Finding Fred

We spent last weekend in Carefree looking for information on Fred Griffin.

On Saturday, we drove the winding desert roads looking for the "Weekend House" we have a clipping about. We were also hoping to find the commercial property advertised as The Andre Building. After striking out, we went to the Sundial Plaza listed on the matchbook to poke around. My husband wandered into a real estate office and showed them the articles we had printed out; the gentleman working said we should come back on Sunday, that surely the owner knew him.

We returned on Sunday to look for the residence that Fred lived in at the time of his passing. I was really hoping for his piece de resistance. Not to be. It was a burnt sienna stucco home.

We drove over to the real estate office again and met a great gal named Tara. She knew Fred! I was so excited to speak to someone who knew him! She gave us leads on a couple homes that she thought were his designs and suggested we come back at noon to speak to Harry, who knew Fred better.

We drove around some more to burn a couple hours. Jeff used to work for Paul & Jean Lipman, it was his first introduction to fine art and contemporary architecture. He still tells me stories about that amazing house built into the boulders, we found the driveway but it's tucked up into the rocks and thus not visible.

We finally headed back over to speak to Harry, he had some good stories but emphasized he didn't really know Fred personally, just as a business associate. Tara shared a fabulous round design of Fred's that they called "The Carousel House". We drove by that one as well, it was built into a depression so was somewhat difficult to see from the street. The aerial is much cooler.


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It was a very exciting weekend, but somehow melancholy as well. I wish I could've met him.