[Source: Modern Phoenix] -- Blaine Drake's Scoville Home in the Biltmore area was leveled to the ground this morning. This is the second Dake home in the neighborhood to be demolished, and only two more in that immediate area survive (that I know of). The original Drake family property nearby still stands. Drake was an apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin in Wisconsin, and established his own Arizona practice in 1945. The property was recently acquired by a new owner this spring. This home was made of Superlite block and one of the rare examples of a midcentury residential home that was intentionally left unpainted. Homes like this are one inspiration for the sandblasting-back-to-grey trend celebrating "expressed materials" that we see today. The home also features one of Drake's rare and custom round home layouts and a personalized integration of the Superlite and glass block streetscape markers that brand major points of entry into the Bartlett Estates subdivision. The home across the street from it was also recently leveled and now has a McMansion on it. The bitter irony is that writers at ModernPhoenix are currently working on stories about the livability of Drake Homes 50 years later, and also on the teardown trend. The two subjects collided today in yet another heartbreaking loss for Phoenix's history and culture. [Photo source: Modern Phoenix.]
