Stories Published in Arizona Foothills

Wright Apprentices Celebrate 75 Years of Taliesin West

Arizona Foothills, September 2012

In 1937, 20-plus Frank Lloyd Wright apprentices began construction of Taliesin West in the Sonoran Desert foothills, now Scottsdale. Hundreds of later apprentices would add to the great architect’s winter home and school as part of their learning experience with him until his death in April 1959. The 555-acre campus became a National Historic Landmark in 1982, and this year celebrates 77 years since the groundbreaking. Among these apprentices: Cornelia Brierly, 99, who died a month after this story was written and was on site when Wright decided to build Fallingwater where it now is; her sister, Hulda; John Lautner and his wife, Mary Bud; Arnold Roy; John Rattenbury; Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer; Kamal Amin; Vern Swaback, whose firm is in Scottsdale; and Paolo Soleri, who died in 2013. We celebrate their achievements and that of Taliesin West.

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Modern Craftsman Works at DC Ranch

Arizona Foothills, September 2012

La Casa Builders, Scottsdale, (Ron Steege and Tim Larson, principals) designed and built this diamond-shape-themed home and casita for a DC Ranch family of five requesting contemporary style rooted in nature and tradition. Avoiding overembellishment, self-indulgence and clutter, “Dobrados Diamantes” is inspired by the hand-crafting and natural-materials principles of the 19th/early-20th-century Arts and Crafts movement, whose exemplars include William Morris, Rennie Mackintosh, Gustav Stickley, Louis Tiffany,Frank Lloyd Wright and brothers Charles Sumner and Henry Greene. Elizabeth Rosensteel, Phoenix, completed the interior design.

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Sisters in the Gaslamp Quarter

Arizona Foothills, August 2012

Two standout sister hotels in and just bordering the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego’s hip dining, entertainment and shopping district, offer superb, although different, experiences for California getaways. Owned and managed by San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the 183-room Hotel Palomar is at the northern gateway to the Quarter, while the 235-room Solamar, managed by Kimpton, is a few blocks south toward the beaches. If Hotel Palomar is urban elegant and artistic, Solamar is urban slick and coastal chic and cool, adding proximity to the hotels and restaurants, rooftop bars, cafes, boutique shops, galleries, and live-music and sports venues in the East Village, San Diego’s emerging arts and entertainment district. Check in and check it all out.

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Will You Be My Blend?

Arizona Foothills, April 2012

“Michael [De Loach] and I met about five years ago,” recalls Lori Eccles, whose family owns Sun Devil Liquors in Mesa. “He was in Arizona kicking off his new winery, Hook & Ladder, and my sales rep from the beverage company called me to make an appointment to try some ‘new wines from the De Loach family.’ Why not?” They met, they quaffed, they flirted — and, this June, they will be they married amidst the vines of Hook & Ladder in viticulturally famed Sonoma County. Michael, whose dad founded DeLoach Vineyards, missed the first wine tasting they had discussed. But, “Michael made it to the tasting the next month, and we went to dinner and just had this awesome connection,” Eccles says, “and we have been together ever since.” The oenophilic honeymooners joyously suggest some wine blends to celebrate the nuptials. Please uncork responsibly.

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A Boulder Approach

Arizona Foothills, January 2012

A masterful conjunction of art and architecture, this 9,000-sq.-ft. contemporary home backs to a boulder desert preserve hill in Paradise Valley. Designed by Jon Bernhard, AIA, one of the Swaback Partners, the distinguished Scottsdale architecture firm, the home is on six-plus acres vegetated with native flora to celebrate the lush diversity of the native desert. Inside, Bernhard called for luxe details such as crotch mahogany tables with black granite bases; split-face and Mesa Stone CMU columns; Jara wood flooring with black granite inlay and flamed Oklahoma Pink granite flooring. Take your shoes off, and tip your hats, entering this outstanding home.

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