Courtesy Robert Melikian
When I first heard Rob Melikian’s presentation of Vanishing Phoenix based on his book at May’s Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner, I was shocked. My blood started boiling as Rob calmly showed us photograph after photograph of beautiful buildings that were systematically destroyed due mostly to greed and the desire of those who recently came into money to build new monuments to themselves. Meanwhile, our city slowly lost it’s identity, it’s walkability, it’s density and of course, it’s history until what we’re left with is just a handful of historic buildings that have survived Phoenix’s thirst for newness.
Sadly our abject disregard for preserving history is thriving today and we continue to lose historic buildings frequently. The purpose of this site is not merely to look back and lament what we’ve lost. We want to resurrect the memory of all that we’ve lost so that we learn a lesson this time. We want you to see that Phoenix does indeed have history and that it once was what we’re craving today of our city – urban, walkable, and community-oriented. But most of all, we want you to become aware of what we’ve lost, of what some are capable of destroying if we don’t take a stand. And we want to show that there is value to preserving historic buildings and to make you inquire, what would our city look like had the people of Phoenix actually taken a stand for preservation and those buildings still stood today?
You may be thinking, what use is it to go back and say what if? Well, it’s useful only in that it brings to our imagination the value that historic buildings bring to a city and how they can completely change the character and development of that city. We want to establish the positive impact of preserving historic buildings in the hearts and minds of Phoenix residents in order to put a stop to our still-strong ethic of choosing convenience over preservation.
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Why Looking Back Can Stop Demolition Today
Courtesy Robert Melikian
When I first heard Rob Melikian’s presentation of Vanishing Phoenix based on his book at May’s Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner, I was shocked. My blood started boiling as Rob calmly showed us photograph after photograph of beautiful buildings that were systematically destroyed due mostly to greed and the desire of those who recently came into money to build new monuments to themselves. Meanwhile, our city slowly lost it’s identity, it’s walkability, it’s density and of course, it’s history until what we’re left with is just a handful of historic buildings that have survived Phoenix’s thirst for newness.
Sadly our abject disregard for preserving history is thriving today and we continue to lose historic buildings frequently. The purpose of this site is not merely to look back and lament what we’ve lost. We want to resurrect the memory of all that we’ve lost so that we learn a lesson this time. We want you to see that Phoenix does indeed have history and that it once was what we’re craving today of our city – urban, walkable, and community-oriented. But most of all, we want you to become aware of what we’ve lost, of what some are capable of destroying if we don’t take a stand. And we want to show that there is value to preserving historic buildings and to make you inquire, what would our city look like had the people of Phoenix actually taken a stand for preservation and those buildings still stood today?
You may be thinking, what use is it to go back and say what if? Well, it’s useful only in that it brings to our imagination the value that historic buildings bring to a city and how they can completely change the character and development of that city. We want to establish the positive impact of preserving historic buildings in the hearts and minds of Phoenix residents in order to put a stop to our still-strong ethic of choosing convenience over preservation.