I began writing articles about the various historic districts in Phoenix about a year ago. The more I research and write, the more facinated I get. Today's post is on the Willo historic district; Its character and make-up are a real lesson in Phoenix history.
Let’s begin our story with location, make up and size of Willo. Unlike most Phoenix historic districts, Willo is comprised of many subdivisions. Most writers say there are 22 whereas my research suggests 23- 24 in all. Its rough geographic boundaries are Thomas Ave to the North, McDowell to the south, 1st Avenue to the east and 7th street to the west.
Homes in the area have a wide range of architectural styles. This comes as no surprise since homes were designed and built here over a long period of time. Maricopa County records indicate home building began in 1905 and continued into the 1950’s with a few newer builds here and there. As you venture through the area you’ll find examples of many styles including:
Home building began in the southern parts of Willo during the early 1900's and the boom of revival style homes. The 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago and the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 in San Diego advanced the notion that revival style architecture was a good thing. The Chicago Fair is likely why we see so many Tudors revivals while the San Diego exposition is credited with the explosion of Spanish Colonial style homes and its cousins such as Spanish Mission and Monterey Revival designs.
The various revival style homes have a sence of playfulness about them. This matches the era, 1890-1928, that included the Roaring 20's, dawn of air travel, a boom stock market and so much more.
Most home building came to a halt when the Great Depression hit. Many of the newer subdivisions fell into financial ruin and land-lots were left unbuilt while people went into survival mode. Does this strike you as similar to Phoenix today as we struggle to emerge from the housing boom and bust of 2003-2010? (I think this will be a topic of a future post.)
Building began again as the Federal Housing Authority brought hope and access to financing, they also brought new construction standards to the table. The FHA liked building projects that were mass produced and lower priced such as ranch, stripped down French Provincial and Spanish/Monterey style homes. This is evidence in subdivisions such as Lou Mar and Loma Vista where such styles are more prevalent.
I invite you to explore the Willo district and take a step back into our City and Country’s history. Take notice of the difference between the home styles south of Encanto and those to the north west where FHA and post WWII buying trends had a significant influence on style and construction techniques.
For more information about the various Phoenix historic districts, please visit our main site: www.UrbanTeamAZ.com.
Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777
CLICK HERE TO GET TICKETS AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE ANNUAL WILLOW HISTORIC TOUR AND FAIR.
