YEAR BUILT: 1871-1873

HISTORY
The C. T. Hayden House – formerly known as Monti’s La Casa Vieja – is the oldest continuously occupied structure in Arizona’s Salt River Valley. The house was originally built between 1871 and 1873 as a typical Sonoran row house, but additions and changes converted it into an adobe hacienda that served as a boarding house and then as a restaurant.

Completed in 1873, the house was built by Charles Trumbull Hayden and his Mexican workers for Hayden’s family. The Hayden family occupied the house until 1889 and then the house was used as a boarding house for 35 years.

Charles Trumbull Hayden was born on April 4, 1825, in Hartford County, Connecticut. In his youth he moved to Independence, Missouri, and by 1848 he was running freight wagons on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1858 he moved to Tucson and started his own freight business that provided supplies to army posts, military camps, and towns throughout the territory. In the same year, he was also appointed as a federal judge in the Tucson district, a title he held for the rest of his life.

In 1866, Hayden went on a business trip to Florence and Prescott. When he reached the Salt River, the water was too high to cross with wagons, and he was forced to camp on the south side of the river for two days. During this time, he reputedly climbed to the top of the nearest butte – now known as Hayden’s Butte or Tempe Butte – and looked out over the Salt River Valley where he noted that the area had potential for development.

Four years later, in 1870, Hayden and four associates filed a claim to 10,000 inches of water from the Salt River and formed the Hayden Milling and Farm Ditch Company. Before returning to Tucson, Hayden directed an employee to build a store and ferry along the south side of the river. In 1872, Hayden ordered a three-story flour mill to be built along with a more permanent structure for the store and the beginnings of his family home.

Hayden also played a role in Tempe becoming home to the Territorial Normal School. A promoter of education, in 1885, Hayden encouraged the Territorial Legislature to choose Tempe for the school’s location. He also assisted with raising money to acquire and donate property to the school. Additionally, he was involved in the community as director of the Tempe Irrigating Canal Company, member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (1880-1882), trustee of Tempe School District No. 3 (1884), and president of the Territorial Normal School Board of Education (1885-1888).

By 1920, 20 years after his death, the house had deteriorated and Hayden’s daughters, Sallie and Mary, made plans to renovate the house and revert it back to its original adobe design. In 1924, the two women hired Phoenix architect Robert T. Evans to restore the house. Evans removed the upper story addition and restored the plastered adobe walls. After the work was complete, the sisters opened a tea house and restaurant known as La Casa Vieja, or “the old house.”

In 1956, Monti’s La Casa Vieja steakhouse opened in the building. Monti’s was known for its steaks, ribs, chops, and Roman bread. The restaurant closed on November 7, 2014, after nearly 60 years of business due to rising expenses. The property was sold to a partnership of California- and Colorado- based real estate firms. Under a deal with the City of Tempe, the developers restored the building and sold it to the City for $10. Today known as the C. T. Hayden House (aka, Hayden House), it currently serves as the home of the Downtown Tempe Authority.

ARCHITECTURE
The C. T. Hayden house was originally built as a single-story row house constructed with adobe. It was built in an L-shaped plan with 13 rooms in a traditional Mexican Sonoran format. It originally extended 80 feet north-south on Mill Avenue and 12 feet east-west along what is now Rio Salado Parkway

Four of the existing rooms were built in 1873, just north of where Hayden’s store used to be. By the time Hayden married in 1873, two more rooms were added on and attached to the west side of the north room. One of these rooms was a zaguan, a traditional Spanish and Latin American entrance, that served as the main entry to the house.

Three more rooms were built on to the west side in 1876. At this time a second story made of adobe was also built over the zaguan and its two flanking rooms. The courtyard between Hayden’s home and store was enclosed on the west side by a high wall. Three more rooms were built west of the courtyard wall and are speculated to have housed domestic helpers.

After the Hayden family vacated the house in 1889, additional changes were made. These changes included the removal of the westernmost adobe room and the addition of a frame second-story above the remaining west wing.

Formal restoration of the house occurred in 1924. This restoration removed all second-story rooms, demolished 15 feet of the west wing, and constructed a new adobe end wall with a curvilinear parapet. Additional restoration in the 2010s removed the stucco and replaced hundreds of damaged adobe bricks.

The interior of the house has also been restored to its 1924 appearance. The initial configuration was restored and Mission style-elements such as plain board wainscoting and wrought iron light fixtures were returned.  A contemporary post and beam structural system have also been added to most rooms to support the ceiling. The courtyard has also been enclosed and consists of two rooms with various wall finishings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Charles Trumbull Hayden House.” Historic American Building Survey. Library of Congress. 2016.

Edelen, Amy. “Tempe’s Iconic Monti’s La Casa Vieja Closing Nov. 17.” AZCentral, November 4, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20250205195306/https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2014/11/03/tempes-iconic-montis-la-casa-vieja-closing-nov/18436845/.

“Hayden House Rehabilitation.” City of Tempe. https://www.tempe.gov/government/community-development/planning/historic-preservation/hayden-house#ad-image-0.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination. [No date]. C. T. Hayden House. 1982.

Staff Summary Report to Mayor and City Council. City of Tempe. January 20, 2000.