Historic Phoenix bungalow saved from demolition, slated to be ‘Bianco-inspired’ restaurant
A historic downtown Phoenix home once threatened with demolition will now be saved and converted into a restaurant.
Phoenix City Council on Wednesday approved a $400,000 grant for the Seargent-Oldaker home, a brick Craftsman bungalow built in 1909 on Third Avenue just south of Roosevelt Street.
The grant will help the owner relocate the home to the northwest corner of the lot "to facilitate adaptive reuse of the building as commercial restaurant space," according to city documents. The restaurant is slated to be one part of a larger development that includes housing planned for the area.
The Seargent-Oldaker home was once home to prominent Phoenix leader Elizabeth Oldaker, who was sworn into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame for having spent 40 years of her life dedicated to preserving Phoenix history.
The home was considered an architectural gem for the 60-plus years Oldaker; her husband and her mother lived in it, and it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Phoenix.
From 2022: Is the Seargent-Oldaker Phoenix historic home doomed?
Dan Garcia, chair of Phoenix's Historic Preservation Commission, said he was "really pleased" and grateful a historic home could be preserved at a time when the city so desperately needs to build housing.
"I think sometimes historic preservation tends to put up a block or a wall and stop any sort of change, but I think this is a modern city. ... The two can and should coexist," Garcia said.
When the previous property owner initially requested demolition, Garcia said the city's Historic Preservation Office worked with the owner to find solutions for how to save the home, including relocating it.
Live Forward Development bought it in June 2023 and opted to move it roughly 12 feet from its existing location. The shift will create enough space for the company to add to the lot while still reusing the building, said Ben Patton, a partner with the company.
Patton said the restaurant would be inspired by places like The Vig, Cibo and Pizzeria Bianco, though he said details could not yet be shared.
The home is expected to be moved in early 2025, and a low-scale apartment complex with roughly 100 workforce housing units will join the lot, Batton said.
Live Forward focuses on "middle missing" housing in the Phoenix area and typically develops vacant lots, but Patton said the company couldn't miss out on the opportunity to reuse the Seargent-Oldaker home.
"We were a good fit to save it if it was possible. So, we just believed in it, we believed in the idea of preservation if we could pull it off," Patton said.
Live Forward received $400,000 from the city and $324,000 in grants from the state to revitalize the Seargent-Oldaker home.
Dan Klocke, the city's former Historic Preservation Commission chair who also played a role in the home's preservation, said it was a great example of developers working really hard to save a Phoenix building.
Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Historic Phoenix bungalow once facing demolition to become new restaurant
