City of Tempe, AZ

YEAR BUILT: 1890

HISTORY
The Elias-Rodriguez House is one of the earliest remaining houses built along East 8^th Street in Tempe, an area platted as the Sotelo Addition in 1890.

The Sotelo Addition is named after Tiburcio and Manuela Sotelo, two Mexican immigrants who made their way to Arizona in the mid-1800s. They originally lived in Tucson, where Tiburcio was a laborer, before moving to Tempe for Tiburcio to work for the Irrigation Canal Company. He also purchased shares of the company, which came with water rights. After some time, he saved enough money to purchase 160 acres of land on the northeast side of Tempe.

Tiburcio died in 1872, leaving Manuela with the land and water rights. Around the same time, Charles T. Hayden started constructing his flour mill. In 1873, he approached Manuela for permission to run water for the mill through her property, which she granted.

Manuela’s daughter, Maria, married local peacekeeper Winchester Miller in 1874. Miller was most likely the one to convince Manuela to apply for formal rights to her land through the Homestead Act of 1862. Her request was granted in 1890.

As Tempe grew with the railroad, Manuela subdivided her land for the new migrants, who were mostly Mexicans from Tucson. This land became known as the Sotelo Addition and would attract a small Hispanic community. The Elias family joined this community in 1890.

Vicente and Ynes Elias purchased Lot 4 of the Sotelo Addition on April 14, 1897. The couple built two one-room adobe houses along a prehistoric Hohokam canal that would later become the Kirkland-McKinney Ditch.

As a result of their proximity to the canal, the Eliases kept a lush garden and yard. According to their daughter, Irene, Ynes was an avid gardener, and the property had olive and fruit trees. Neighbors would gather to help harvest the olives and fruits, which helped create a sense of community for the Hispanic residents of Tempe.

In January 1903, Vicente sold the property to Alice B. Davy of California as loan collateral. The loan was used to remodel and expand the house because the family was growing, and they needed more room. In addition to more rooms, an attic and interior stairs were also added to the house. Vicente received the deed back the following month 1903. The house was expanded and renovated again in 1912. During this renovation, the roof and parapets were replaced, and the front porch veranda was added.

In April 1912, Vicente moved to Buckeye to find wage work on the farms there. Before he left, he deeded the house to Ynes for “$5, love, and affection.” Ynes, seeing an opportunity to profit from Tempe’s railroad business, converted the second building into a pool hall and store in 1916. In 1925, she applied for a homestead claim for the family’s property and the request was granted in December of the same year.

In 1927, Irene married Ray Rodriguez, a member of another Tempe settler family. The couple moved to California where they resided for a few years before returning to live in the house with Ynes. Ray and Irene had several children, many of whom served in the US armed forces and continued to be reside in Tempe.

The house continued to be maintained and went through minor improvements over the succeeding decades. Plumbing and electricity were added to the house, and the doors and windows were replaced. The yard continued to be green and lush until the 1960s, when the Sotelo and Elias families lost their personal water rights, and the above-ground irrigation ditch was converted to underground pipes.

Irene Elias died in 1987, and the property fell into disrepair. It suffered extensive damage, including an exploded water heater and severe, nonrepairable rainstorm damage. In 1991, the City of Tempe purchased the property. The neighboring building, known as “Grandma’s House,” was torn down and replaced with a new architecturally similar one.

The Elias-Rodriguez House is the last remaining historic building from the Sotelo Addition.

The property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on May 7, 1984.

ARCHITECTURE
The Elias-Rodriguez House is a small, one-story adobe building in the Territorial style, influenced by Mexican and Sonoran Desert pueblos. The adobe bricks have been covered with stucco. The porch is reminiscent of Mexican haciendas, and the wood support are hand-planed. While originally one room, more rooms were added over time. The original carport was converted into a bedroom.

While the roof was initially a vigas style covered with flat dirt, during the 1912 renovation it was replaced with a steeply-pitched, hipped roof with rolled roofing. Sometime after the house’s initial modifications in the early 1900s, the windows were replaced with large, multi-paned steel casement windows, and a bay window was added on the east side.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Janus Associates. “Inventory Number 205.” In Tempe Historic Property Survey. 1983.

Hansen, Eric M. “Elias-Rodriguez House Wins ASLA Professional Design Award.” City of Tempe. November 2, 2001.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Nomination - Updated. Elias-Rodriguez House. 2014.