BACKGROUND + STATUS
The Tempe Historic Preservation Commission, directed an
application be processed for designation of the Eisendrath House to the
Tempe Historic Property Register on February 7, 2002. This direction was in
response to the City’s anticipated acquisition of this prominent nine-plus
acre parcel of intact Sonoran desert adjacent to Tempe’s Papago Park.
The Eisendrath House is identified in the Tempe
Multiple Resource Area Update (Ryden 1997) as survey site number 103 and has
been determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic
Places.
HISTORY + CONTEXT
Designed and built by well-known Phoenix architect and
contractor Robert T. Evans in 1930, the 5,250 square foot Eisendrath House is
the largest remaining and best-preserved Pueblo Revival style structure in the
Tempe area.
The Eisendrath House was built as the winter residence
of Rose Eisendrath, widow of the wealthy Chicago glove manufacturer, Joseph N.
Eisendrath. The Eisendrath House survives as an example of a seasonal
residence typical of the first wave of wealthy winter visitors vacationing in
the Salt River Valley. From the 1920s this phenomenon constituted a significant
aspect of valley tourism and foretold of an incipient Phoenix and Chicago
economic association.
After Mrs. Eisendrath's death in 1936, the house passed
through several owners and continued to be used as a retreat for the wealthy.
This residence represents an outstanding example of the Pueblo Revival style.
ARCHITECTURE
The Eisendrath House, constructed in 1930, is a significant
work of noted Arizona architect Robert T. Evans. The building is an important
example of Evans’ skill and mastery of adobe architecture. The construction of
the Eisendrath House, and of other buildings designed by Evans, helped inspire a
revival of adobe architecture in the Salt River Valley from the mid-twenties to
the start of World War II.
The two-story structure represents a masterwork of traditional building
materials executed in high style. While maintaining the inherent environmental
appropriateness of adobe, this elegant Pueblo Revival home renders traditional
materials in a refined design constructed with a degree of skill and
sophistication noticeably above what is normally encountered in vernacular adobe
architecture.
VERNACULAR LANDSCAPE
The site provides a significant visual and historic framework
for the Eisendrath House, including two distinct landscape typologies.
The "natural landscape" constitutes the majority of the nine-plus acre
site, and includes a native Sonoran plant palette characteristic of Papago Park.
Here the most common species include saguaro [Saguaro gigantea], creosote
[Larrea tridentata], prickly pear [Opuntia various species], and
Velvet mesquite [Prosopis veluntia].
The "cultivated landscape" includes areas
immediately surrounding the house and garage. These areas were planted to
enhance aesthetic quality and to provide shade for the environs adjacent to the
house. With a microclimate tempered by landscaping, the patios, balconies and
courtyards strengthened the connection of the the Eisendrath House to the
site and enhanced comfort and livability. An historic fruit tree orchard had
been planted on site.
SIGNIFICANCE
The subject property meets the following criteria for
designation, as found in section 14A-4 (a) of the Tempe City Code.
(1) It meets the criteria for listing on the Arizona or national register of
historic places;
(2) It is found to be of exceptional significance and expresses a distinctive
character, resulting from:
a. A significant portion of it is at least fifty (50) years old; is
reflective of the city's cultural, social, political or economic past; and is
associated with a person or event significant in local, state or national
history; and
b. It represents an established and familiar visual feature of an area of the
city,
due to a prominent location or singular physical feature.
