Breeze walls + whimsey near Mercado San Agustin

Across the Santa Cruz River from downtown the City of Tucson wiped out block after block of old homes some years ago, then in 2003 developers began rebuilding in an area that was designated the Mercado District. Previously it had been just another part of the Menlo Park neighborhood.

First came senior housing and a low income, high rise apartment complex along Congress St. to “replace” the small bungalow style, affordable houses that were destroyed and the residents forced out when the area was cleared. Neither of these buildings are in any way architecturally distinguished. And someone should have told them that high rise, low-income housing, in particular, has a nasty reputation in cities across the U.S.

Flatten the old…bring on the new…but not here

But the City and the developers had higher ambitions and the Mercado San Agustin with its cafes, coffee houses, and boutiques, plus a few blocks of upscale single family homes followed. Construction in this large new development continues to this day.

But on the Western corner of this area, an old housing complex of duplexes survived: the Cressworth-Lander Garden Apartments.

And over the decades pure Tucson whimsey asserted itself at the Lander Apartments. Let’s start with the garden for the complex which faces across the narrow street toward those upscale neighbors:

Eclectic–right? Garden gnomes, cactus and other ornaments decorate this small garden for the Lander apartments.

Architecturally, it looks like it was built in the 1970s–except for the patio breeze walls which are definitely Mid-Century Modern. In fact, it was built in 1990.

Walk beyond the gnome-ish garden and one enters a shady courtyard encircled by the duplexes.

Wandering a bit further through this complex I came across a Lady of Guadalupe in one home’s window and, nearby, rocks painted decoratively and tucked into the breeze wall. At the foot of this wall was a pile of hand-painted rocks that are shown at the top of this post. I especially liked the rock with the pandemic mask and the rock painted to look like a snow globe.

An interesting tidbit about this complex. Because it is side-by-side with new, half-million dollar+ custom homes, I tried to check out rental information. For starters: no vacancies at the 47 unit Lander Apts. in the last few months. An older listing indicated these duplexes rented for around $1,000 a month. Nearby free-standing 2 bedroom homes in Santa Fe or Bungalow styles in Menlo Park rent for about $1,500.

Vernacular architecture

It’s probably obvious, but I’m not a big fan of large scale urban renewal projects. And even less a fan of so-called globalist architecture which is rearing its ugly head downtown and in one ugly complex not far from me. Vernacular architecture — the architecture that developed locally over centuries–is always my preference. In Tucson vernacular means the old Santa Fe styles and updated versions of low-slung ranch homes. Those styles updated for the 21st Century are everywhere in the city — except in the Mercado District. (More about them in a future post.)

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Yesterday the CDC said “no masks for people who have been vaccinated”. Arizona Governor Ducey proclaimed “No masks” for the entire state weeks ago. Ignoring him, in Tucson and Pima County masks are still required.