Pictures of Houses on the Historic Register in Phoenix

[PHX31]

So I got to looking into some of the houses in Phoenix that are on the Historic Register. I decided to focus on some of the oldest remaining houses in Phoenix, which is for the most part pre-1910, many late 1800s. Further, I tried focusing on most that many of us don't see as often, or didn't know about and hadn't seen before (at least me). We all know about the Duppa adobe, the Rosson House, the Evans House, and the like, but did you know Phoenix actually has a surviving French Second Empire house?

I get extremely frustrated seeing history books full of beautiful long-forgotten Phoenix structures, not to mention block after block of razed downtown neighborhoods. However, I decided to focus on the good (what's left) and what we can be proud of. Even if some of the homes are in slight ill-repair, or in extremely ghetto areas, they're gems nonetheless.

I broke up the houses into four areas: The North, South of Downtown, West of Downtown, and Downtown/East of Downtown. Also, some of the pics were taken from my car, others were taken peering over a wall, so they aren't the greatest quality, but oh well.

The North:
Lightning Z Ranch House
8702 N. Seventh Ave.
March 1994 (Construction Date: 1904-1908)




Halm-Howard House
6850 N. Central Ave.
November 2005 (Construction Date: 1906-1907)


Murphy (William J.) House
7514 N. Central Ave./10 W. Orangewood Ave.
March 1994 (Construction Date: 1895)

This, in my opinion, is the greatest house in the City of Phoenix. It is a true Victorian mansion, with something like 6,000+ square feet. It is right off the Murphy Bridal path, and has beautiful lawn/landscaping/gardens. I never knew it still existed, and doesn't seem to belong in Phoenix. It was tough to photograph the details of the house through the trees.







South of Downtown:

Vernacular Residence
818 S. First Ave.
October 2002 (Construction Date: circa 1885)


Jones (W.W.) House
1008 E. Buckeye Road
March 1994 (Construction Date: 1879)




West of Downtown:

Dougherty-Peterson House
2141 W. Washington St.
March 1994 (Construction Date: 1899)


Norton (William R.) House
2222 W. Washington St.
November 2002 (Construction Date: 1895)


Grier (William & Mary) House
1942 W. Adams St.
November 2007 (Construction Date: circa 1901)




Pinney (William & Nathalie) House
1938 (1930) W. Adams St.
November 2007 (Construction Date: circa 1899)


Cronin (C.P.) House
2029 W. Jefferson St.
October 2002 (Construction Date: 1893)




Morse-Kelley House
2141 W. Madison St.
October 2002 (Construction Date: circa 1900)


Roberts (Oscar) House
2004 W. Madison St.
October 2002 (Construction Date: 1893)




Tweed (Judge Charles A.) House
1611 W. Fillmore St.
September 1988 (Construction Date: circa 1880)

The final remaining French Second Empire Style House in Phoenix!


Osborn (William) House
1266 W. Pierce St.
January 1989 (Construction Date: 1890)

When I was taking a picture of this house, the owner came up and talked to me. He was a very friendly/talkative dude, with a great story and history (apprently he also owned the above house at one time). He and his family saved this house from demolition... it was basically condemned by the City.


He even had a picture (which he received from the Osborn family) of the original owners that he showed me:


Downtown/East of Downtown:

Brockway (Dr. George M.) House
506 E. Portland St.
February 2005 (Construction Date: circa 1909)


Cisney (George) House
916 E. McKinley St.
March 1994 (Construction Date: 1897)


Coe (H.M.) House
365 N. Fourth Ave.
October 2002 (Construction Date: 1895)


Skinner (E.W.) House
917 E. Roosevelt St.
October 2002 (Construction Date: circa 1899)


Seargeant-Oldaker House
649 N. Third Ave.
September 1986 (Construction Date: 1909)


Peirce (Harry E.) House
632 N. Third Ave.
September 1986 (Construction Date: circa 1910)




Hidden (George) House
763 E. Moreland St.
March 1994 (Construction Date: 1896)



One pretty great thing about going on this hunt was coming across the vast numbers of other gems out there that aren't on the historic register (from what I can tell). Many out there are just as old and sometimes in even better shape than those on the list. Either good shape or bad shape, I was surprised to find so much out there remaining, and I was happy.

[HX_Guy]

Good stuff! I've been wanting to do the exact same thing for a long long time but never got around to it.

Can't believe that house from 1880 is still around, this is prehistoric by Phoenix standards. Is there an even older home still standing (aside from the Duppa house?).

On a side note...I was thinking earlier today, why the hell don't they building these style homes in Phoenix today? I know in Verrado they did somewhat, but only on the exterior...on the interior they are the same as any other 1990+ home in Phoenix. I'd love to see some new construction with wainscoting, encased windows and door frames and such. I see them in other cities as new builds on HGTV but have never ever seen it here in Phoenix.

[dtnphx]

Outstanding effort! What incredible houses. I could just imagine all of them next to each other on several blocks. Most of them look like they could be back east somewhere. Very grand. Dude, you did good!

[HooverDam]

Wow, amazing thread! Really terrific job. I think you ought to send a link of this thread to the fellow at the Downtown Phoenix Journal who does the article's on historic Phoenix structures, he'd get a kick out of it I'm sure and you two could probably share a great deal of good info with each other. His name is Si Robbins if memory serves.

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

On a side note...I was thinking earlier today, why the hell don't they building these style homes in Phoenix today? I know in Verrado they did somewhat, but only on the exterior...on the interior they are the same as any other 1990+ home in Phoenix. I'd love to see some new construction with wainscoting, encased windows and door frames and such. I see them in other cities as new builds on HGTV but have never ever seen it here in Phoenix.

Personally I'd rather see developers build new homes in a style befitting our climate and create a new vernacular style for Phoenix/the desert. We saw Haver and Beadle do this to some degree in there day, where are the guys like that today? Sure Bruder and Eddie Jones are building terrific desert homes, but they're one offs for the rich.

I'd love to see entirely new subdivisions designed by guys like Bruder, Jones, et al. There's clearly an "Arizona School" thats continuing to develop, but sadly the vast majority of our new homes are stuccoed messes.

[Vicelord John]

The victorian on North Central proves that landscaping is everything. Should the Grunow Farms house be on here? I know it isn't on the national register but it used to be the farm house for half of North Phoenix.

[Leo the Dog]

Great job! The Osborn house is amazing. Love the old photo.

[mgmAZCO]

Thanks for posting all the great pics! Really nice to see

[PHX31]

Originally Posted by Leo the Dog

Great job! The Osborn house is amazing. Love the old photo.

One other thing the guy that lives in the Osborn house told me... that trunk that is on the porch in the old photo - apparently he still has it in the house. That would be sweet! (I'd also want that old bike).

Here is the register, in case anyone was wondering about dates or anything, or may want to add to this thread:

http://phoenix.gov/historic/histpropi.html


Hoover, you're welcome to send him the link to this thread if you want... i don't know much about the houses except the info shown. I'm sure the people that live in the houses themselves know a lot of info and maybe even have unique old pictures (like the guy in the Osborn house - he even told me his late wife put together a huge journal about the house). Even in my 1920s house, someone annonymously sent me a picture of my house from 1945 in the mail. I'm sure the residents themselves would have a ton of knowledge.

[HooverDam]

Also, I wonder if some of these houses that have fallen into disrepair and aren't currently in use would be better off if moved to Heritage Square someday.

On the one hand I suppose being true to their original location is important. Moving them would also create additional dirt lots in already blighted areas. Perhaps that could be offset by the construction of new neighborhood pocket parks in their absence.

On the other, if the parking garage at Heritage Park was demolished (don't worry, people could use the Mahal) then some of these homes could be moved there. In particular the Jones House, The Dougherty-Peterson House, The Norton House , The Evans House, The Charles Pugh House, The Sarah Pemberton House, The Knipe House, The Jones-Montoya and The Duppa House would all receive a lot more TLC if they were in Heritage Park. Though I'm sure moving some of them, the Duppa & Knipe Houses in particular would be extremely difficult.

If the garage was gone, it would open Heritage Square up to the rest of Downtown more and make it much more visibly accessible. And one day when the BioMed campus expands and replaces the Mercado with hopefully better designed buildings, perhaps the park could be activated along Monroe. Between the nearby Union HS buildings, St Marys, the Monroe School and an expanded Heritage park, you'd have a pretty good cluster of historic structures, especially by Phoenix standards.

I think it would perhaps go a long way to making Heritage Square a much more visited place and interesting destination, for locals and convention visitors alike. Who knows, maybe someday we'd even get fun Jack Swilling, Barry Goldwater or George WP Hunt impersonators wandering around the area like other cities have Lincoln or Franklin.

[PHX31]

/\ That would be f'in awesome. Even though that garage is much more beautifully designed (with the landscaping and all) than the garage mahal, I guess it would be best to keep heritage square all close together. Imagine the Rosson House across the street from the Evans house. That would look awesome.

Although most of this would mean crossing the light rail tracks to move the houses, which I thought was now never going to happen again.

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by PHX31

Although most of this would mean crossing the light rail tracks to move the houses, which I thought was now never going to happen again.

I imagine it would be possible, just tricky. I'd think they could do it after 2am when the trains stop and just raise/move the lines in one segment. Or they could always go the rather long way around Christown Mall and move it over a couple of nights or something. :/

[Vicelord John]

Why cant they cross the tracks? I figured the tracks were smooth enough and truck tires can be deflated enough so the bumps arent any greater than anything else on the road.

Edit. Power lines, duh.

[Tfom]

The church I used to work for owns the house at 1611 W Fillmore. I've been there many times.

[HooverDam]

So I was curious to see if all those historic houses would actually fit on the parcel where the parking garage is and according to some rough measurements done via Google Maps area/distance calculator map they could:



Going in clockwise order, the Turquoise/teal box is the WW Jones House, next is the William R Norton House, then the Evans House, below it is the Duppa House, then Knipe House, then in the middle/bottom is the Sarah Pemberton House, then the Pugh House, then the Dougherty Peterson House and finally the Jones Montoya House.

They'd have plenty of room, plus space for another square and path connecting Heritage Square better to downtown. Some of the houses could become new small museums, or maybe it would predominately be more restaurants to compliment Pizzeria Bianco, the Rose & Crown and Nobu.

Then just for fun on my image I measured how big the Al Beadle White Gates House is and tossed it on the map (the red rectangle by the Science & History Museums). That thing has been sitting empty for forever, which is rather sad. I had the idea that it could be moved here and incorporated as part of an Arizona Architecture Museum. With the addition of 10 more houses Heritage Square itself would really be a living Arizona Architecture museum in it of itself, so it seemed appropriate. I figured White Gates could be the entryway, lobby, restrooms, gift shop, etc. for such a museum with a large 2 or 3 story structure rising behind it.

Adding in another museum, hopefully someday getting the History Museum back on line & more houses would really make Heritage Square the destination it ought to be. Though of course this is all just dreamin'...

[PHX31]

That would be an absolutely amazing idea. That would be a true heritage square (even if it seems like a mish mash of houses on the western side). It might be impossible though for any number of reasons (the city would never put up any money to move the houses, they'd never demolish a parking structure - nor would the nearby business (ie, Mercado) support the removal of a parking structure, and the city wouldn't put up any money to restore some of the houses, at least not right now). But really, all good ideas start small, maybe it is possible. If we knew the right connections to run it through, maybe it could gain some traction.

It's a perfect way to connect a beefed up Heritage Square with the Herberger, St. Mary's Basilica, and especially the Convention Center. You're right, as of now, the parking garage pretty much destroys all connectivity or visibility.

Last thing, it may be impossible to get currently privately occupied and owned houses, like the Dougherty-Peterson House. What about bringing in the Winship House from Portland St next to Portland Place.


source: Google

The City has already spent some rehab money on it, and as it stands it's not doing a single thing (nor will it ever really tie into Portland Place or the Japanese Friendship Gardens like they think).

http://phoenix.gov/budget/c6historic.pdf
(See page 3)

[HooverDam]

The Dougherty-Peterson House is occupied? I just figured it was empty, judging it from the outside since its not looking so hot. But you're right, if its in use, it would be tough to move.

You're also right though that the Winship house would be another good candidate for an idea like this.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about the folks at the Mercado complaining about losing parking. The Mercado isn't long for this world anyhow and perhaps the new parking structures/lots at the BioMed could offset the loss.

The day the City of Phoenix tears down a parking garage of its own and replaces it with something of urban quality might be the day we know the City finally "gets it."

[PHX31]

I'm not 100% sure that the Dougherty-Peterson House is occupied, but it kind of looks that way. It's at least privately owned.

You think the Mercado is coming down?? Portions of ASU and several other business are located within it, right? Have you heard they're moving out or that the Mercado is somehow planned to be removed someday?

[HooverDam]

Originally Posted by PHX31

You think the Mercado is coming down?? Portions of ASU and several other business are located within it, right? Have you heard they're moving out or that the Mercado is somehow planned to be removed someday?

The Mercado is definitely coming down...someday. That land is slated to be apart of the BioMedical campus and as its currently set up, is far too low density for the BioMeds needs. All the Urban Form Codes & City Plans show the Mercado as a part of the campus, see here:

http://phoenix.gov/ECONDEV/pbc_bound.pdf

And if you look at their build out massing, you'll see the Mercado is gone:
http://phoenix.gov/ECONDEV/pbc_buildout.pdf

So eventually if the BioMed idea takes off, they'll need to replace the Mercado.

Additionally, that surface lot adjacent to Pizzeria Bianco isn't exactly the best thing in the world, urbanity wise. Im sure they love having convenient parking, but if one more building could be found to put there, I think it would be a very good thing.

[PHX31]

/\Well, losing the Mercado would be fine.

But on another note, what about those few historic houses remaining that are also planned as a part of the northwestern portion of the biomed campus? These areas are shown with massive buildings on them too, but they're currently privately owned (and in at least the Emerson House case, occupied).

This one on the SWC of 5th St and Pierce:

Source: Google

And of course the 1902 Emerson House on the SEC of 4th St and Pierce:


Here it is in 1906:

Sources: Courtesy of Dayvid LeMmon

[HX_Guy]

That Emerson House is on the historic register right? So doesn't that mean they can't tear it down?