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: 1914

HISTORY
The Carns-Buck House, built by D. A. Carns, was one of the first houses constructed in the Goodwin Homes Addition, which opened in May 1914.

D. A. Carns was a farmer near Scottsdale and was Tempe’s road overseer in the 1920s. He lived in the house until 1917 but kept it as a rental property until Dwight G. Buck bought the house in 1922.

Buck moved from Kansas to Arizona in 1891. His main business was hauling rock and gravel—which the local newspaper credited to having majorly contributed to the paving of Tempe’s streets and roads—but he also owned a livery and feed stable. He served on the Tempe Town Council in the 1910s.

ARCHITECTURE
The Carns-Buck House is a two-story, square frame house. The house is clad in horizontal clapboard siding. The pyramidal roof is covered in asphalt sheeting and has open eaves.

There used to be a porch with a hipped roof, but it was enclosed with clapboard siding soon after the house was built. The former porch spanned the front of the house’s façade and was reached by two concrete steps. A small porch also used to exist at the rear of the house but was enclosed soon after the house was completed.

The first-story windows are all rectangular in shape, discretely placed, and double-hung. The second-story windows are all the same size and are hung in pairs or triplets to create a band around the house. Windows on both the first and second stories have wood frames.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Janus Associates. “Inventory Number 131.” In Tempe Historic Property Survey. 1983.

Ryden Architects. “Survey Site No T-131.” In City of Tempe Multiple Resource Area Update: Final Report, Volume Two: Inventory Forms. 1997.

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