Al Beadle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfred N. Beadle V (1927 - 1998) was an American modernistic architect active in Phoenix, Arizona.

During his lifetime Beadle was best known for designing the only Case Study House built outside California, a three-unit residence now known as the Triad Apartments. More recently Beadle has been rediscovered for his stylish mid-century residential housing stock and for his influence on desert modernism. All of Beadle's output reflects a rigorous, rectilinear modernist idiom consistent with the work of Mies van der Rohe and the postwar steel-frame houses typified by the Case Study experiments.

Trained in construction during World War II as a Seabee, Beadle moved to Phoenix in the early 1950s and built a variety of commercial and residential projects, including an entire housing development called Paradise Gardens, and the local landmark Cine Capri theatre (1964; demolished).

His lack of an architectural license led to professional difficulties and, at one point, to his arrest. As part of his defense, Beadle's lawyer pointed out that another local architect, one Frank Lloyd Wright, was also practicing without the proper credentials.