SUMMARY

The 1919 B. H. Scudder Rental House is significant as the earliest known remaining pre-fabricated house built in Tempe during the period when such housing first became popular, between 1915 and 1925.

A.  HISTORIC EVENTS

The house was probably built by B. H. Scudder, a teacher at the Tempe Normal School, as the Tempe News reports in 1918 that he was building three of these houses.  Pre-fabricated housing was at that time considered an appropriate answer to the shortage of rental homes Tempe was experiencing. This small cottage was probably one of many built by Scudder and other investors in Tempe. Although it is not known whether Scudder performed the actual construction, he was known to have speculated in housing and property, building many small houses for rental purposes between 1900 and 1930. By 1918, pre-fabricated houses were available through local lumber companies, and were also being packaged in Phoenix. During most of its history the house has been, and still is, a rental property.

C:  ARCHITECTURE

The Scudder Rental House is a single-story rectangular house of pre-fabricated construction and is roofed with rolled asphalt roofing.  There have been very few changes made to the house since it was built about 1919.  The walls of the house are approximately three inches thick.  The house has a low-pitched roof with vertical louvered ventilators in the gable ends.  The present porch replaced an earlier full-length porch. The low-pitched roof over the central porch has a framed, rather than solid, gable. Two square wood posts support the roof and rest on the porch floor. The porch is reached by two concrete steps. The central entry is a single-leaf door; a casement window is placed on each side of the door. Other casement windows surround the house at individual locations. A rear porch is screened. The house appears to be in deteriorating condition.

SOURCES

Tempe History Museum Historic Property Survey: HPS-231 B. H. Scudder Rental/Prefab

http://www.tempe.gov/museum/Tempe_history/properties/hps231.htm

Tempe History Museum Excerpts about: HPS-231 - B. H. Scudder Rental/Prefab

http://www.tempe.gov/museum/Tempe_history/properties/cite231.htm

National Register Nomination, 1984