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: 1936 

HISTORY

The Baker/Cedar/Lowenthal House was built in 1942 as part of the Park Tract subdivision, a section of the Maple-Ash Neighborhood.

The Park Tract subdivision was one of Tempe’s earliest “suburban-style” residential subdivisions. It was platted in August 1924 to help ease the City’s housing shortage by providing comfortable and modern family housing. As a result, it appealed to many of Tempe’s prominent families who purchased lots in the subdivision and had their houses built there. Peak construction in Park Tract occurred from 1928 to 1930. A second wave of construction occurred in the late 1930s, and the neighborhood was completely built up shortly after World War II.

While the Park Tract subdivision was established in 1924, many of the houses are infills—houses built after initial development—from the 1940s, after the economy recovered from the Great Depression. The Baker/Cedar/Lowenthal House is an example of one of these infill constructions that took place in Park Tract’s later years. The house was also built in a Period Revival architectural style 20 years after that style had reached peak popularity.

The house was originally owned by William F. Baker, a cotton broker, from 1946 to 1948.


ARCHITECTURE

The Baker/Cedar/Lowenthal House is a rare example of Norman Revival architecture in Tempe. Character-defining elements of the Norman Revival style can be seen in the house’s high-pitched, hipped roof and casement windows.

The house is one-story with an L-shaped plan. The walls are brick covered in stucco and sit on a crawlspace foundation. The roof is high-pitched and hipped with exposed rafters and asbestos shingles. An intersecting front-gabled roof projects from the south side. An awning overhands the single-leaf entry on the west side that is accessible via concrete steps. The windows are a wood casement type with varying orthogonal and diagonal muntins.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

“T-407 (1029 Maple).” City of Tempe Historic Preservation Office.

Ryden Architects. “Survey Site No T-407.” In City of Tempe Multiple Resource Area Update: Final Report, Volume Two: Inventory Forms. 1997.

Tempe History Museum “William F. Baker.” Accessed on January 25, 2025. https://emuseum.tempe.gov/people/13677/william-f-baker.

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