Taliesin, Scottsdale working on open-space plan

Taliesin West and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve are working together to preserve the natural hillsides along their mutual border from potential development.

Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission last week held a closed meeting to discuss recent talks between Bob Cafarella, the city’s preserve director, and representatives of the historic campus designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, situated just north of Cactus Road and Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard.

“They’re trying to provide a permanent solution to land that should remain open space,” Cafarella said. “Both Taliesin and the city want to ensure that the hillside behind Taliesin is preserved in perpetuity.”

Although the commission’s agenda stated the closed discussion would be about the potential “purchase, sale or lease for inclusion in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve” of land at Taliesin West, Cafarella said talks with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which operates the campus, have included a wide range of options for desert preservation there.

Construction on Taliesin West, a National Historic Landmark, began in 1938. The site hosts a school of architecture and attracts about 150,000 tourists a year.

The campus sits on 491 acres of the Sonoran Desert, with spectacular views across the Valley. The land slopes upward to the northwest toward Thompson Peak in the McDowell Mountains.

Eventually, Scottsdale hopes to set aside a total of more than 36,000 in those mountains for preservation.

“Certainly the foundation supports the city and the aims of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve in seeking to protect the open desert lands,” said Mark Lynch, foundation spokesman.

Phil Allsopp, the foundation’s president and CEO, said Wright purposefully incorporated the desert landscape into his architecture.

“One of the most important things that architects learn is the importance of the building’s setting and the respect for the land that it essentially replaces,” he said.

“The landscape for us is a vital part of the equation. Here we are at Taliesin West with this fabulous landscape that we’re intent on preserving.”

Each year, a photo is taken from the top of the hillside behind Taliesin West, Allsopp said. The photos show that over time, urban development has caught up to the once-remote campus, he said.

“You can see a wave of the city come right up,” Allsopp said. “Of course, we now have what passes for civilization all around us.”

Most of Taliesin West is zoned for residential development at one house per acre, he said. The foundation is looking for a way to establish restrictions to prevent future construction in the property’s viewsheds, but still allow for some growth, he said.

“We have enough acreage that we should be able to accommodate new academic, cultural or art institutions,” Allsopp said.

A survey of the hillside behind Taliesin West has also produced some American Indian relics, he said.

“That imposes some of its own restrictions,” Allsopp said.