ARTish.org - The Alwun House

Born 1871 in Germany, John Sedler immigrated and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1896. He purchased the property in 1910 and was a merchant, owner of Owl Drug store (and salon depending on era). 1912 advertisements for the store in the Arizona Republican bragged "free motorcycle delivery." A map by O.A. Turney of Phoenix shows "Sedler's Addition" bounded by 12th to 13th Street and Roosevelt to Diamond Streets. Built in 1912, John Sedler's house was set on 5 acres and looking out on alfalfa fields to the south of Roosevelt Street. "We stuck out like a sore thumb" said John Sedler's daughter, "no sidewalks, nothing." The house occupies the northeast corner of 12th Street & Roosevelt.
Architecturally and historically it is significant by its age and massive proud manor. The house draws directly from the "Bungalow Style" while using detailing more common to Colonial or Mission, blending into a Territorial vernacular developed in this region. This blend of styles and its exceptional size relative to the "Bungalow Style" (typically one story) makes the building architecturally significant. The house originally used a solar hot water system visible on the roof in the adjacent picture, (1929, daughter & suitor). The Sedler's resided there until 1948, when Earl Brown and his family made it their home. In 1971, Alwun House founders purchased the dilapidated property and began their rehab & retrofit efforts.
The Sedler House, aka Alwun House was placed on the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office's Inventory of Historic Properties, on May 11, 1993; making the house eligible for National Historic Registration, and ongoing project.

Founder Kim Moody had a vision of an artspace providing "all arts in one place," a merger of the medias. The first Alwun House event was of course the "Ground Breaking." Setting the precedent for surprising their audience, with multi-media audience participation, everyone had to help haul buckets of dirt out of the basement as the "basement theatre" construction project began. For the first 10 years the Alwun crew renovated the house facility and gardens, creating lush gardens and lily ponds, stage and planted trees. These efforts resulted in Alwun's first award, a "Neighborhood Improvement" award from Mayor Margaret Hance.
Alwun House became the first alternative/comtemporary art gallery in downtown. The central floor became an art gallery, the basement hosted multi-media theatre leading into producing the first "Performance Art" to be seen in Phoenix. One such notable production was called "Games I've Played While Waiting for the Messiah." Another was "Food for Thought" a multi-media production dealing with the benefits of growing your own food, with the cyclic slogan, "dig it, plant it, grow it, eat it." Alwun Hosted the likes of Marcel Marceau and Mummenschanz. Gong meditations and numerous other leading edge cultural events. One popular series of the seventies was "Heartsong" a poetry reading series of events.

In the second decade the productions increased in scale, culminating in one carnival event with 10,000 attendance. Alwun House was the first venue to showcase reggae, with annual "Caribbean Carnival" productions, with local reggae talent. Initially starting at the House facility, by carnival 4 the popularity of the event mandated Alwun search for an innovative location. Carnival 5 opened up 7 stories up on top of a downtown parking garage and was a major success. Mayor Terry Goddard stated "I feel the heartbeat of the City". The Carnivals became City-wide City co-sponsored multi-cultural happenings. As the carnival events became larger the overhead expenses grew exponentially, and eventually Alwun lost it's shirt (and the house). All the while Alwun House continued to showcase local contemporary artists with 8-10 new exhibits annually.
Thus entering into the third decade, reorganization's first major effort was reacquisition of the house. Dana Johnson wrote up the grant and Alwun was awarded $48,000 from the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office. Acquiring the House (leaving a small mortgage payment). The third decade events brought the return of poetry with the Coffeehouse series (weekly for 4 years) showcasing both poets and musicians. Also entering into prominence among Phoenix annual exhibitions was the annual Exotic Art Show, where the art works are uninhibited & uncensored (adult themed). Also, Alwun House has been actively involved in the renovation of its neighborhood community, creating a prevention through the arts program for at-risk youth in the area.

Now approaching a 30 year history of showcasing arts in the valley, Alwun's being labeled by media, with titles such as; "legendary," "institution," "oasis." In ending the third decade the Alwun Staff & volunteers look forward to the next millennium and celebrating the 30th anniversary of showcasing the arts of and for Phoenix.

article from The Alwun House Foundation @ www.alwunhouse.com