Category: Phoenix History

Agriculture, Farm House, Historic home, Not where you'd expect, Phoenix History, Victorian

1895 | William J. Murphy House

7514 N. Central Ave./ 10 W. Orangewood

This imposing, but very well hidden, Victorian home is one of less than 50 pre-1900 homes that still exist in Phoenix. It was built by William J. Murphy, a businessman and developer who moved to Arizona from Ohio in 1880 and initially worked for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad before prospering as a developer. Murphy is credited with building the Arizona Canal in 1885, developing the city of Glendale, and introducing citrus and sugar beets to the area. Murphy is also responsible for building Grand Avenue in order to draw people from the growing city of Phoenix to the new towns of Peoria and Glendale.

In 1895, Murphy purchased 10 acres along along Central Avenue where he built a ranch for his family, including this large Victorian home. He saw the agricultural potential of land along the canal and planted over 1,800 citrus trees, imported from California, on his ranch — marking the birth of the citrus industry in Phoenix.

The 3-story home is built of painted brick with a wood shake roof and includes a long, shaded veranda where the family spent many afternoons. Typical of the Victorian style, it is adorned with “gingerbread” accents and dormer windows. The family had picnics and played croquet on a generous lawn that separated the house from Central Ave. This part of the property was later subdivided and a much newer residence now sits between Central Ave. and the Murphy house. In order to see the home, you must drive west on Orangewood Ave. and even then, it’s hard to see!

The distinctive streetscape along Central Ave. from Bethany Home Road to the Arizona Canal was Murphy’s creation and looks today very much as it did in the late 1800s. He was responsible for planting rows of Ash and Olive trees along the irrigation ditches that run paralleled to this part of Central Ave., and for establishing the Murphy Bridal Path*, a multi-use path that runs along the east side of Central Ave. The streetscape from Bethany to the Arizona Canal is on the Phoenix Historic Register, and has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.

*The path was named for Murphy in the 1940s by the Arizona Horse Lover’s Club

Historical photos courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society and the Arizona Capitol Times.

Agriculture, Historic home, Mediterranean Revival, Phoenix History

1912 | The James C. Norton House

The Norton House today
The Norton House during construction
James Norton and his family

2700 N. 15th Avenue

Dr. James Norton came to Phoenix in 1892 to become first territorial veterinarian of Arizona. In 1912 he purchased acreage north of town where he established a dairy and built this imposing home for his wife Clara and their children. I have seen the house referred to as Mission Revival, and I suppose it has some of those qualities, but I think it’s more Italianate/Renaissance Revival. In any case, it must have seemed an elegant and imposing structure, looking much as it does today, sitting alone on a large grassy lawn (a favorite place for croquet and picnics). The house had a large fireplace in the main living room and one in an upstairs bedroom, of which there were 5. Mahogany detailing and beamed ceilings made for an impressive interior. The ceiling beams were hand painted with vine tendrils to match the stained glass windows in the formal dining room. Along the back was a kitchen with butler’s pantry and maid’s quarters, while upstairs a large sleeping porch ran along the west side. The home was one of the first in the country to have a cooling system — a early version of evaporative cooling.

Norton saw the potential of his land for development, and in 1927 he platted a section to create Del Norte Place, a really beautiful neighborhood west of 15th Ave. that Norton called “the countryside west of town.” The homes were mostly small cottage revival styles on tree-lined streets and sold for $5,000 – $7,000. Of course, once the depression hit, the building boom slowed down and by 1934 Norton got out of the home building business. Times were hard, and so he sold his remaining 140 acres and the house to the city. With the addition of another 60 acres from other sources (including Dwight Heard) the city could create its first recreational park.

The plan for a “Class A” park.

The 200-acre Encanto Park opened in 1937 and was constructed largely by the Works Progress Administration — the New Deal program that built so many public works projects across the US. The park is now on the National Register of Historic Places and included 2 golf courses, a band shell (now gone), lagoons for fishing and boating, a club house, tennis courts, an archery range and plenty of room to run and play. Today the Norton house is used by the City of Phoenix Parks and Rec as administrative offices, and will be going through an extensive renovation soon.

Historic photos courtesy of Historic Preservation Office of the City of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Department

Historic home, Mediterranean Revival, Phoenix History, Prairie Style

1917 | The Ellis-Shackelford House

1242 N. Central Ave.

At the turn of the century, much of the small city of Phoenix was clustered just north of the Rio Salado’s wide flood plane. After the town suffered through several devastating floods those who could afford to moved to higher ground north of town. During the prosperous teens and twenties, the wealthy began to build Victorian and Queen Anne mansions along Central Avenue (then called Center Street) in an area once known as “Millionaire’s Row.” The Ellis-Shackelford House is the last remaining (intact) mansion in this area. There are a few other mansions left along Central — most familiar are the Cole Mansion and the Baker House, which together make up the Old Spaghetti Factory. But the Ellis-Shackelford house is the only mansion that remains true to its original form.

Dr. William Ellis moved to Phoenix from Ohio in 1907 and helped establish the Arizona Deaconess Hospital, now known as Good Samaritan. Dr. Ellis employed architect R. A. Gray to design the house, which he built for his wife Reba and daughter Helen. The home was completed in 1917, and employed a number of innovative technologies that were not common in Phoenix such as a cistern to catch rainwater coming off the roof, a solar water heater, central vacuum system, and electricity throughout the house. Stylistically the house is a combination of the Prairie Style* with Mediterranean touches, such as the tiled roof and double wooden brackets under the eaves. High quality detailing included a mahogany staircase and trim imported from the Philippines. The house is three stories with a full basement for a total of 6,600 sq ft. of living space and situated on an acre lot. Daughter Helen and husband Gordon Shakelford occupied the house until 1964. Afterwards it was converted into a boys home, the Arizona Historical Society Museum and now houses Arizona Humanities. Like “Frenchy” Vieux, this house was slated to be demolished during the construction of I-10, but was saved and completely restored in 2013. It can be rented for events — check here for more info.

*For more on Prairie Style architecture, visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust

Historical images courtesy of the Arizona Historical Society.

Historic home, Phoenix History, Prairie Style, Roosevelt Historic District

1912 | “Frenchy” Vieux

508 W. Portland St.

This house is certainly a standout in the Roosevelt Historic District. It sits among many large Craftsman bungalows along Portland St., but it bears no resemblance to that popular style from the early 19th century. The overall impression is low and horizontal, even though it is a two-story house. A 75′ veranda runs along the southern elevation and features a large round extension of the porch at the SE corner of the home. The National Register of Historic Places inventory of homes in the Roosevelt Historic District calls this house “one of the few, if not the only example of an Italian Villa (Italianate) style residence in the Salt River Valley,” but I disagree. “Frenchy” Vieux has the low profile (accentuated by the second floor dormers) and deep eaves typical of the Prairie Style.* As is indicative of Period Revival homes in the Phoenix area, the architect took liberties to incorporate some Classical and possibly Mediterranean influences into his design — such as the columns that line the veranda and details on planters and lamps — but the primary elements are Prairie.

The house cost $10,000 to build and was designed by Leighton G. Knipe, a Los Angeles architect who designed many homes and public buildings in Phoenix, for Marcellin “Frenchy” Vieux, who acted as his own contractor at a . Vieux came to Phoenix from France around 1904 and made his fortune as a concrete contractor. In fact, you might see the “Frenchy” Vieux stamp on sidewalks around the older parts of Phoenix. The one pictured above is right in front of the house. As you might expect, Vieux built his house primarily out of concrete, including the retaining wall around the yard and the decorative flower pots, columns and light fixtures. After Vieux’s death, the house was used as a music school and then subdivided into apartments. It was eventually acquired by the City of Phoenix as part of the right of way for I-10, and may have been torn down under the freeway’s original design. However, the city’s plans changed and lucky for us “Frenchy” Vieux is still standing today!

*For more on Prairie Style architecture, visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust

Note: I will feature an Italianate home — The Norton House — in a future post.

Historic home, Phoenix History, Spanish Revival, Willo Historic District

1929 | Martha Shemer’s Childhood Home

317 W. Cypress

Shemer Art Center

This has got to be one of the prettiest houses in Willo (IMHO). This Spanish Colonial Revival home sits on a double lot and was built in 1929 by prominent Phoenix builder, J. H. Kline. It is classic Spanish Revival architecture, with a low-pitched red tile roof, small front patio, large picture windows, and that lovely rounded front door. But take a closer look at the shape of the large picture windows – those are Tudor-arched windows. So much for stylistic purity, right?

This house is also interesting to me because it was the childhood home of Martha Evvard Shemer, founder of the Shemer Art Center on Camelback Road in the Arcadia neighborhood. Martha moved to Phoenix when she was a child and went to Phoenix Union High School. She got married instead of going to college, but she had a keen knack for real estate and made a fortune buying land, holding it and selling for a profit. The legend is that she invested in acres of land on the South side of Camelback Mountain when there wasn’t much of anything around there. People thought she was making a mistake. Then she bought land on the north side of the mountain and people thought she had lost her mind. Boy did she prove them wrong! In the late 1980s she purchased the house that is now the Shemer Art Center. It was an Arcadia landmark and she wanted to make sure it was preserved so she donated the house and the land to the City of Phoenix, who turned the responsibility for it over to the newly created Commission for the Arts. If you haven’t been there, go. It’s truly a Phoenix Point of Pride.

Adobe, Historic home, Modified Monterrey, Phoenix History, Willo Historic District

1936 | The Miracle House

306 W. Lewis

The New Deal was President Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression. It created a number of reforms and new administrative departments to put the economy back on track and get people to work. One of these new departments was the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The goal of the FHA was to improve building standards and make home ownership accessible through FHA-insured mortgages. The impact the FHA had on the housing market cannot be underestimated — the number of new homes built in the Phoenix area increased almost 900% from 1934 to 1936. Most of these homes were built according to the new FHA building standards for a “modern” home. To promote this new approach to home building, the FHA built demonstration houses (two in Willo and one in Palmcroft) showcasing the new standards. But the FHA wasn’t the only organization building demonstration houses…

In 1936 the Arizona State Firemen’s Association built their own “fireproof” demonstration house, which they called the Miracle House. This modernistic house was constructed of fire resistant materials including adobe walls, concrete floors, steel casement windows and an asbestos roof. The home also boasted a rounded dining area lined with windows on the south-facing side of the house designed for passive-solar heating in winter. The asbestos roof has been replaced, but otherwise this house remains generally the same as it was in the 30s.

Adobe, Encanto-Palmcroft, Historic home, Phoenix History, Pueblo Revival, Uncategorized

1928 | The Indian House

2040 Encanto Drive SE

When land developer, Dwight Heard, started work on his new high-end community, Encanto, he envisioned it to be the “Bel Aire” of Phoenix, where local movers and shakers would build stunning homes on its curvelinear, palm-tree-lined streets. In order to attract buyers he built “model homes” that showcased the skill of his designers and builders. These were not model homes in the modern sense, they were demonstration houses that highlighted the quality, design and modern conveniences that could be incorporated into any of the custom homes built in Encanto. The “Indian House” as it was known, is one of these model homes. Built in the Pueblo Revival style, it provides us with a distinctive impression of the pueblos that dot the New Mexico and Arizona landscape. The house is constructed of block, but designed to look like plastered adobe with uneven surfaces and rounded corners and parapet walls. Originally wood beams, known as vigas, protruded from the roofline and rustic wooden ladders tied the various levels together.

The Pueblo Revival style grew in popularity largely due to hotelier Fred Harvey’s romantic view of the Southwest and its native people. In the late 1800s, Harvey started a chain of hotels along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad line, which helped spur tourism to the Southwest. His landmark hotels, such as La Posada and La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico and others including El Tovar at the Grand Canyon, provided visitors with comfortable accommodations and an idealized notion of local architectural traditions. His popular “Indian Detours” — coach tours that took visitors into Indian Country — showcased Native American arts and crafts that travelers of the time found irresistible. The fever for Indian art and design that spread across the West is epitomized by The Indian House, which stands as a noteworthy example of this style.

Side note: this house is right around the corner from the Joe Barta House I featured in another blog post.

Encanto-Palmcroft, Historic home, Phoenix History, Spanish Revival

1928 | The Joe Barta House

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1801 Palmcroft Drive NE

This is one of the most creative houses in Encanto-Palmcroft! It was built in 1928 for Joe Barta, owner of Butcher Boy meat markets, and designed by prominent Phoenix architect, Dwight Chenault. What makes this house so creative and one of my personal favorites, is that it was designed to look like a Mexican village, with masses of various shapes and heights. Many Spanish Revival homes used massing to imitate the look of an old village but this one takes the notion and really runs with it. The house is built around a front courtyard with fountain, designed to look like a central plaza. On the right side of the courtyard is a large round wood door surrounded by scalloped plaster work that makes this mass look like a church. Across the “plaza” is a winding exterior staircase that leads to a landing with another door and archways that lead the eye further up the imaginary hill this “village” is built on. Chenault didn’t forget the details, either. Tile accents, stained glass and windows of various sizes and shapes further suggest the look of individual buildings, rather than a single home.

Historic home, Idylwilde Park, Phoenix History

1928 | Idylwilde Park

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This post is not so much about a particular house, but more about an unusual subdivision here in Phoenix, bounded by Fairmount and Weldon on the north and south, and 12th St. and 11th St. on the east and west. Opening in 1928, this unique community featured 42 home lots surrounding (backing up to) a 3-acre “secret” park surrounded by Tamarisk trees. Each homeowner owns an equal share of this private oasis. I understand that this concept originated in Great Britain, and as far as I know, it is the only community like it in Phoenix!

Originally boasting a golf course, children’s play ground, pool and its own well, what remains today is the pool (built from native rock) and a play area. Surrounding the park are some super cute little houses, all built in revival styles: Tudor, Spanish Colonial, Pueblo and Cottage.

Historic home, Mediterranean Revival, Phoenix History, Willo Historic District

1930 | The Baker House

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301 W. Almeria Rd.

The Bert J. Freidman/A. B. Baker House is also known as the “Rabbi’s” house by its neighbors in the Willo Historic district. Built in 1930, the Mediterranean Revival home is one of the largest in the neighborhood, with 4 bedrooms, 4 baths and a 700 sq ft. basement. In 1943 the lot adjacent to the Baker House, at the corner of McDowell and 3rd Avenue, was purchased by the Beth El congregation for their first formal home. The Beth El Synagogue was finished in 1951 and included a 12-room school and a home for Rabbi Harr Z. Schechtman. The basement of the synagogue was connected to the basement of the Baker House by at least one tunnel so the Rabbi and the congregants could escape if necessary. The congregation quickly outgrew the space and moved to its current home in north-central Phoenix. Today the synagogue building a pawn shop and the tunnels have been blocked off.