scene, but also their entrepreneurial/small business movement. In Phoenix, however, much of the warehouse districts was bulldozed to make room for a sports arena and stadium, as well as acres upon acres of surface parking for the few hours a week these structures are occupied. Many of the warehouses that remain are stuccoed over or boarded up. Few are functioning as business open to the public, and even fewer are home to creative class type industries.

This is to Phoenix’s great peril. No matter how many new suburban oriented developments such as CityScape get championed by the City and their developer friends, they will not lead to any sustained urban renaissance in downtown. For that to happen, we need to a mix of not only uses (and nor simply more restaurants), but also ages and building types. This will require making far better use of what is left of our historic building stock.

As Jane Jacobs noted in the Death and Life of Great American Cities:

“Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them…. for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”

Phoenix Seed & Feed Capitol Warehouse 1905, Photograph courtesy of Levine Machine

This brings me back to the theme of this year’s Jane’s Walk Phoenix. While last year, I showcased some of the more exciting developments that have occurred in and around Roosevelt Row and Civic Space Park, this year I want to highlight to potential of the warehouse district. In particular, I want to showcase some of the amazing architecture contained in these buildings and get people thinking about potential new uses for these buildings. Michael Levine and Angela Paladino of Levine Machine Development are responsible for not only saving several buildings in the warehouse district from the wrecking ball, but also restoring a few of to the former glory and beyond.

During the Walk, we will be getting behind the scenes tours of several of their buildings as well as engaging in discussion about the history of the buildings and the neighborhood. More importantly however, we will be soliciting ideas for potential new uses for these buildings, as well as ways to make the warehouse district an epicenter for new ideas of any, and every, kind.

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