Knipe House Update

December 2011

Front

Back

Oh, remember?  There was a fire.

Today:

Front. No more second floor.

Back. Phone camera doesn't zoom. Click on it.

The latter pictures are kind of gigantic, so closeups can be had.

Here's an article from April about the house.  Not much info, but it's the most recent I have seen.  Excerpt from a 2010 article:

"I’ve often thought that preservationists have a 'sixth sense' about buildings and sites.  They’re able to see the incredible 'after' in looking at the dirty, drab, and dilapidated 'before.' (DUH! -AUTHOR) Yes, the Knipe House is looking forlorn, but I remember Barbara Stocklin, our city’s historic preservation officer, saying that it is structurally sound but does need a new roof."

I think the press from this restoration will make Knipe much more well-known in Phoenix.  I'm seeing his name here and there in my researching of other stuff.  He drew the plans for ASU's old Industrial Arts building, and I think the 3 remaining PUHSD buildings on Monroe, around 6th.  See post-renovation photos at the bottom of their Wikipedia entry.  A delightful woman I know from the museum world got to go into those buildings 5+ years ago before they were renovated, and would only describe the interior with sounds.  "Peh! Ew! Uh uh!"  I wish I could have seen inside them!  Why do I only like moldering, fucked up stuff?  Picture of me.

Anyway, the same architect (Norman Marsh) designed all the PUHSD buildings, the Industrial Arts building, and the Monroe School, which is the subject of my research, so I am trying to find out if Knipe worked on it as well. 

OOOOOOOOH! Fun.

Finally

Something good going down in preservation!

Is the Knipe house being restored?  This pic is from the Arizona Preservation Foundation's Facebook, but there's no information there or on the website. The side of that truck says "AZ Shoring Bracing".

See here for a July 2010 post in which I flip out about the house's unstable future.  There seems to have been lots of debate about whether to bother with it as it is so deteriorated, and Leighton G. Knipe is not famous in spite of having left an architectural legacy in Phoenix.  The Downtown Phoenix Journal (link below) lists some of his works, but there are/were lots of private residences on that list, too.

So what's going on!  Why are they fixing it!  What's going to happen??  I can't find any information on the internet.  The last reference is something about La Grande Orange looking for a downtown Phoenix location.  Will I someday buy a latte and a $3 cookie at the spot where I used to hang my fingers through a chain link fence, wondering if it was worth the risk of potential homeless attack to enter?

Architect Bob Graham talks about why he thinks the house should be restored here.  It's obvious that no one has actually researched L.G. Knipe beyond basic information about his Phoenix contributions.  HLAME.

Ragetyme

I totally buy Robert Pela's theory that property owners in Phoenix are burning historic buildings to get rid of them. This isn't the first place I've read about it. Many are protected by historical registers and are otherwise ineligible for demolition.  Read nyah.  Prepare to want to flip tables and scream.  If that's not how you react to stuff like this, then you're doin it wrong.

before fire.

after fire. view from behind.

I've always wanted to see the inside of this place.  I've skulked past it for years, but there never seemed to be a decent opportunity to scale the giant fence and go inside. 

Update: too fucking frustrating. This article on why the property is singular and should be saved was written weeks before the house burned. Does it not seem that if a landmark is significant enough to be added to a historical register, that it shouldn't be available for sale to just anyone? Or at least, not to some dick developer who's just going to raze it and turn it into another CVS?  Nobody in Phoenix cares about anythinggggggg fuckkkkkkk