Two old pillars still stand on Exeter Drive. They marked the edge of "Casa de Wanda," the name a Kansas City banker gave his winter showplace after he bought the property in 1925. The house behind them is now the Shemer Art Center at 5005 E. Camelback Road. On Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8, it hosts the 2026 Shemer Arizona Arts Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, and admission is free.
The Shemer is a 1919 house that survived because one resident bought it in order to give it away. It is now also the place where Arcadia sends the pieces of buildings it could not keep standing. If you walk the grounds this weekend, you can see the old house and the plot where the newest salvage is headed.
A Water Company House at the Start of Arcadia
The Shemer's own history begins before the neighborhood had houses. A group of investors held 640 acres here, named the area "Arcadia," founded the Arcadia Water Company and started drilling wells. In 1919 they built a small home for the workman in charge of the project. It was one of the first homes built in Arcadia, and a small portion at the far east end of the present building is part of that original structure.
The investors went broke in the 1920s. The center's history gives three reasons: drilling wells was expensive, the depression arrived, and buyers did not want home sites so far from town. After that, the house changed with each new owner:
- 1919. A small house goes up for the Arcadia Water Company's project lead.
- 1925. A Kansas City banker buys the acreage, adds a kitchen, a living room and two bedrooms, and names the place "Casa de Wanda." Citrus is planted in 1926 and 1927, and the land is divided into 40-acre home sites.
- 1927. The Suhr family of Oil City, Pennsylvania, buys the 40 acres with the house as a winter home. They enlarge the garage, which is now the studio, add two bedrooms and a bathroom, enclose the porch, and stucco the exterior to cover all the additions. The house you see today is the result.
- 1984. The house goes back on the market. Martha Shemer tours it in July and contacts Mayor Terry Goddard's office. She asks whether the City would operate the property if she bought it and gave it away. The City Council accepts, and the Shemer Art Center opens that October.
- 1992. Phoenix residents send in more than 10,000 postcards naming the places that make the city unique. The Shemer is among the first 25 Points of Pride selected.
- 2010. The City says it can no longer manage day-to-day operations. The nonprofit that had supported the center since 1985 takes over running it.
According to the center, Martha Shemer had two goals: preserve a piece of Phoenix history and give the city a community center. She paid for the house herself and received no tax advantage for donating it. Since 1984, the house has stayed standing because people chose to keep it.
The Festival That Pays for It
The festival is how the house pays for its programming. It started in 1988 as Sunday @ Shemer, and it is one of four fundraisers that support the nonprofit's exhibitions and programs each year. It also shows only Arizona artists, which has been the Shemer's focus since 1984.
Here is what's on the grounds this weekend:
- More than 40 Arizona artists, chosen from across the state and selling original work, which the center pitches as a start on holiday gift shopping.
- The 4th Annual Signature Sidewalk Chalk Festival, with murals drawn on the sidewalk around the front parking lot.
- Art demonstrations and Arizona authors and illustrators.
- A Blacksmiths Village.
- A $5 Interactive Art Zone with art activities for all ages.
- Live music, food vendors and a silent auction.
Much of the auction comes from the exhibitors. The festival prospectus asks accepted artists to donate one piece with a minimum value of $100. When you bid, the money goes back into the house.
This year's chalk theme fits the site. The chalk prospectus calls it "The Desert Clock" and asks for "artwork about time through an Arizona lens." Suggested subjects include seasons, geologic time, heat, light, Indigenous history, memories and ancient landscapes. The artists work throughout both days, so on Sunday afternoon you will see different murals than on Saturday morning.
The center's visitor page says parking is free and on site, with entrance gates on Arcadia Drive at 48th Street. The building is wheelchair accessible. If you live close enough to walk, add a short detour to the Exeter Drive pillars.
The Beadle House Half a Mile Away
The second salvage story starts about half a mile away. Al Beadle, who lived from 1927 to 1998, designed and built homes and commercial buildings across metro Phoenix. They included the Safari Hotel in Scottsdale, Ferguson's Cafeterias and the Executive Towers condominiums. His modernist homes became known as Beadle Boxes, and Arcadia News reports that many of them were built in Arcadia. One was White Gates, near Camelback Mountain, which had stood since 1954.
After White Gates changed hands in early 2024, a demolition permit was sought. Arcadia News reported that the house had no official historic landmark designation, which left few legal protections against demolition. The demolition was approved with a condition, which Shemer president and executive director Shonna James explained to Arcadia News: "For the historic commission to approve the demolition, there had to be salvage." Beadle's daughter, Gerri Beadle-Murray, chose the Shemer to receive the pieces. James told the paper that it mattered to the family for the pieces to stay in a public art space near Camelback Mountain.
The house is gone now. Three sets of its elements are coming to the Shemer:
- the three ellipsoid panels that formed the front of the house
- the mesh metal arch canopy that shaded the back patio
- the concrete planters that anchored the landscaping
Arcadia's first house was saved by one donation in 1984. Forty years later, the same property was the family's choice to hold what remained of a midcentury house about half a mile away.
What the White Gates Pavilion Will Look Like
Phoenix Home & Garden reported in September that the salvaged pieces will become the White Gates Pavilion. It is a 666-square-foot open-air structure that will anchor a new Al Beadle Sculpture Garden. Two Beadle sculptures meant to sit together, "Woman" and "Holy Man," will mark the entry to the garden. The center's information packet lists Mark Tate of Tate Studios, Ned Sawyer and Rich Fairbourn as collaborators on the design. James told Arcadia News the pavilion will host events and weddings on the grounds. It will work like a gazebo, with screens that recreate the look of the house.
The public can help pay for it. Phoenix Home & Garden describes one option offered through Modern Phoenix, a group that promotes Arizona's midcentury architecture. James explained it to the magazine:
"You can adopt an ellipse, one of 216 on three panels. It's similar to the star registry where you can own a circle of space."
The opening date has moved. In January, Arcadia News reported a spring 2026 target. Phoenix Home & Garden's September piece says the pavilion is expected by the end of 2026. Treat that as the center's current estimate, not a scheduled ribbon cutting.
A Bigger Lot Plan Behind the Pavilion
The pavilion is a separate effort from the Shemer's Expansion & Legacy Campaign, which is the larger plan for the property. Phase Two calls for $1.5 million to build a new educational building next to the existing house. It would add adult classes, workshops and lectures, more children's and teen classes, and extra storage, office space and restrooms. Phase Three would raise another $1 million, bringing the campaign to $2.5 million. That money would go to upgrades on the existing building, landscaping, an extended lawn, event hardscape and more outdoor sculpture areas. According to a 2024 campaign packet, the new building will stay within the current property lines. Arcadia News reported in January 2026 that the expansion fundraiser had raised $1.3 million.
This weekend's festival is one of the four fundraisers behind that work. The open lawn where artists set up their tents is the area the campaign plans to extend.
Back Inside the House After the Festival
Two exhibitions keep the Shemer busy after the tents come down. "REWIND. PIVOT. REPEAT.," a group show about change, growth and renewal juried by Bentley Calverley, runs through January 7, 2027. The center is also honoring sculptor Tom Eckert, whose carved wooden pieces "blur the line between reality and illusion." His exhibition runs on the same dates. A dinner gala is set for Friday, November 20, from 5:30 to 9 p.m., with a cocktail reception with the artist first and dinner at 7. Past honorees include Ed Mell, Mayme Kratz, Mark Klett and Beth Ames Swartz.
On regular days, the house is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $7 per person or $10 per couple.
Arcadia's homes carry stories that never show up on a listing, from a citrus-era winter home stuccoed over its additions to a Beadle Box on the mountain's edge. If you own one of them and want to know what that history and design mean for its value today, The Pontikas Team can walk through it with you. Start with a free home valuation.
