Downtown Phoenix will be getting a temporary touch of art with the Phoenix Design Museum‘s limited-engagement exhibitions, opening at the historic Phoenix Seed & Feed Capitol Warehouse.

The museum’s pop-up exhibitions, which have a focus on design excellence with curated collections from around the world, will be on display starting October 1 and will run for a month. Inaugural exhibitions include AIGA 365, a design effectiveness competition; Creativity 40, an international awards show; Design For Good, socially beneficial design solutions; and work from the Ken White collection in the museum’s permanent archives. There will also be an opening reception at the Phoenix Design Museum Thursday, Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. as part of Phoenix Design Week. Showings are held Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Phoenix Design Museum | 411 S. 2^nd St. | Phoenix, AZ 85004 | www.phxdm.com

Read more about the historic See & Feed building after the jump.

You may have driven by the empty historic Phoenix Seed & Feed building near US Airways Center a million times on your way to a game, and wondered why it hasn’t found its fate as an empty parking lot like many other historic Phoenix structures. Though the historic building was once headed for the wrecking ball, Michael Levine of Levine Machine stepped in to save and restore the building in 2003.

Before reconditioning

Levine is literally a machine when it comes to the preservation of local history and Phoenix buildings, like the Seed & Feed. According to Levine, the building was built by the Sturges Brothers in the 1870′s for their feed business. Bringing in over $300,000 in profit in sales, mainly to southern Arizona’s Buffalo Soldiers, the Seed & Feed was hugely successful.

After the Sturges Brothers, Leo Goldschmidt bought the building. Goldschmidt was the Governor of the Territory of New Mexico at the time and had also opened the first modern furniture store in Tucson, introducing Arizona to fine Persian rugs and modern interiors. The building soon found its way into the hands of Monty Mansfield, who owned the building when it caught fire and $50,000 of grain, seed and mortar went up in smoke. Mansfield was most notable for starting the Tucson Airport Authority, convincing Howard Hughes to bring Hughes Aircraft Co. to southern Arizona.

The San Diego Paper Box Company took over the building sometime ago before Levine stepped in to save the building when talks of demolishing the historic Seed & Feed began turning into reality. The Phoenix Design Museum’s October showing will be the first time the Seed & Feed Warehouse has been open to the public since Levine bought it in 2003. Because of the buildings delicate infrastructure, extensive remodeling must be done before any lengthy tenant or exhibition can takeover permanently in the building.

For more information and photos of the Phoenix Seed & Feed Warehouse Capitol Warehouse, click here.

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