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.

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.

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.