Tempe Historic Property Survey

The house at 24-26 W. 9th Street is significant as the home of Dudley Windes, a Tempe attorney who became a Superior Court Judge of Maricopa County. The house is also a representative example of bungalow styling and retains many of its original qualities and features. Windes practiced law in Tempe from 1915 to 1923, and served briefly as an American Vice Consul in Madrid, Spain, during World War I. He was a Superior Court Judge from 1923 to 1931, and Special Assistant Attorney General from 1935 to 1937. Windes built the house in 1919 and lived there until 1923. As Superior Court Judges were required to live at the county seat, Windes moved to Phoenix where he continued to practice law after 1937. After four years as a rental property, Mrs. Ellen Bell purchased the house in 1927 and lived in it for many years. Mrs. Bell was an early Tempe settler, having arrived in 1883. As a widow, she supported her family of eight children by managing a large dairy farm and keeping boarders.

The Windes/Bell House is a single-story frame house covered with clapboard siding. A central porch with gable is perpendicular to the low-pitched house roof and projects beyond the roof overhangs. Overhangs on the main facade and the porch roof are supported by square wood posts set on square concrete and stucco piers. Bungalow stylistic features include open eaves, brackets under the porch gable and roof overhangs, and vertical ventilator louvers on the porch gable vent. Characteristic of bungalow styling, windows on the east and west ends of the main facade are paired and double hung, while the central window grouping consists of a single double-hung window with sidelights. All windows are wood-framed. The wide, low concrete porch is a single step up and leads to an offset single-door entry.

Newspaper Citations (PDF file)

Chain of Title Search, pre-1983 (PDF file)

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