Tempe Historic Property Survey

This house was built for Ira Frankenberg in 1913 and was declared to be on of the Salt River Valley's model homes, built by local concrete block promoters and contractors J. W. Woolf and M. H. Meyer. Ira Frankenberg had arrived in Tempe in 1888 with his parents, Ernst and Eulalia Frankenberg, and helped manage the family farm after his father's death in 1899. Ira Frankenberg continued as a farmer and landholder until his death in 1936. The house was occupied by the Donald R. Van Petten family from about 1921 to 1929. Van Petten moved to Arizona in 1918. He ranched and taught history and political science at Arizona State College/Arizona State University from 1942 to 1961. He served in the House of Representatives of the Arizona Legislature from 1928 to 1930. During his faculty years, he wrote several editions of a text on Arizona government, used extensively in schools throughout the state. Van Petten died in 1975. The house was bought by the Peter Hansen family in 1946, and was owned by the family until its demolition in 1982.

The Ira Frankenberg House was square in plan, with a truncated pyramidal roof, and was constructed of rusticated concrete block, with a bellcast shingled roof. The house featured both hipped roof and gabled dormers covered with shingles and two sideslope brick chimneys. The flat-roofed front porch extended the length of the front façade and was supported by wood columns. Individually-placed windows had concrete lintels. Rear windows were in triplets and were wood framed. The house was demolished in 1982.

Go to Tempe Historic Property Survey