In a trick of contrast, I forgot that I'd even seen this place, in the neighborhood under the Valley Ho. Right next to the bizarro-Lapidus-with-buffalos-and-whatnot, not nearly as wigged-out and extravangant and time-warp as its condo neighbors, this Los Cuartos complex is a better class. Now that I'm thinking about it, I got drawn in under that lattice entryway, and stood there fascinated. In person it's hypnotically attractive, standing under that lattice shadow, because it is relatively low, and the steps come up, and there's a kind of squeezing effect. (Maybe I'll walk over there again after lunch; I need some photos of the Valley Ho anyway.).

As of this writing Jarson and Jarson is advertising one of these Los Cuatros units at something under $200K. It happens to be the work of Bennie M. Gonzalez.

 

Gonzalez is the architect of his 1962 breakthrough, the acclaimed Nogales Public Library, two major buildings at the Scottsdale City Government Complex with an authentic mystique (the City Hall, the one with the interior civic kiva, is above), and he is the one true author of the phrase that sends a reliable chill down apartment dwellers' spines, Navaho White.

Los Cuatros dates from 1966, and the 1983 AIA guide is curt. "Simple, stucco-clad masses focus inward on a landscaped pool-court space."

It doesn't look quite so simple from Google Maps. From a sat photo, the apartment plan around the pool is highly irregular, almost fractal, like a crazy snowflake. Examine enough apartment complexes, and you realize there's always a balance to be struck between complicated, intricate spaces (which humans prefer, although I can't scientifically demonstrate that) and absolutely flat lines and planes (which accountants and Modernists prefer). This one is on the intricate side and in line with Gonzalez's other humane gestures.