Motley Design Group

01/21/2026

Our historic preservation niche takes us to some pretty unusual places. Just before New Year 2026 we were called out to the Kaiser Permanente cement plant out near San Jose, to photograph a bunch of industrial buildings from the 1930s and 40s that were slated for demolition. A huge, abandoned industrial facility like this offers endless opportunities for creative photography in addition to just getting the job done. This photo is actually a more modern cement kiln, but pretty cool looking anyway.

12/06/2025

Here's to Frank Gehry, to passed away yesterday.

The world-famous architect, Gehry,
Does designs that are edgy and scary.
Yes, some of his plans
Look like ripped-up tin cans -
Do I hate them? Quite the contrary!

03/28/2025

Motley has been selected as an on-call architecture firm for the San Xavier del Bac mission!

11/29/2024

There's been a lot of worry about this site lately, and a lot of curiosity about its history. Here is the background you need to know.

The Mystery Castle was constructed by Boyce Luther Gulley between the early 1930s and 1945 on a desert hillside site overlooking the Salt River Valley, home of Phoenix, Arizona. Beyond this simple statement of fact, many of the details of how the Castle came to be are shrouded in lore and myth.

08/23/2024

We finally got this done! Thanks to historians Donna Reiner and Roger Brevoort for doing most of the work to put this together.

We are proud to announce that Historic Grand Avenue has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a district with 87 contributing elements! 64 of these are buildings, and 23 are historic signs.
That makes the 64 historic properties eligible for preservation incentives such as AZ Heritage Fund grants (when funding is available), the AZ property tax program, and the federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit for larger rehabilitation projects.
Congratulations to the Grand Avenue community!

04/02/2024

Honored to be a part of this landmark project. This is a great summary of the state of progress, as we work to open this facility in 2026.

Visitors to the up-and-coming Hilton Family Holocaust Education Center will begin their roughly 90-minute tour in light, move to darkness and end up back in the light. The intention behind

02/04/2024

We're doing David, not Goliath.

$700,000 in grants from the city and state will go toward the revitalization of the Seargent-Oldaker house built in 1909.

05/12/2023

The Osterman Gas Station in Peach Springs has been named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 11 Most Endangered Places in America for 2023! https://savingplaces.org/stories/11-most-endangered-historic-places-2023
The building suffered severe storm damage to the roof and one wall. Motley Design is helping put it back together, and hopefully with the additional media attention they will get the funding to finish the rehabilitation as an arts center, community center, or similar use.

12/23/2022

One of out pet projects.

09/23/2022

Today we scored a two-fer! Both the Miracle Mile Historic District in Phoenix and the Sands North Historic District in Scottsdale are now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.