Arizona Architecture from the Archives

Alfred Newman Beadle (1927-1998) was a prominent Modernist architect in the Phoenix area. From the late 1950s through the mid-1980s, Beadle’s work earned national attention and he became a leading figure of modern architecture in the Southwest.

Born in St. Paul Minnesota in 1927, he served with the United States Navy Construction Battalion, the Seabees, in the South Pacific during World War II. His experiences in the Navy included building piers, designing command bases, and constructing hospitals. Following the war, Beadle returned to Minnesota and established a successful home-building business before relocating to Phoenix in 1951, becoming a licensed building contractor and later a licensed architect.  

Beadle began to practice architecture in Arizona as a partner-in-charge of Dailey Associates from 1956 to 1967. In 1967 he started his own firm in Phoenix. Beadle is most well-known for designing Case Study Apartments #1 (Triad Apartments) in Phoenix, as part of the notable Case Study House Program initiated by Arts and Architecture magazine. Beadle’s residential and commercial designs won a variety of awards from the American Institute of Architects, American Iron and Steel Institute, and Architectural Record.

The Triad Apartments, originally planned for Redlands, California, is the only building in Arizona that was part of Arts and Architecture magazine's Case Study House Program. This program, announced in 1945, commissioned architects to design and build affordable and efficient model homes to meet the increased demand in residential housing caused by the end of World War II. Various architects created 36 designs and 25 constructed residences. The Triad Apartments in Phoenix was completed in 1964.

Resembling a floating rectangle, Beadle House 6 is situated on the south slope of Camelback Mountain. Completed in 1958, the residence features a screen wall made of horizontal parallel two-by-fours, with a circle of metal flashing in between each course to create ellipses. The entire framework was then filled and plastered to a smooth white finish.

Located on North 40th Street in Phoenix, the Three Fountains Apartments development is one of several apartment projects in the area designed by Alfred Newman Beadle. Completed in 1963, the design of Three Fountains Apartments is based on a modular grid system. Landscaping, shading, courtyards, and floor to ceiling windows in the living room areas of the apartments help to integrate outdoor and indoor spaces.

Beadle designed a glass box for the headquarters of Western Saving and Loan, located in Phoenix near the Park Central Mall. When the financial institution moved its headquarters to a different location, the structure was moved to a site on 7th Avenue south of Buckeye, where it housed the Phoenix Urban League.

This residence features a good example of Beadle's use of a modular grid with concrete, block, glass and steel. The Driggs Residence and its architect received the Sunset Magazine Western Home Award in 1971. 

The design of the Fifth Avenue Medical Building evokes an image of a box on stilts. Innovative shading panels and underground parking provide protection from the sun. The five-story building has accommodated doctors' office suites, a pharmacy, and labs.

Located on Doubletree Road in Paradise Valley, the seventh house that Beadle designed for himself and his family was completed in 1955.

The IBEW Building, located on North 7th Street in Phoenix, is an example of Alfred Newman Beadle's interpretation of the International Style. The building and its architect won the 1968 American Institute of Architects Central Arizona Chapter Award of Merit in 1968.

The Chilton Inn in Yuma featured the familiar box-like structure of many Alfred Newman Beadle designs.

Finding aid for the Alfred Newman Beadle Collection at ASU Design and the Arts Library.  The collection consists of drawings, project specifications, awards, correspondence, photographs, articles, and ephemera.

www.beadlearchive.com -- An online archive of Beadle's work, by Modern Phoenix

Beadle, Alfred Newman and Boyle, Bernard Michael. Constructions: Buildings in Arizona by Alfred Newman Beadle. Cave Creek, AZ: Gnosis, 2008. Print.
NA737.B35 A4 2008, Design and the Arts Library Stacks

Johnson, Suzanne D., dir. Beadlearchitecture. Gnosis, 2000. Film.
NA737.B35 B335 2000 DVD, Design and the Arts Library Videos

Smith, Elizabeth A. T. Case Study Houses, 1945-1966: The California Impetus. New York: Taschen, 2006. Print.  NA7235.C22 S688 2006, Design and the Arts Library Stacks

Smith, Elizabeth A. T., et al. Blueprints for Modern Living :History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1989. Print.
NA7235.C22 S684 1989, Design and the Arts Library Stacks

Smith, Elizabeth A. T., et al. Case Study Houses. Köln; New York: Taschen, 2002. Print.
 NA7235.C22 S65x 2002 Folio, Design and the Arts Library Stacks

"Case Study Apartments no.1” Arts and Architecture 81.9 (1964): 14-18. Print.

"Case Study House no. 28" Arts and Architecture 80.10 (1963): 16. Print.

“How to Survive When Your Local Market Flops and Flips." House and Home 26.6 (1964): 86-92. Print.

"Quality and Comfort in the Desert." House and Home 6.11 (1954): 152-5. Print.

"Record Houses of 1965." Architectural Record 137.5 (1965): 53-144. Print.

“Row Housing: Image and Reality” Progressive Architecture 45.8 (1964): 116-65. Print.

“Three Fountains Apartments, Disciplined 2-Story Units in Phoenix.” Architecture/West 71.1 (1965): 20-22. Print.

“Townhouses in Phoenix by Alan A. Dailey Associates." Arts and Architecture 81.3 (1964): 28-30. Print.

Harold Housley
Archivist, Design and the Arts Special Collections
Harold.Housley@asu.edu 
(480) 965-6370