Scottsdale Arizona "the Most Western Town"

By Author: Joan Ewart
Total Articles: 8
Comment this article

Scottsdale Arizona - The Most Western Town, are we losing it or what?

Is Scottsdale beginning to look a little like Tuscany? If it were up to all the architects and, designers in town, I think the look would overtake the whole desert. Every shop and designer touts Old World Elegance with velvets, brocades, and beads. Venetian colors of olive, burgundy, gold and black proliferate interiors. We may love the look in Tuscany, but in the desert? Finding velvets and brocades in Scottsdale is just about like chintz and floral fabrics - out of pocket.

How many more rocks and turrets are we going to see, before this look bites the dust? Whatever happened to the simplicity of the adobe? It suits our desert environment. It belongs in our Western atmosphere. Fortunately or unfortunately, we do not have ranks and rows of cypress trees and gazing out the window at cactus and sand, kind of makes the beads and tassels more than a little out of character.

Having worked as a designer for many years, I have always been a firm believer in design to suit your localeright along with Frank Lloyd Wright who chose ...
... Scottsdale as his home. Taliesin does not contain velvets and brocades, but takes advantage of the desert vistas and local materials. There's a reason for the Charleston Single Houses, the Shingle Style of our Eastern beaches, the Prairie Homes of Wisconsin, The New England homes with widow walks, the shotgun houses in the Bayou, and all the other historical home designs that were born from need and suitability.

The Spanish founded Arizona, so yes we have had our Spanish Hacienda look, but somehow it was never quite as opulent as today's trends.

The charm of Santa Fe is in it's architecture, Charleston beckons with it's Painted Row Houses, New York is spectacular with steel and glass skyscrapers, Savannah offers elegant 18th Century Georgian homes on it's streets, in keeping with it's English heritage, and yes, Scottsdale had it's Western simple charm. For great examples of how we used to be, visit The Camelback Inn, The Hermosa Inn, The Royal Palms, and El Charro for peek back at the original Scottsdale look.

We always laughed at English Tudor here in the desert as totally inappropriate, can the Tuscany Villa be far behind?

I for one hope so!

Read a lot more about Scottsdale at
http://insider-scottsdale.com

Please fell free to use this info on any website or blog, just be sure to keep my contact information intact. Thanks
About the Author An artist, a writer and world travler, devotes many hours to authoring and maintaining major travel web sites. Publishes many articles on travel spots around the world. This particular article is from www.insider-scottsdale.com