Tempe Historic Property Survey

The Niels Petersen House is significant as the oldest Queen Anne style brick residence in the Salt River Valley. It is also important for its association with Niels Petersen, a Danish immigrant and prominent local farmer and entrepreneur. It is also significant for its design by James Creighton a well-known Arizona architect. The house was built in 1892 by Niels Petersen, a Danish immigrant who came to Tempe in 1871. He developed a ranch with substantial land holdings, was president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, co-founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a representative at the 18th Territorial Legislature. Creighton, the architect, worked for many years in Arizona, and among his extant works are the Pinal County Courthouse, Old Main at the University of Arizona, and the Tempe Hardware Building on Mill Avenue in Tempe. Petersen’s entrepreneurial success, based largely on agriculture, is representative of a recurring theme in the growth of the community of Tempe. When he died in 1923, Petersen was buried in the Double Butte Cemetery, a site he had donated to the Town of Tempe. He was later reburied on the Petersen House property. When his wife, Susanna, died in 1927, her nephew, Rev. Edwin Decker, inherited the house and property. He made modifications to the house in 1930, and lived there until his death in 1948. In 1968, the house was turned over to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, who cared for it until it was donated to the City of Tempe in 1979. The Niels Petersen House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The exterior of the house was stabilized and restored in 1982 with a grant from the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office. The interior was restored in 1989, and in that year, the project received the Governor's Award for Historic Preservation. The Petersen House is now operated as an historic house museum by the Tempe Historical Museum.

The Niels Petersen House is a Queen Anne style brick residence with a steep multigabled roof, decorative shingles, balconies, dormers and chimneys. The asymmetrical structure has a one-story kitchen wing on the west, and a bungalow-style porch on the south and east, which replaced a wood Victorian porch in 1930. The two-story frame addition on the north was also added in 1930, and houses a study on the ground level and a bathroom on the second floor. The interior is comprised of thirteen rooms, with a foyer, study, parlor, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, enclosed breezeway and kitchen downstairs; three bedrooms, a bathroom and sitting room upstairs. Original features included three stained glass windows, brass door hardware, doors, windows, moldings, balustrade posts, and some wallpaper.

For more information about the history and use of the house, see the Petersen House Files.

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