Trails and Treasures » Flagstaff http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog Journeys into the Past and Today's Natural World Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:16:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Whittlesey’s Arts and Crafts Masterpiece in Flagstaff http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog/2009/06/01/whittlesey/ http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog/2009/06/01/whittlesey/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:57:48 +0000 Niagara http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog/?p=32 Charles F. Whittlesey, the Santa Fe’s chief architect who became well-known for his reinforced concrete buildings, also designed more rustic buildings in the Arts and Crafts style–the El Tovar at the Grand Canyon being the most notable.  In 1903, while living in Albuquerque to supervise the construction of the Alvarado, Whittlesey designed homes in the arts and crafts style for both himself in Albuquerque and the Riordan brothers in Flagstaff.  Both of these homes have many features in common with the El Tovar–exteriors of log and stone, log-slab siding, Norwegian-style cutout railings and wainscoting, wide verandas, and inglenooks.

The Riordan mansion was designed as two separate 6,000-sq. ft. residences connected by a 1,000-sq. ft. Rendezvous room, referred to be the Riordans as the “cabin.”  Tim and Michael Riordan had married two sisters–Caroline and Elizabeth Metz.  The Riordans’ mansion was located within walking distance of their  Arizona Lumber and Timber Company offices and operations.

Donated by their descendents to the State of Arizona, the mansion is now a part of the state park system and hour-long guided tours are given by park rangers.  See Riordan Mansion State Historic Park for more details.

Riordan Mansion--side viewRiordan Mansion--rear view

]]> http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog/2009/06/01/whittlesey/feed/ 0 Flagstaff Route 66 Volksmarch http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog/2009/06/01/flagstaff-route-66-volksmarch/ http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog/2009/06/01/flagstaff-route-66-volksmarch/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:24:40 +0000 Niagara http://trailsandtreasures.com/blog/?p=21 Southside Garden WhimsyThe Tucson Volkssport Klub sponsors three year round walks in Flagstaff.  The “Route 66″ 10k traverses the campus of Northern Arizona University, areas of the downtown historic district, and a not-very-interesting stretch of Route 66.  Along the way one can hunt for several geocaches (I only found 1 of the 2 I looked for), visit the train station-visitor center, lunch at a sidewalk cafe (I had a very good chili cheeseburger at Cafe Pickle), check out some of the early territorial architecture (not all have been fixed up as nicely as the one I show below), and drop in at Barnes and Noble (a good place to get out of the rain).

A Flagstaff bungalowNAU DomeMural on a bike store

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