Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane presented the Old Adobe Mission — the first Catholic parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the oldest standing church in Scottsdale — with a 2014 Scottsdale Environmental Design Award at a city council meeting Sept. 9.
The Scottsdale Environmental Design Awards program encourages and recognizes aesthetically expressive sustainable designs appropriate to the upper Sonoran Desert and Scottsdale’s unique contexts. It also promotes expanded quality green and sustainable development through education by example for the general public.
The Old Adobe Mission was one of seven projects nominated for a new category: Scottsdale Legacy Projects. It recognized projects over 25 years old that were built with a unique approach to Desert Sensitive Design.
A third-party jury of building and landscape architects selected four award recipients including the Old Adobe Mission in part for its thick walls, deep-set windows and use of materials from the land during construction. Photos of the building process plus a first-hand look at some of the adobe are available for public viewing during the mission’s seasonal hours which resume next month.
Built by hand by the Mexicans who first settled in Scottsdale in the late 1910s, the Old Adobe Mission, located at 3821 N. Brown Ave., was completed in 1933. Today it stands as a monument as one of only three remaining adobe structures in downtown Scottsdale. For more information about the Old Adobe Mission, its current “Building A Legacy” Renovation Campaign, or to schedule a tour, call (480) 980-3628. The Mission officially re-opens for the season October 18, 2014.
The City of Scottsdale Environmental Design Awards are presented every two years. They were formed in recognition of a late councilman and reflect a partnership between the city’s Environmental Quality Advisory and Development Review boards, assisted by members of the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects.
