This kitchen photo appeared in a Star article about the April 1990 Tour
Roskruge House (Star photo)
Velasco House (Star photo)
Browsing through the Arizona Daily Star archives trying to learn more of the early history of Armory Park I found the following information about home tours.
The oldest tour I found was in May of 1975. The Star Article had this to say, “Armory Park began its flourishing career in the 1880s with the arrival of the railroad. It is “a showplace” for the evolution of architect styles of that era, according to Robert Giebner University of Arizona associate professor of architecture.”
ARMORY PARK HOME TOUR Sunday May 6th, Noon to 5
5.00 per couple, 3.00 per person. Self guided tour
begins on 15th St., between 3rd & 4th Avenue
(1979 advertisement)
The above appeared as a personal classified ad in the 5 May 1979 Star. You can see that prices have gone up slightly since then. The means for advertising our tour have become more sophisticated over the years. Electronic media and more comprehensive news articles spread the word of our tour across Tucson.
The 1981 tour featured 26 homes on this seventh home tour though the interiors of only ten of them were open:
The Galloway House, 630 S. Third Ave. This house was built in 1904 and is an interpretation of the Queen Anne style. Past owners of the home have kept it in its
original form, including the Victorian woodwork and fireplaces.
The Brockman House, 420 E. 18th St. Built in 1902, this home is of Anglo-Territorial style and has high ceilings, French doors, and a recently restored narrow front porch.
The Evans House, 520 S. Fourth Ave. Built in 1901, this is a Victorian-style house constructed of double brick. It also has a California bungalow-style porch, probably added in the 1920s.
The Contzen House, 611 S. Fifth Ave. An Anglo- Territorial-style house built around 1900, this home still has its original wood shingle roof. The front windowsills are of volcanic breccia, probably gathered in the Tucson Mountains.
The Winsor House, 422 S. Fifth Ave. Built in 1902, this stucco-on-brick house was designed by early Tucson architect Henry Trost. Both the inside and outside of the house have been extensively restored.
The Lowry House, 436 S. Fifth Ave. This is a Victorian-style house built in 1901. The front porch was remodeled in the bungalow style sometime after it was originally constructed.
The Whitaker House, 509 S. Sixth Ave. Built in 1902, this is a Queen Anne house that has been completely restored.
The Immaculate Heart Academy, 35 E. 15th St. The first Catholic school in Tucson, this building was constructed in 1886 and was also used as a convent. Stone from the “A” Mountain quarry makes up the lower floor.
The Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Built as a cultural center in 1920, this two-story Spanish Colonial Revival building has 20,000 square feet that includes a theater and dance studios.
The Debrig House, 245 S. Fourth Ave. This house was built in the early 1870s as two Sonoran-style adobe structures. The original building has a two-room living area and a detached kitchen that were later joined by a hallway.
In 1982, the Star said this about our neighborhood, “Armory Park is one of Tucson’s oldest neighborhoods and is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites and Places. The area was home to many well-to-do railroad employees and their families during the late 1800s. Many of the homes they built were in the Anglo-Territorial Style, characterized by wide, deep verandas and high pyramidal roofs.”
From 1981 through 1986 there were home tours every year, In some years there were two tours with one of them to raise funds for some special cause.
About the featured home for the October 2000 tour, the star had this to say, “Territorial surveyor George J. Roskruge built the Queen Anne cottage in 1895. Its architect, James Miller Creighton, designed Old Main on the University of Arizona campus. Artist Georgia O’Keeffe used to paint in a studio next door.” The article continued with a photo and comments on the excellent woodworking detail on the cottage. This house was also a featured property in the “armory park:74 ff” study which led to Armory Park becoming a federally recognized historic neighborhood.
In March of 2000, the Star said this: the “…building is known as the Velasco House after a former owner, Carlos Velasco, who ran a print shop there, publishing Tucson’s first Spanish-language newspaper, El Fronterizo. The 1850s building predates Armory Park, the historic neighborhood it’s part of, and even the Gadsden Purchase….” The 1974 study also included this house.
Home tours are a long time and important feature of our neighborhood. Not only do the tours raise money for worthwhile causes, they also introduce other Tucsonans to our special community. Donna and I were introduced to AP by the 2015 tour.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps
Sanborn maps are a great source of the architectural history of a city. Not only can you learn when a structure first appeared in a range of years, you can also see if the structure changed is size or construction materials. If you are not already familiar with interpreting the maps, you should go to this site to learn about them: https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/about-this-collection/
Once you are familiar with the color coding and other features of the maps, you can search the maps themselves: https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps/?fa=location:arizona%7Clocation:tucson
Neighbors' History Comments
I found these notes buried in the “Old Articles” section of the APNA website (ArmoryParkTucson.org) in a November 2014 article. They deserve to be republished for those of us trying to learn more about our community. Thanks to our neighbors for their contributions.
Railroad executives built homes, many of which are on each side of Railroad Street, and were built in the style of the East (Queen Anne, brick) to remind them of home, I suppose. They typically have two front doors, one for the family and the other for an office or for other executives who visited. My house has a dirt basement opening from the outside with ledges built in for the railroad workers to sleep where they would be cooler, if not very comfortable. –Nancy Myers
Our neighborhood developed and grew as a result of the railroad so there should be more of its history reflected in any art project depicting Armory Park. The Queen Anne style homes, Victorians, etc. were made possible because red brick and lumber was more plentiful now that the railroad came through here (1880). Folks could actually build their home with a peaked roof, wrap around porch and materials other than adobe. In fact some of the existing adobe structures had porches added just to blend into the “new” style of home sprouting up in the area. My own family worked for the Southern Pacific railroad for three generations starting with my grandfather (laborer) back in the early 1920s until retirement in the late 1940s, then my dad (mechanic/welder) from the late 1930s until he passed away in 1972. One of my cousins retired about ten years ago after a very successful run of about 30 plus years in sales for now the Union Pacific. Finding a home in Armory Park during housing shortages was quite the achievement and the motivations were: 1. proximity to work-the railroad yard on 22nd street and cherry/aviation was located at Toole as was the Round House (back in the day of steam engines and the tower previously located in what is now Armory Park del Sol. PFE (Pacific Fruit Express) also had a significant presence in the neighborhood. 2. Good school nearby–Safford still stands despite a shaky reputation in the 1950s and 1960s–much improved since I attended during that era. 3. A Catholic Church –All Saints-now a condemned building on the southwest corner of 14th Street and 6th Ave. Great place to grow up, to live, to retire, to enjoy all of Tucson’s vibrant offerings in art, history, nearby museums and educational institutions, spiritual development and continuing the welcoming spirit of the southwest. Oh, and the plethora of downtown restaurants, a new grocery store, and for the most part, good, solid decent neighbors. Now, bring on the retailers that were part of the history! -Julieta
The focus of Armory Park was, indeed, the SPRR after its arrival in 1880. The maintenance yard was located where AP del Sol now is. Homes of managers, on the east side of 3rd Ave., were torn down when the yard was moved eastward as downtown grew, so SP didn’t have to pay the high taxes on them. Lower level staff & laborers lived in many of the small houses along the alleys (now dedicated avenues) & streets. Many of the larger avenue houses (& even some smaller houses, like mine) have a second front (or other) door that led to a single room that was rented out to temporary/transient RR laborers. There are also what used to be rooming houses for these workers. –Gloria Fenner
Annie Laos and Gerri Braummeir (sp), law professor Winton Woods and the 74ff helped save Armory Park. The tree-planters helped bring back the greenery that was disappearing with all of the old turn of the century dying China Berry trees that are not native to the area. Thank you, Gloria for that–I have one of your trees. Barrio Viejo, or Barrio Libre as it was known originally as well as “El Hoyo” had a significant Chinese residential and commercial presence up and down Meyer Street and Convent. El Hoyo was also home to several well-known bootleggers and bath-tub gin makers during prohibition–you know the type that the local sheriff would warn ahead of a raid whenever the feds were in town. Armory Park had a significant presence of Chinese grocers and markets, many that survived well into the 1960s. –Julieta Gonzalez
Then there are the Gandy Dancers, a slang term used for early railroad workers (usually Negroes) who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines. Jeff Bailey knows more about this, I believe one his houses on 3rd was a boarding house for these men. They used a special tool to align the rails, and developed graceful movements (dances) and folk songs unique to their occupation. –Kathleen Koopman
Before our neighborhood had trains, and beautiful Queen Anne homes with front porches, it sat as unbuilt land just south of a settlement called Tucson.
Tucson had an Armory that served as a storehouse for guns used by Federal troops to defend Tucson’s walled center from raids by Apache Indians. These guns were stored outside the city’s center in an effort to protect them from being stolen by Tucsonans. Ultimately, this stockpile was moved to Fort Lowell.
Tucson’s Armory was built at the southern edge of the city — at the north end of what would become our neighborhood, Armory Park. The attached image of the original Armory building illustrates the park’s (originally Washington Park) namesake. The building’s suggestive battlements with roofline crenellations were meant to convey the building’s “protective” role.
While firearms and military defense may not easily mesh with our sensibilities today; our neighborhood, was functionally linked to the defense of the city. This aspect of our neighborhood is a key reason Tucson survived and grew to become the city that it is.
It seems to me, this aspect of American history is what makes our neighborhood unique. Iron Horse has the claim to “trains”. And front porches exist in many Tucson neighborhoods. And unfortunately porches offer no architectural connection to Armory Park’s oldest homes — adobes such as mine. I applaud our communal search for an essential and unique icon that evokes “Armory Park”, but suggest the answer is found in our neighborhood’s earliest history, and in its name. –Ken Godat
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