Tempe Directory of Historic Buildings 

Tempe has more than 200 historic buildings. Enjoy this searchable directory of information and photos.  For more information on any of these properties or to learn how your property can be listed, please contact Tempe Historic Preservation Officer Zachary Lechner at Zachary_Lechner@tempe.gov.

Many of the properties on the Tempe Historic Register, the National Register of Historic Places, or the list of Historic Eligible properties are privately owned and not open to the public. Please respect the privacy of those who may be living in these houses. 

Historic Eligible is a formal classification of parcels which contain buildings, structures, or sites which meet the criteria for designation as a Tempe Historic Property, but which have not been formally designated as "Historic." 

How to Use This Directory

You may search this directory by the categories of Tempe Historic Register, National Historic Register and Historic Eligible Properties. Simply click the down arrow on the All Categories box below and select the one you would like to see. All the properties in that category will appear.  

YEAR BUILT: 1883

HISTORY
The Brown/Strong House was built by Samuel Brown in 1883 on land he purchased from the B. J. Johnson Family. Brown settled in Tempe in 1878 and was employed at C. T. Hayden’s blacksmith shop. By 1883, he was operating his own shop with a partner, a man named White, alongside a saloon.

Brown became well known in the community and was elected as a representative of Maricopa County to the Twentieth Territorial Legislature in 1889. He also served as president of the board of trustees for the Tempe Public Schools, served two terms on Tempe City Council, and was selected as president of the Tucson-based Spanish-American Alliance. He left Tempe in 1910 but not before serving terms as mayor and town marshal.

William H. Strong, a resident of the Salt River Valley beginning in 1886, purchased the house from Brown in 1901 and expanded it that spring. While Strong also served on City Council, he was more well known for his business. Strong was a farmer and rancher who built a lucrative hay bailing and shipping business that served farmers throughout the Salt River Valley. Strong lived in the house for twenty years before moving to his ranch in south Tempe.

ARCHITECTURE
The original house was built in 1883 and was a two-room, adobe home that measured 30 feet by 15 feet. A 1901 remodel doubled the size of the house and changed the appearance from adobe to the Neo-Colonial style. This addition was constructed in brick, with additional bricks used to cover the adobe of the original section of the house.

The roof is truncated pyramidal in shape and covered in wood shingles. It is articulated with a ventilator gablet symmetrically located on the north and west facade roof slopes. There is also a central gable on the east (or main) façade.

The main entry sits on the north façade with windows on either side. These windows are in the same locations as openings in the adobe prior to the house’s expansion. The south façade has a central projection with an intersecting gable roof; this area houses the kitchen. There’s another entry on the east façade, beneath the central gable, that’s flanked by two symmetrically placed windows.

A continuous verandah wraps around the perimeter of the house. The verandah has a wood porch deck with balustrades, and the slopped roof is supported with turned wood posts.

There are many carpentry details including jig-cut sunburst ventilators on the gablets, diamond-patten shingles in the gable heads, jig-cut ridge boards, molded cornice trim, and boxed eaves.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Janus Associates. “Inventory Number 119.” In Tempe Historic Property Survey. 1983.

Tempe History Museum “Samuel Brown.” Accessed on January 28, 2025. http://emuseum.temmpe.gov/people/4959/samuel-brown.

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