This is a doable proposition, but you’ll have to make some compromises. The homes available to you are going to be fairly small, for one thing. And they won’t be in the toniest of neighborhoods. And you should plan to expend some elbow grease, both in restoring the home’s historic authenticity and in undoing past botched remodeling efforts.

This is precisely the same process folks went through in the Willo and Story Historic Districts. They just endured their hardships a decade or two earlier.

It’s a sweet thing if you can buy an historic home that has already been restored, planted amidst other restored homes. But if you don’t have that kind of money, you’ll need to take on the pioneer’s burden in another neighborhood.

The downsides of this process are abundantly clear, but the upside can be very attractive: You can be the urban homesteader who brings a neglected historic neighborhood back to popularity — and to acclaim and prosperity, as well.

Perhaps the best place to explore this kind of opportunity is in The Villa Verde Historic District. This little pocket neighborhood, just west of the Arizona State Fair Grounds, was built entirely by Frank B. Wallace, one of the seminal home builders in early Phoenix history. BloodhoundRealty.com represented Wallace’s family home a few years ago.

The most affordable home for sale in Villa Verde right now is 1902 West Granada Road, which is offered at $59,900, but there are several others available for less than $100,000.

And the homes are completely unique, no two alike. The photo you see above is a detailed image of the Clinker Brick used in the construction of 1920 West Granada Road.

Will Villa Verde be as in-demand as the Willo or Story ten years from now? There’s no way to predict that. But if you’re looking for a genuine historic home in Downtown Phoenix, a home with an impeccable historic pedigree, Villa Verde has a lot to offer for the money. If you’d like to explore your opportunities, you can click this link to see detailed photos of some Villa Verde homes. Or, better yet, give us a call at 602-740-7531 and we’ll take a tour of the available homes in person.

But I get to see interesting homes every day, and, because I do, so do you. Here’s an example from The Willo Historic District:

This is 525 West Granada Road, which is currently offered for sale by Tom Bryant of Realty Executives.

The original 1930 structure is a Tudor Revival. It’s built on a foundation, which is why there are steps leading up to the front door. The historic authenticity of the home has been retained and cherished, as you can see in this stylish and yet almost-rustic kitchen:

But the current owners have upgraded the home in ways that will make sense to modern sensibilities. The original bathroom fixtures have been retained and restored:

But a vast new Master Suite has been added at the back of the home, with era-appropriate fixtures:

This is a sweet home — and you should click this link to see for yourself. Very spacious inside, and there’s a livable guest house and a back yard made for entertaining. The Phoenix Historic Districts are suburban retreats right in the heart of everything, but this home is Historic Phoenix at its most urbane: You’re a couple of blocks north of McDowell Road and a short hop to the new Light Rail line on Central Avenue. You can walk to the Heard Museum, to the Art Museum or to the Burton Barr Public Library.

Walkable Phoenix? That must be a typo, right? It’s not. Give us a ring at 602-740-7531 and we’ll show you the Phoenix that was here before everyone else got here. It’ll be just like the home tour, only just for you — and we’ll be touring homes you can make your own.

Here are four great ways you can take in the holiday goodness of the F.Q. Story Historic District Home Tour this weekend:

1. Get thee hence. The tour is on Lynwood Street this year and runs Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.
2. Tour our past F.Q. Story listings. We’ve listed a number of stunning historic homes in Story in the past. Here are a few of them:
   • 909 West Culver Street
   • 1134 West Culver Street
   • 1142 West Willetta Street
   • 1110 West Culver Street
   • 922 West Culver Street
   • 901 West Willetta Street
   • 1102 West Culver Street
3. Tour the F.Q. Story Historic District house-by-house. We love these homes. We have photos of hundreds of F.Q. Story homes. You can wander through the neighborhood from home, taking a peek at everything.
4. Join us at Open House. We don’t have a home listed in Story right now — our listings are selling in 43 days, on average, in 2008. But we have an amazing home for sale just a few blocks east, at 56 West Willetta Street. The home is a 1926 Craftsman, roomy and comfortable, with a heated pool and spa. Even better, you’re just a short walk from the new light rail line, which opens at the end of the month. If you’re coming down to Story for the tour, be sure to drop in and see us. We’ll be there from 11 am to 5 pm.

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If this were any city other than Phoenix, Sunnyslope would already be our Beverly Hills. Instead, this sleeping beauty — with its gorgeous mountain terrain, its dazzling views of downtown, its proximity to freeways, resorts, and the Central Corridor — has been dogged for decades by a lousy reputation that evolved from its days as the original Tent City, back when it was a lowly convalescent camp where the sick and dying came to soak up the sun.

Founded a century ago by an architect who fell for its unique skyline and klieg-lit, hilly terrain, Sunnyslope has been kept in a continuous holding pattern by that crummy rep. It’s maintained its place as a community on the brink of significance, a place of great paradox. Its handsome, hilly landscape — which stretches from 16th Street to 19th Avenue, between Northern and Cactus Roads — has long been populated by drug dealers and hookers, undesirables whose derelict homes rest in the shadow of million-dollar hillside housing. It’s a community that’s often mistaken for a town; one that’s been home to both one of the city’s best-regarded high schools and its highest concentration of crime.

And though developers have been busy building stadiums and relocating college campuses and renovating fallen neighborhoods all over town, the denizens of Sunnyslope have been quietly rebuilding their community, one street at a time. It’s an eccentric, grass-roots effort unlike any other in the Valley, one born of necessity by this overlooked, redheaded stepchild of a borough, and funded by a corporate benefactor — a hospital, no less — that owes its very existence to Sunnyslope.

So wrote Robert Pela last year in Sunnyslopetopia, his New Times article celebrating Sunnyslope.

In the article, he interviews “the mayor of Sunnyslope” Mike Nielsen, interior designer and gallery owner, whose home you can tour this week during the Third Annual Sunnyslope Home Tour.

Here you’ll see a short history of distinguished building in Phoenix: two homes from the 1920′s, including the renovated Bohn Home — an adobe home built as a labor of love during 1928; a Mid-Century Modern ranch; and two modern homes. In addition to Nielsen’s home, the distinctive Young residence will be on display.

Mr. Young, an architect with the Woolsey Studio designed the home for his personal use. He chose Sunnyslope as the site of his home because of its magnificent views right in the city and its tolerance for creative design. No McMansions here!

When? Saturday and Sunday, November 15 & 16
Time? 9 AM to 3:30 PM. Each tour lasts approximately 90 minutes.
Where? Guided tour buses leave every half hour from Sunnyslope Historical Society, 737 E Hatcher Rd
Cost? $35 per person, benefitting the non-profit Sunnyslope Historical Society Museum. Tickets must be purchased in advance by cash or check.

I was in this home with a buyer on Monday. It made me completely nuts, so, with the permission of the listing agent, Jeff Gary of the Principal Residential Group, I went back in yesterday to make a photographic record of the property the way it is right now.

It’s a short sale, which is always sad. You can see the home in happier days in our catalog of homes in F.Q. Story.

But what struck me about the home were the similarities to homes built around the same time — the early 1930s — by seminal Phoenix home-builder Frank B. Wallace. I believe this home was built by Wallace himself, but, if it wasn’t, it was built by people who were paying close attention to the new ideas he was bringing to the marketplace.

I ended up taking about six dozen photos of the home. I’m showing a few here, but you can find the rest at the web site I built for 718 West Moreland Street.

This is definitely a re-furb candidate. If retains a lot of the original fixtures and hardware, but that means it will need quite a bit of restoration. But if you’re looking for a very Wallace-like home to refurbish, this might be the one.

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That’s flash photography. The light emitted by the ListingLight is adequate for reading at night, but taking a useful picture would require a tri-pod. Even so, they do the job. Where every other sign on the street is an unreadable silhouette, ours pop out at a distance.

Is it enough to sell the house? Perhaps not, but every little thing helps. There’s no telling when the buyer is coming by, and, even in Arizona, evenings are dark in Winter.

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The author, Miki Kimuro, describes the blog as

Modern Design, Modern Architecture and Lifestyle Goodies: publishers of beautiful bling with an organic twist.

I would have loved to show an image from this blog, to give you a sample of the beautiful graphics here, but I couldn’t figure out how to contact Kimuro to get permission to copy a picture or two. So you’ll just have to click on over to take a gander for yourself.

Now. On the matter of modern-style, Greg and I will be listing a fifty-year old house later this month.

To help prepare the home for market, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for affordable mid-century pieces to help stage the home, and was tickled to run across this beautiful, modern coffee table on Craig’s List.

The photo is from the Craig’s List ad… I haven’t reassembled it yet to shoot my own. But… you get the picture!

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“Bah” (or something to that effect), he declared. “I’m from Houston, and I know that light rail systems don’t really help people… they only sound good, and make politicians popular. They’re just another boondoggle.”

Well… I pretty much agreed with him. Greg’s very first post on the weblog that eventually became BloodhoundBlog compared the “popular” (read that “politically correct”) heralding of Phoenix’s light rail with The Goldwater Institute’s forthright white paper on light rail.

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about killing the 27-year-old reversible lane system on 7th Avenue and 7th Street that has served us so well. It came up again yesterday in an article in the Arizona Republic, which talked about how nice it would be if our streets were more pedestrian-friendly.

And now I have to compare that to a podcast I listened to recently, in which Randal O’Toole, Senior Fellow with the Cato Institute, and author of the insightful book, The Best-Laid Plans, discusses how Portland deliberately created gridlock as a way to ensure their failing light rail system would work.

Hmmmm….

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A couple of years ago, when Phoenix was having a particularly cold winter, I accidently domesticated a feral cat who I had been feeding in my yard. During my first decade of driving, I lived where winters really are cold — off of Lake Erie. I had learned better… hit your hood before starting your engine, in case a cat had crawled up inside during the night for warmth. But I’ve been spoiled in Phoenix, and hadn’t given it another thought when I started out for work that cold January morning. The thump, thump, thump coming from under the hood, and then seeing fur flying when Greg opened the hood to see what was going on, stopped me in horror! I thought I had killed the little feral cat that I had become so fond of. I rushed her to Vanaken Pet Hospital, and almost two months later they returned her to me in a lime green body cast. It wasn’t until we removed the cast from her, several weeks later still, that I realized Marquina is a Polydactyl.

My love for Marquina is how I came to be interested in Hemmingway Cats.

So I thought it was too bad when I read today that the U.S. government is threatening the home of Hemmingway’s cats.

I have no idea, of course, whether the complaints against the museum are legitimate, or perhaps the story of a disgruntled employee. How could I know? That’s a matter for local authorities to ferret out. And so I think it’s odd that the federal government would throw its heft into the matter. Then I noticed what gives them the authority:

U.S. Animal and Plant Inspection Service officials argue that the house, listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1968, requires a federal Animal Welfare License, like a circus or zoo, in order to keep housing the cats.

This reminded me of a house that I recently listed and sold in one of Phoenix’s historic districts. The transaction was an incredibly smooth and amicable one. The sellers were great, and so were the buyers. The buyers’ agent was wonderful, as was the title company and loan officer they had chosen for this transaction. Everything was running like a perfectly tuned instrument until a few days before close, when the loan officer called me for clarification. “The lender wants to know whether the house is on the National Register of Historic Places.” I said, no, the house is in an historic district, but isn’t specifically listed on either the state nor national registers. The loan officer was relieved… it seems that had the property been specifically named, the bank that was lending on the second mortgage wouldn’t approve the loan. Apparently, the bank reasoned that if the mortgage payment were to fall into default, the bank wouldn’t have all the normal rights to make the loan good, because they would have to deal with the federal government. They must have had some bad experience with a mortgage loan on a property listed in the National Register, which had gone into default, so decided to avoid potential for a similar problem in the future — no one wants to take on the Feds!

I’ve had clients tell me that they’d avoid nominating their homes for the Registry because they were afraid they’d be hamstrung from making changes without going through a lot of bureaucratic red tape. It’s a good idea to think through the long term consequences of partnering up with a force so much more powerful than you before being seduced by its charm.

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The sketch is oriented as though the artist was standing southwest of the center of town. That’s Central, which was called Centre back then, shooting past Monroe Street and then Van Buren Street. Do you notice the canal running along the south side of Van Buren? The map’s legend tells us that this is the Salt River Canal! You can’t see it from this shot, but the complete map shows another canal that used to run through the city further north, around Indian School, called the Maricopa Canal, with the Grand Canal just north of that.

The next gridline north of and parallel to Van Buren — the one with the little white structure on the northeast corner — must be Roosevelt, so would that make the next grid line, the one with a few trees lined up along it east of Central, McDowell? If so, the next road to the north should be Thomas. But… the legend tells us that the estate on the northwest corner of that intersection belonged to J.T. Simms, who came to Arizona in 1881 with the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company. However, we know that the property that Colonel Simms owned along Central, between Roosevelt and Moreland, was subdivided in 1893 and is now part of the Roosevelt Historic District. Since we have no reason to expect this map was drawn to scale, perhaps that corner of this map is the forerunner of today’s Roosevelt Historic District. Have any of you already researched this? If so, I’d love to see comments on what you’ve learned…

Anyway, the map is pretty cool. You can look at the full map at The Library of Congress site, which uses a technology developed by LizardTech, called mrSID. You can even download the map to your own Mac or PC, and download a free mrSID viewer from LizardTech, which gives you much more control over the pan and zoom.

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The house was listed for $940,000, and I didn’t have any clients who would have been prospective buyers. But at the time, Greg and I had already begun to play with the idea of DistinctivePhoenix.com. So I had thought to build a page of photos on this site. I never did get around to it, the house went under contract, and the photos stayed dormant in my electronic scrapbook.

Then, when Greg was putting together “Distinctive Phoenix, The Movie,” I revisited pictures of my favorite houses to help feed the movie. Of course, many of those photos are from this beautiful home. Once you take a look, you’ll know what I mean … I’ve been sitting on this treasure much too long. It’s time for me to take these photos out of their drawer and share them.

Enjoy!

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But Cathleen and I get to spend much of our time in Phoenix neighborhoods where every home truly is unique — the historic and architecturally distinctive neighborhoods of Central and North Phoenix, where virtually every structure is a one-off expression of some one artist’s or craftsman’s vision.

We take a lot of photos of the homes we visit, and we save all the photos we take. Appended below is a QuickTime film called Distinctive Phoenix, The Movie. It’s a 35 minute exhibition of about 500 photos of homes, rooms, gardens and architectural ornaments — an exhibition of homes we thought were particularly striking.

This is our answer to complaints about a rigid sameness in architecture in the Valley of the Sun. These are the kinds of lovely, one-of-a-kind residences you can find here — if you are willing to look beyond your jaded expectations.

The antique tub came from this same Wisconsin antique dealer. You can see photos of the tub and all the other wonderful touches the Deermers put into their home during their recent renovation and remodel at the custom site we built for this house.

We just listed this home for sale last weekend, and as we always do, we built the website to introduce the home to prospective buyers and to help those buyers remember all the special features the house offers. Even if you’re not in the market to buy the house, you should take a look at its website, if for no other reason than to get some great remodeling ideas. You’ll get to look at some before photos, and afters. For example, just take a peek at what the Deermers did to transform their bathroom from a tawdry, marble eyesore into this delightfully comfortable room with an historic sensibility.

Pictures certainly do tell a story, but sometimes a picture alone isn’t enough. For instance, here’s a photo of the bathroom ceiling:

But how did they get a tin ceiling into a 1950 Ranch? Well, there’s a story behind that. Most homes, especially historic homes and custom homes and luxury homes, have a story. And who better to tell that story than the owners? So, beginning with this listing, BloodhoundRealty.com agents will include a video on the home’s custom website, which interviews the owners for stories about the house. Where did that tin ceiling come from? Go to the Video Tour link to find out!

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I’ve seen a lot of these homes, and talked to the owners, and heard how much trouble it’s been to restore windows, especially — without making them look modern — without detracting from the home’s historic charm.

And what do you do if you want to be historically appropriate, while still being responsibly green? Can old meet new without clashing?

I’ve seen it done, beautifully, using Pella’s Doors and Windows. Pella’s Architect Series promises “Architectural flexibility for any project -

from historic renovation to contemporary new construction. The real beauty is the creative freedom to choose from virtually endless design options including unique shapes and sizes, unlimited exterior colors, standard and custom grille patterns and our new collection of woods – Mahogany, Alder, Douglas Fir and Pine.

Their windows and doors come with the following benefits for you and your home:

Energy Efficiency— most Architect Series® products with energy-saving, argon-filled, Low-E insulating glass meet ENERGY STAR® requirements.
Easy To Clean — sash moves toward the center of the frame a full 4”, wider than most competitors’ standard casements, making it a breeze to clean exterior glass from inside your home.
Low Maintenance — Pella’s EnduraClad® exteriors are beautifully durable, resist fading, chalking and corrosion to stay looking great for years to come. The wood interior may be painted or stained to match any décor.
Superior Aesthetics and Operation — Pella’s integrated crank with fold-away handle won’t interfere with window treatments and is standard on all casements. Stainless steel operating hardware resists rust and corrosion ensuring years of dependable performance.
Extra Tight Seal — Pella’s patented SureLock® system reaches out to lift and pull the sash tight against the weatherstripping to form a tight seal.

But what they can not emphasize enough is how beautiful this line is!

Pella doors and windows are carried locally by Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores. Pella also has its own store in Mesa at Baseline and Dobson.

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There are so many things to love about Phoenix’s Historic Districts, which are filled with Distinctive Phoenix Homes. And, since this weblog is dedicated to Distinctive Phoenix, be sure to keep coming back, because we’ll be writing about those homes.

I am particularly fond of the F.Q. Story district. This was the first district designated as “historic” in Phoenix, as result of neighbors stirred to action by the ugly slash that the I-10 made through their picturesque neighborhood. F.Q. Story has large yards and charming old homes, going back to 1921. But one more thing that makes me partial to F.Q. Story is all of the animal lovers who live there. It is so sweet to walk down Culver St. and run into one after another beloved dog being walked by his proud person.

I would like to introduce you to one of those wonderful dogs, Maizy, as a way of introducing you to Maizy’s home on Willetta.

Maizy lives in a tastefully updated 1938 Spanish Revival home at 1118 W Willetta St.

Arches are essential to Spanish Revival architect, of course. But I’m always delighted by the clever and unique ways different Spanish Revival homes in Distinctive Phoenix express their arches. The arch between Maizy’s living room and dining room is an unusual stair-stepped arch.

S.F. “Jerry” Cook III and Tina Skinner have written an inspired book, including more than 500 period photographs that explore the Spanish Revival movement of the early 20th Century in their book, Spanish Revival Architecture

There is more, so much more to this picture-perfect home, where modern comforts are gracefully introduced to antiquity. Browse the many photos of 1118 West Willetta Street to see for yourself why this home was a recent recipient of the FQ Vision Award, and featured on the neighborhood’s home tour. See how Maizy’s people have their high-end stainless steel refrigerator talking to the antique Wedgewood stove. The living room with coved ceiling, hardwood floors and a wood burning fireplace is elegantly appointed with new plantation shutters and surround sound stereo. These are just examples, as you will see. Be sure not to miss the virtual tour link on this page.

The home is currently listed by Nathalie Hotong of RE/MAX Excalibur for $399,000. Don’t worry, Maizy will be moving to another lovely F.Q. Story home.

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But here we are, in our Phoenician paradise where we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in nearly 100° temperatures!

If like me, you’re tired of looking at your frost-damaged landscape, be patient just a little longer. The Arizona Republic warned us to “hold the shears.”

So what about getting a jump on enjoying why so many of us moved to Arizona… the beautiful weather and forever-green yards? There are some wonderful garden events coming up.

Be sure not to miss The Encanto Palmcroft Historic Home Tour and Street Fair, this Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM. Tickets are $18, on sale at Phoenix College.

That is, unless you’re taking in the Master Gardener Garden Tour, also this Saturday from 9 AM to 4 PM. This tour is of gardens in the Camelback Corridor that have been designed, planted and maintained by Master Gardeners from the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. If you don’t already have your tickets, you can buy them the day of the tour for $20 at Squaw Peak Elementary School, where the first garden in the tour will be on display.

Or, for a taste of Mid-century Modern Phoenix, plan on attending the Third Annual Modern Phoenix Home Tour and Expo. Seminars will run all day Saturday, with a self-guided tour of Ralph Haver’s Marlen Grove from 2 to 5 PM on Sunday.

But, oh-oh:

Well, March showers can be a welcomed respite from all the heat! So I hope you’re able to take full advantage of this weekend’s annual events. And in the coming weeks, don’t forget the other events posted in the Republic. And, as the rains subside, bringing our desert into bloom, do try to make a point of visiting our incomparable Desert Botanical Garden.

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Tim and Laura Dierks were interested in buying this small Brooklyn house until they realized the implications of its location, in the Carroll Gardens Historic District. If they wanted to add a top floor, they would have to wade through an extra layer of bureaucracy, gaining approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. There was no guarantee this would happen.

This is a risk in Phoenix, too. As much as we might love the legacy housing we have managed to preserve, the homes that have received historic designation are as much ossified as protected. Significant changes, at least any that might be visible from the street, are essentially forbidden. That’s as may be, but we also have very few opportunities in the Central Corridor for contemporary architects to create new classics.

They’re busting their buttons in the downtown Phoenix neighborhood of Willo.

Cottage Living magazine has named the historic district as one of the “Top 10 Cottage Communities in America.”

A profile of the neighborhood, generally bounded by Central and Seventh avenues and Thomas and McDowell roads, will appear in the July/August 2006 issue of the national publication.

Great news. Trouble is, it’s old news. The same article ran in the paper on June 30th.

Oh, what the heck. Even if it’s a twice-told tale, it’s still a great story:

“Places with charming architecture, where you can skip the car and stroll to locally owned shops and restaurants; places where neighbors know your name and are happy to have a cookout on Friday evening,” [Cottage Living Editor in Chief Eleanor Griffin] said. “Willo boasts crisply manicured lawns and small, doted-on houses of all types – it’s definitely a charming community of tight-knit residents.”