Very Vintage Vegas

A Last Look At The Mid Century Modern Rancho Park Office Building

November 24th, 2008 Categories: Mid Century Modern

I mentioned last week that one of our favorite mid century modern commercial office buildings in all of Las Vegas was at the last stage before the demolition started.

They’ve started the domition at the north end, and these pictures are from the south end of the building.

If you want to drive by and say your last respects, it’s hidden away at the back of the Sahara Rancho Corporate Center in the North East Corner of Sahara Ave. and Rancho.  

 

 

 

Since the plastic wrap is off and the bulldozer is already busy at work I managed to grab some pictures so you could see the exterior before it’s gone. Now you know why we loved this classic example of Mid Century Modern Architecture and Design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got busted by the Security Guard while taking the interior pictures for you, and just BARELY talked my way out of a trip to the Clark County Detention Center. I got away with a good scolding, the camera, and a cut on my hand from climbing thru the rubble to get inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s more pictures after the jump, and that ghost kept following me around

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only fixture left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The globe lamps are gone, and I hope they found a good home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Mid Century Modern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Karen said at November 24th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

   I would LOVE to have put that stained glass or the exterior panels to good use. I hope someone was able to salvage them!

2. zane d. said at November 24th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

   way to break the law, just for our visual enjoyment! Kudos!

3. Michelle Velazquez said at November 24th, 2008 at 5:49 pm

   I think it’s a shame you didn’rt have a 30 foot ladder and a phillips head screw driver in your back pocket to save that one last light fixture…LOL! Beautiful!

4. shanya said at November 25th, 2008 at 9:12 am

   Glad you got a chance to go in there, in the last pics I sent you they had just started with the bulldozer, we were way too afraid to jump that fence and go in.. kudos to you for it. You find out anything about them saving any of the stuff inside or out ?

5. didi said at November 25th, 2008 at 11:18 am

   This is making me cry. it’s so sad they didn’t preserve it to good use just the way it was meant to be.

6. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 25th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

   Jack- Not all Mid-Century Modern buildings are worth saving- and I’d say this was one of those that served their purpose but now must make way for hopefully something new and better. Up here in Seattle, the Ballard Mannings/Denny’s is no more- with not too many regrets- even by those who fought to save it (not me).

7. zane d. said at November 26th, 2008 at 8:46 am

   Jerry, with all due respect, this building appeared to be in great shape and had some very nice examples of midcentury design. It was forced into being irrelevant by the developer who obscured this building with other structures between it and the major through streets. As a commercial building, its lack of visibility doomed it. Beyond that, it was a great building that certainly had lots of life left in it. What a waste…

8. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 26th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

   Zane D- with all due respect back to you, it’s your turf. You’ve experienced this MCM building-at its best- back when it was alive and being well used and apparently appreciated.I’d love to see some contemporary pictures of it in its heyday. Jerry

9. Mary-Margaret said at November 29th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

   Hi Jerry,

   I respect you as a very talented architect, but Zane is 100% right. And no offense, but you are sadly mistaken. As your moderator on Lotta Living and the founding member of the Las Vegas Atomic Age Alliance, I hope you will hear me loud and clear. This building was on the COVER of our Mondo Vegas tour book because it was so incredible.
   http://www.atomicage.org/store.php

   From our architectural travels across the country (Chicago, SF, NYC, Miami, etc.) and our behind the scenes work with the LAC Modern Committee I have been privileged to visit many national landmarks and other special buildings in my day. The level of detail of the Ranchera Medical Center ranks as one of the top office buildings I have ever experienced.

   The building was in excellent condition. EVEN in its last days when it was completely empty and unused, it was beautiful. It was simply outstanding from a functional, artistic, interior and exterior perspective. From a surface inspection, the building didn’t appear to need that much restoration, just general maintainence and delayed upkeep. The owner’s supposed complaint was that it did not serve their intended medical office tenants anymore. Yet, I believe it was more of a vanity and ego decision based on the building owner not understanding the Modern style of the building they owned. It could have happily housed many other tenants and even though they had tenants, they systematically cancelled all the leases of them one by one.

   Thankfully, Allen Sandquist took many wonderful pictures of this building before it was torn down. You can view many of them on his Flickr account.
   http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidepictures/221639131/

   We gave copies of the Mondo Vegas tour book to the building managers. We arranged tours of the building to get people interested. We called an acquaintance on the Las Vegas City Planning Commission only to find there was absolutely no preservation recourse available. No EIR or public hearing was even required to get a demolition permit.
   Other then Uncle Jack and this blog - THERE WAS NO PUBLIC OUTCRY. no news mentions. no press. no publicity. nothing.

   It was one of the LAST AND BEST architectural treasures left in Las Vegas. We personally took Alan Hess of the books, Googie and Viva Las Vegas, etc. to see this building and he spoke very highly of it, promising to write letters in support of it should the day come to try to save it. Sadly - there was never an opportunity for him or any of us to do so.

   It will be replaced by a building of essentially the same square footage for the same purpose as it was originally designed - medical offices.

   There was no reason whatsoever for them to tear it down, except for sheer stupidity and aesthetic ignorance.

10. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 29th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Mary-Margaret- Now that I’ve seen the pictures, I can only agree with your statement: “There was no reason whatsoever for them to tear it down, except for sheer stupidity and aesthetic ignorance”. There’s a lot of that around. Jerry

11. Jack said at November 29th, 2008 at 6:36 pm

    Hi Jerry,
    Thanks for being a regular and for commenting. I’m really crushed about that building. There’s dozens more that we’ll have to fight to save someday, but this one was absolutely one of the best.

    Jack

12. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 29th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

    Further Thoughts from afar (Mercer Island, WA) on the now demolished Las Vegas Ranchera Medical Center:

    I guess I’ve seen too many unworthy buildings preserved out of sentiment rather than any merit- all too many of these edifices were poor things from day one. The old Bellevue, WA High School comes to mind. It was a real affront to the eyes of all of those who passed it. The land has since been put to much better use as part of the City of Bellevue’s Downtown City Park. JG

13. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 29th, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    Mary-Margaret, Uncle Jack, et al- Here’s a link illustrating my point as to saving buildings for reasons of merit- rather than sentimentality. The old (Seattle) Mannings/Dennys is gone. It used to be useful- if not beautiful.

    http://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=11

14. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 29th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

    Mary-Margaret, Uncle Jack, et al-
    Here’s a link that illustrates my point-
    http://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=11

15. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 29th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

    http://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=11

16. Allen (Roadsidepictures) said at November 29th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    Jack,

    Thanks so much for risking a trip to the hooskow to shoot these! I’d have done the same thing if I had been there. I’m wondering why they took the time to remove the shades from the lighting fixtures? It just makes me sick to think they demolished this place. It really was a time capsule. Any idea if the bronze plaque next to the main entrance was saved?

17. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 29th, 2008 at 8:29 pm

    Mary-Margaret, Uncle Jack et al- Here’s a link to a well deserved demolition in Seattle-(unlike Rancho Mirage). Jerry
    http://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=11

18. Mary-Margaret said at November 29th, 2008 at 9:21 pm

    No sweat Jerry,

    I know you have great taste and would see what we lost with more pictures. I, too, have rolled my eyes when people throw time, money and sentimental preservation energy into “arguably” less important buildings while worthy worthwhile ones get ruined or destroyed. Not just here, but in other cities, too… But there is one particular building here that is getting a lot of press here these days, which is nothing compared to the building we just lost.
    Then there is this “historic” elementary school off Tropicana on land now owned by UNLV and they have poured $$$ money into hiring friends of ours out of L.A. to do the historic assessment while the more important 1st building on campus has chain link around it awaiting its death.

    BTW - it’s really nice to see you posting on Jack’s blog!

19. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

    MM- As to- “BTW - it’s really nice to see you posting on Jack’s blog!”- it seems like a good one. Thanks for your kind words. Jerry

20. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 30th, 2008 at 10:18 am

    Docomomo WEWA - Endangered Properties

21. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 30th, 2008 at 10:25 am

    re: Click here: Docomomo WEWA - Endangered Properties- Jack and MM- I can’t get your Blog
    to accept this link. I’ll eMail it to Jack and
    perhaps he’ll post it for me in defense of my
    ideas on saving worthy buildings, not others. J-

22. Zick And Sharp - A Legacy Of Mid Century Modern Architecture In Las Vegas said at November 30th, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    […] you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!The post about the Last Look at the Sahara Rancho Office building started an interesting thread in the comments. Jerry Gropp, the Seattle Architect argued that some […]

23. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at November 30th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    I presume there’s more to the previous post that mentions me. Jerry

24. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at December 1st, 2008 at 10:19 am

    Mary-Margaret, Uncle Jack- MM’s admonishments to me (above) lead to some interesting exchanges (which I’ve enjoyed). As for me, over the years my Las Vegas experiences have been mainly passing through. The last time, some three years ago, was on the way to Death Valley. I could see how the big builders have impacted LV and why Mid-Century Modern homes and other structures are threatened- as they are everywhere. I applaud your preservation efforts- here are some of mine. Jerry

    Click here: BusinessWeek’s Business Exchange Topic- “Residential Real Estate” - a knol by Jerry Gropp Architect AIA
    ( https://knol.google.com/k/jerry-gropp-architect-aia/businessweeks-business-exchange-topic/246qxuxd260sm/66# )

25. Jerry Gropp Architect AIA said at December 1st, 2008 at 10:24 am

    and furthermore- J-

    Click here: As to first time home buying in today’s turbulent mortgage foreclosure times. - a knol by Jerry Gropp Architect AI
    ( https://knol.google.com/k/jerry-gropp-architect-aia/as-to-first-time-home-buying-in-todays/246qxuxd260sm/57# )

26. Walter Zick And The Pod Schools said at December 10th, 2008 at 1:48 am

    […] once again, I didn’t end up in jail, had a great afternoon with a great friend, and got to see some of the wonderful Mid Century Modern […]

27. Lenadams Dorris said at December 13th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    I loved that building. The exterior was cool, but it was the interior that was was truly wonderful. The use of wood and stone and metal, as well as colored glass, was way beyond what you usually saw in contemporaneous Vegas buildings.

    Two other things…someone up there says “It was one of the LAST AND BEST architectural treasures left in Las Vegas” While it was indeed a treasure, trust me, there are still many, many buildings of every era still needing to be evaluated, and, in some cases, saved. The fight is never over.

    As for the University: is it Beam or Frasier that is going to be demolished? I don’t live in my hometown anymore so I didn’t know. Frankly I’m deeply surprised that even in Vegas such historic structures could be threatened when part of such a fundamentally conservative institution.

    On the other hand, my attempts to get the Education Building stripped of its silly yellow paint and returned to its original, intended, glorious brutalism was for naught…

    Love what you’re doing here, Jack. Smooch!

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