Tempe Historic Property Survey

This house was built as a rental property by F. V. Cummins, a carpenter, around 1914. Cummins had come to Arizona at the turn of the century. For more than twenty years, he built houses in Tempe for rental purposes, and was frequently cited by the local newspaper for easing the housing shortage Tempe experienced during the 1920s. Cummins died in Tempe in 1934. This duplex was a good example of the modest frame rental properties built during this time period.

The duplex was a single-story frame bungalow with medium-pitched roof covered with crimped-seam metal. The house was clad in horizontal clapboard siding. An offset front porch was a later addition and also had a medium-pitched roof with similar covering. Eaves were open. Brackets were under the gable eaves and open ventilators broke the gable ends. A frieze was below the gable. The porch roof was supported by tapering square pillars with recessed panels set on square concrete piers. Low concrete walls with recessed panels, concrete caps, and drain vents framed the front of the porch. The porch was open on the north end and extended as a platform to the north corner of the house. The concrete porch was reached by two steps at the front and north ends. The entry to each side of the duplex was a single-leaf door. A single large double-hung window was located beside each entry. Other windows were rectangular, double-hung, and individually-placed. All windows were wood framed. Two chimneys broke the roof ridgeline at the front and rear of the house. Single-leaf entries on the north and south sides of the house were hooded. Small enclosures beside each side entry had been added, probably for bathrooms. The rear porch was enclosed and had casement windows. The house was demolished in the 1980s.

Go to Tempe Historic Property Survey