Last weekend we caught a photography show called Midcentury Modern Buildngs in Phoenix at the local library. The Phoenix metro area doesn’t have a whole lot of eccentric midcentury architecture, but what we do have is something to be cherished. I’m glad to see a gallery of prints celebrating this stuff before short-sighted developers destroy or remodel it out of existence. A special favorite is the Uptown concrete and steel fantasia officially known as The Financial Center (seen in a vintage postcard view below), which we call “The Computer Punchcard Building”. The high-rise building in this spacey complex was completed in 1972. Inside, the offices are tiny and cramped and the whole place seems like a fire trap — but the outside sure is neat. A selection of images from the show can be seen at photographer Michael Lundgren’s site.
