YEAR BUILT: 1915

HISTORY

The D. J. Frankenberg House originally belonged to the Frankenberg family, one of Tempe’s earliest ranching families, which has lived in the area since at least 1888. In 1915, Don Juan “D. J.” Frankenberg built the D. J. Frankenberg House for the family on their homestead. In the same year, the homestead was chosen to test the new Pima Long Staple Cotton—a special Egyptian cotton hybrid—as part of a program with the Government Experimental Farm (USDA) in Sacaton, Arizona.

The development of this new type of cotton was a result of increased demand for domestic cotton during World War II. In 1914, the Salt River Cotton Growers Association and several Tempe businessmen joined together to establish Tempe’s first cotton gin. During the harvest season, this gin operated non-stop and produced twenty-five, 500-pound bales of cotton a day.

Most of the land used for cotton farming was located south of the Salt River, as the soil was more alkaline, making it more suitable for cotton plants. This location also placed the cotton farmers closer to Tempe, which was considered the commercial center for the crop in Arizona. The increase in cotton growing required precise quality control and resulted in a change in irrigation practices that had a long-lasting impact on the area.

At its peak in 1919, cotton was being sold at $1.25 a pound. As a result of its high yield and high price, many farmers and ranchers switched to exclusively growing cotton. This meant that many other farming operations in the Valley, from alfalfa to dairy, stopped and that land was converted for the sole purpose of cotton farming.

Between 1912 and 1920, an additional 230,000 acres of Salt River Valley land were leveled to make way for cotton crops. However, even at its peak in 1919, the total land used for growing cotton only reached 142,325. In the following year, 1920, the cotton market crashed.

With the end of World War I in 1918, supply lines, including ones for cotton, started returning to normal. This return to normalcy not only included regaining access to offshore cotton sources, but also an end to the government’s domestic cotton contracts. As a result, the demand for cotton produced in the Valley dropped and the irrigated acreage was converted to be used for alfalfa and other crops. The additional land leveled for cotton wasn’t converted to farmland but would later be used in suburban development after World War II.

Although the Frankenberg family survived the cotton crash in 1920, the Great Depression resulted in a foreclosure on their land in 1932. The Frankenbergs moved to Phoenix in the same year.  D. J. died there in 1952. While alive and still living in Tempe, D. J. ran Tempe Union High School and served as a Tempe Board of Education trustee during the 1920s.

Currently, the D.J. Frankenberg House is owned by the Church of Epiphany in Tempe. The Church had owned the house since at least 1963; it served as the building for their Epiphany Day School from September 1963 until its closure in May 1968. Now the house is a part of the Church’s main campus and serves as its central office building.

In 2005, the D. J. Frankenberg House was designated as a Tempe Historic Property. Through the Arizona State Parks Department’s Heritage Fund Grant program, the house’s roof was repaired and restored. At the same time the HVAC system (not an original feature) was upgraded.

In 2008, the D. J. Frankenberg House was placed in the National Register of Historic Places. The church has continued to restore and maintain the house, raising money through a series of fundraisers and hiring a company specializing in historic restoration to perform the work.

ARCHITECTURE

The D. J. Frankenberg House is one of the best remaining examples of a Transitional Western Colonial Box style house with a Craftsman interior in Tempe. It is a single-story construction of pressed yellow brick with an irregular plan.

The roof consists of three intersecting, red-tile hipped roofs and three hipped roof ventilator dormers. The front porch is a combination of Western Colonial Box format and Craftsman Bungalow detailing. These styles are also present in the four large, square, brick pillars that support the roof over the recessed porch.

Other Western Colonial Box-style elements include the brick exterior chimney and the wood-frame, double-hung windows with brick sills.  The original solar water heating panels are still present on the south roof of the sleeping porch.

The Craftsmen Bungalow interior, made by local cabinetmakers Tomas W. and Dwight Nichols, remains mostly unaltered. Original features include tapering square wood pillars supported by bookcases in the front entry and built-in wood cabinets in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. The house also retains its original hardwood flooring, doors, and hardware.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Church of Epiphany “The Farmhouse.” Archived on February 19, 2025, at https://web.archive.org/web/20250219231441/https://www.epiphanytempe.org/about/the-farmhouse/.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination. D.J. Frankenberg House. February 1980.

National Register of Historic Places Nomination. D.J. Frankenberg House. February 2007.

Nucci, Joe. D.J. Frankenberg House Historic Designation. Staff Report. April 7, 2005.