Developers respond to claims of intent to destroy historic Phoenix murals

The arts community in Phoenix cried foul last month when news of a developer’s plans to demolish a building containing historic murals on its side were made public.

That building, located at 222 E. Roosevelt St. and currently housing the GreenHAUS arts gallery, served as the canvas for Arizona artist Ted DeGrazia’s 1950s murals, which are the oldest currently on display in Phoenix.

Petitions called for an alteration of the Baron Properties’ development plans to demolish the building and the office complex adjacent to it for fear of losing the prized art.

But on Monday, the developer released a statement regarding the preservation of the art, saying they spoke with the DeGrazia Foundation about preservation prior to the formation of the aforementioned petitions.

“We don’t just share a desire to preserve the DeGrazia artwork. We want to do what we can to actually enhance and expand a great arts neighborhood with additional efforts too,” the company said in the statement. “One will certainly be saved and donated to the Foundation or relocated elsewhere in downtown Phoenix.

“Preservation of the second mural is more challenging. We are working with the Foundation to save it and are open to suggestions from anyone on how to do so.”

Baron was adamant that their intent was to preserve and advance art, not remove it.

“Our ground floors will be common areas to further activate foot traffic,” they went on. “We intend to animate both buildings with major works of art by local artists. We will soon be organizing a design competition. The combination of the preserved pieces of art along with the new ones to be commissioned will result in the area having more art, not less.”

The developers also pointed out that demolition of historically-designated properties would not occur. According to their statement, their aim is to increase residency in the area in order to assist local businesses.

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