This is a place for discussions of history and historic preservation of old downtown Tucson and the five Historic Preservation Zones. I will publish articles here when it seems helpful. Useful material from others is welcome. Readers are invited to comment on posts regarding reasonable historic preservation, better understanding of our history and to serve the interests of old downtown Tucson residents. You may be invited to post here also; please let me know if you want to do so. Much of the research and descriptive text have been obtained with Perplexity AI. Feedback on incorrect information or site malfunctions will be very helpful.

History Research and Preservation Resources

There are many ways to learn more about matters related to historic Tucson. They fit into two major categories: regulatory and historic. Some information will fall clearly into one of these two categories but some may not. Links to both are included below, organized by the resource home. Depending on the browser you are using, you may get a redirect notice which should not be a cause for concern. 

This Site's Resources

Building Styles - Click here to see drawings of many residential architectural styles found in Tucson's old neighborhoods.

Pima County and City of Tucson Resources

Regulatory Resources - The resource that you may find most helpful is the site for the Tucson Planning & Development Services Department. On this page you will find contact information, links to various services, upcoming events and more. More information specific to historic preservation can be found here. At the top of this page is a link to a PDF outlining the historic review process and another link to the Tucson 

Armory Park Historic Review Start Up Kit https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1q1IMHpo9dcmCNgC5YdQzjv2nUupLBZu8  

Development Center Online - Sometimes you may need to get into the details of city code (city laws): 

    • The Full and Minor HPZ Review details are found here.  The process and specific factors considered in the review process are covered in extensive detail. If you scroll down to paragraph 7.1, the specific code requirements for each of the five HPZs are covered. 

City of Tucson, City Clerk https://www.tucsonaz.gov/clerks/boards?board=9


Legal Action Reports and Minutes of APHZAB and T-PCHC PRS


City of Tucson Historic Preservation Office - https://www.tucsonaz.gov/historic-preservation


City of Tucson Historic Design Review - https://www.tucsonaz.gov/preservation/city-historic-designations-and-design-review This should be your starting point for your design review application. 


City of Tucson Planning & Development Services - https://www.tucsonaz.gov/pdsd


City of Tucson Building and Zoning Codes - https://www.tucsonaz.gov/pdsd/codes-plans


City of Tucson Property Research Online (PRO) - https://www.tucsonaz.gov/PRO/pdsd  


Infill Incentive District: For a PDF document with an IID map and other information, go to: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/files/pdsd/pdfs/PlanningCommissionInfillIncentiveDistrictSubcommittee/IID_Outline7-22-13_1.pdf 


List of Armory Park Contributing Properties - https://www.tucsonaz.gov/files/preservation/ArmoryParkHRD1996_Amend_3_Inventory.pdf


Map Tucson - https://maps.tucsonaz.gov/maptucson/  View boundaries of historic Preservation Zones and National Register Districts in Tucson  

Pima County Assessor’s Office - http://www.asr.pima.gov/Home/ParcelSearch Images of the Assessor’s Record Map of blocks for the City of Tucson

Arizona Resources 

Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) - www.azstateparks.com/shpo/  

Information about tax incentives for historic properties   

Arizona Memory Project - https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/ -  This site gives you access to a huge amount of information (over 266,000 items) about Arizona's history. By using filters or the search feature, you can focus the information presented. The Browse All button in the upper left or this link, https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/browse, will let you narrow what is shown. This link, https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/browse?datefrom=&dateto=&keywords=&orderby=node_id&order=asc&ntids=W10=&filter=eyJudGlkcyI6WzZdLCJmYWNldCI6eyIyNjYiOlsiVHVjc29uIl19fQ==&a2z=W10=&page=1&viewtype=grid&type=all&digital=0&in=0&access=0&has=W10=&bid=0&meta=W10=&metainc=W10=, is the product of filtering to show images of early Tucson. Even filtered, it found 2679 images. 

Archaeology Southwest - https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org - This organization is focused on preservation of archeological sitters. Here is how they introduce themselves: Archaeology Southwest practices Preservation Archaeology, a holistic, collaborative, and conservation-based approach to exploring and protecting heritage places while honoring their diverse values. We compile archaeological information, make it accessible and understandable, share it with the public and decision-makers, advocate for landscape-scale protection, and steward heritage properties and conservation easements. We are committed to real and ongoing collaboration with Indigenous communities. Our headquarters are located on the Homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the lands of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. Here is the link to an article titled PIONEER FAMILIES OF THE PRESIDIO SAN AGUSTÍN DEL TUCSON,  https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/pdf/presidio_families.pdf. This lengthy document, listing the names and some information about the early settlers, is very relevant to the earliest settlement of Tucson. 

National Resources

Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) - http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/ - Keyword = Tucson 

 

Library of Congress, Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - This link, https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/?all=online&fa=location_state:arizona%7Clocation_county:pima+county, is filtered to show the eight digitized maps of Tucson for 1889 to 1949. 

National Association of Preservation Commissions - https://napcommissions.org  


National Park Service Technical Preservation Services - https://www.nps.gov/tps  Preservation briefs for repair and construction of specific building elements 


National Trust for Historic Preservation - https://savingplaces.org  


Illustrated Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings (Secretary of Interior) - https://www.nps.gov/tps/standards/rehabilitation/rehab/index.htm

 


Artificial Intelligence Tools - All of these tools require caution on the part of the user. The results may be incorrect or require editing to suit the user's purpose. Used correctly, the can be huge time savers. There are now many AI tools. The following seem to have potential to research history subjects in site, text or image form.


Perplexity.ai - This is an amazing tool for research and writing reports of the results. The results often need little more than formatting to match the style of the place they are to be presented. It has been used for some of the articles on Tucson's historic areas. Perplexity is a powerful search tool for text data and can search for images but can't create them.


gemini.google.com/app - Not surprisingly, Gemini seems best suited as a smart search tool. It is more flexible yet focused at internet searches compared to the normal Google search. Detailed search prompts in normal language seems to yield the best results. Your prompt can be restated until you are getting what you want. Gemini offers to create images but the results seem like already existing images.


You.com - You is also a smart search tool. It provides more descriptive text than Gemini and cites the sources so you can go there. You can see what sites are being searched while the search progresses. You also offers to create images but the results seem like already existing images.


More Information


The Arizona Memory Project website is a rich source of information about Arizona history. It has so much

information about the whole state that you may think of it as the large haystack and your neighborhood is the

tiny needle. Nevertheless there is good history to be found here. The Tucson directories are an example (found

on another of the site's help pages). As I learn of more useful project pages, links to them will appear here to

save you from having to find that needle yourself. In the meantime, enjoy browsing and searching their site


 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - You can learn when your house first appeared, though a new map was not published each year. It can narrow the date to a few years. 


 Tucson Directories - These are a great way to find who has lived at your property in past years. 


Useful Contacts - You may need to communicate with someone about your matter of interest. This list may help. 


More information will be added to the these pages over time. 


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