COMMUNITY
LITTLE HOUSE, BIG VICTORY
HELP SAVE THE WURTH HOUSE BY STEPHANIE FUNK
K
imber Lanning, founder and executive director of Local First Arizona, has been an avid supporter of Downtown Phoenix for nearly 20 years. In 1999, she founded Modified Arts, a Roosevelt Row fixture. At this popular art and music venue, Lanning had a direct hand in nourishing the budding arts district, establishing the downtown scene as we know it today. The historic blocks known as Roosevelt Row have come a long way since the 90s. Today, upwards of 20,000 people attend First Fridays Art Walks in the Downtown Phoenix area. Lanning dreams of a downtown that is fully activated and pedestrian-friendly, full of art, food, culture and history. The fight for that downtown dream is an important cause for Lanning. When one of Roosevelt Row’s historic turnof-the-century bungalows known as the Joseph W. Wurth House was scheduled for demolition earlier this year, Lanning entered the arena to save it. “I just kind of jumped. I leaped,” she said. Recent years have seen multiple demolitions of historic buildings, including the building that used to sit to the west of Modified Arts, leaving empty lots. “We’ve lost too much,” said Lanning. “It’s important for us to preserve pieces of history that will help us shape the character and also the scale of our downtown.” Originally built in 1911, the Wurth House was purchased by Vic Armstrong in 1983 to serve as the offices for Armstrong Marketing. After he passed away, his descendants Sam and Debra Moyer acquired the space. The business sold in 2006 and the house sat vacant for years. Lanning made an offer to the owners, knowing in her heart that the historic space was
18 greenliving | January 2016
more valuable intact than as a demolished lot. After the deal was made, next came the herculean task of moving the house from its original land to the empty lot next to Modified Arts. She called on the only person in Arizona with the skillset and expertise for the job – John McCullough, of McCullough Move A Home, who came out of retirement to do this one last job. McCullough’s passion for preserving old buildings drove him to complete the move, said Lanning, even after a prolonged illness set the already lengthy project back several weeks. Without McCullough’s incredible skill and resilience, the Wurth House might not have been saved. The Wurth House now sits on its new home on the southeast corner of Roosevelt and Third Street. Just like with Modified Arts, Lanning has big plans for this little house to enrich the downtown community. The building will serve as a welcome center for Roosevelt Row, as well as an expanded headquarters for Local First Arizona. Lanning envisions an “active corner” with an outdoor courtyard for acoustic concerts and artistic exchanges, as well as a wrap-around porch with sitting areas. But she isn’t flashing any victory signs just yet. The Wurth House needs extensive renovations and repairs before it can be operational; years of vacancy left it susceptible to damage, decay and vandalism. It also needs some help coming into an eco-conscious 21st Century with new low-consumption water fixtures, HVAC and energy-conserving windows. “Everything will be retrofitted with conservation in mind,” said Lanning. That’s where the rest of us come in. The Wurth House now has its very own Indiegogo campaign where people can donate to help renovate an important part of Phoenix’s
greenlivingaz.com