Brentwood Historic District

Generally bounded by 16th to 20th Streets, Culver Street and the alley north of Brill Street.

Period of Significance: 1926-1956

The Brentwood Historic District is located in the Southwestern United States in Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix, capital city of Arizona, is located in the south central portion of the state, in the semi-arid Sonoran desert. With an average rainfall of seven inches, establishing this area as an agricultural community was only accomplished by the flow of the Salt River through the Salt River Valley. Ultimately, the regulation of the river by the Roosevelt Dam, completed in 1911, ensured sustainable growth.

The Brentwood Historic District is located in the east-central commercial sector of Phoenix, 2.75 miles northeast of the city’s core (Central Avenue and Washington Street). Situated between the alley south of McDowell Road and Culver Street, north to south, and 16th and 20th Streets, west to east (with several small exclusions), most of the properties face East Brill, East Willetta, or East Culver Streets. With only two obvious exceptions, all of the contributors were designed and are still utilized as single-family residences. The exceptions are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) stake center at 1725 East Brill Street and an apartment building at 1609 E. Brill Street (multiple dwelling). Surrounded by commercial parcels on the north and west (which were originally occupied by houses when the Brentwood Historic District subdivisions were first platted), Papago Freeway (Interstate 10) on the south and Piestewa

Freeway (State Route 51) on the east, Brentwood retains a high level of its original early to mid-20th century, middle income neighborhood character.

In the neighborhood’s early years (from the first platted subdivision in 1924 through the end of the decade), only 13 homes (eight percent) were constructed of the total. From 1930-1939, 55 (34 percent) homes were built. The bulk of the houses were constructed between 1940 and 1949 (50 percent). Although “nonessential” construction was halted during World War II, Phoenix was named a war industry district, and under strict regulations by the federal government, was able to add housing to existing subdivisions. Phoenix was home to a number of defense-related companies such as AIResearch, Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, and Alcoa, all of which had employees who lived in the Brentwood neighborhood. By far, 1944 was the single biggest building year in the neighborhood due to this designation; 44 (27 percent) homes were built that year.

The firm responsible for most of the wartime construction was J.R. Womack’s Phoenix Housing Corporation, which managed to successfully navigate the requirements of the War Production Board and the National Housing Agency in order to construct 16 homes in the Brentwood neighborhood. Eight houses (five percent) were built between 1950 and 1956, which marked the cessation of major building activity in the neighborhood. Some infill and replacement housing construction took place after 1956 through today (six houses representing four percent of the neighborhood).

The historic district is characterized by its rectilinear street pattern. Houses are oriented with north-south exposure. Building setbacks are from 20 to 25 feet. Sidewalks are separated from the streets with tree/lawn strips. The neighborhood infrastructure benefited from Depression-era federal relief projects as did much of Phoenix. Sidewalks and curbs were installed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1941 (Photograph 16). Historically, homes in the Brentwood Historic District were characterized by green lawns. It is still the case today with the exception of a few properties whose lawns have receded and some that have adopted low water use xeriscape. The neighborhood contains a variety of mature landscaping including mulberry, eucalyptus, palm, date and mesquite trees.

Architectural Styles

Beginning with Brentwood’s first homes in the early 1920s until the end of the 1930s, Period Revival styles were popular in the district, as they were throughout much of the country. Fifty-four houses were built in styles such as English Cottage Revival, Southwest Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival. Bungalows were also popular in the early years of Brentwood, accounting for 13 examples constructed. By the late 1930s, the Transitional/Early Ranch style began to appear in Brentwood where 63 houses were constructed in this style through the 1940s. Transitional/Early Ranch buildings account for the most of any

one style in the district. Two Cape Cod Revival homes were built during the early 1940s. The Ranch style home dominated in the 1950s and 1960s in Brentwood with 19 houses. Style is not evident on 12 homes in the Brentwood Historic District.

Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals

Bungalow houses are generally one story with a square or rectangular plan, a gabled or hipped roof and a large porch across the entire façade with a wide stoop. The building is low and horizontal. The roof is usually front-gabled or front-facing gable-ended with dormers. Windows are rectangular and a multi-light over one light design. Wall materials include wood, brick and stucco.

Cape Cod Revival houses are derived from 17th century models found in colonial Massachusetts. It is a rare style for the West and Arizona. A typical Cape Cod Revival house in Arizona is one or one-and-a-half story with dormer. The buildings have a symmetrical façade and window fenestration, with decorative shutters. The roof is gable-ended and steep. The front porch is usually also gabled. Brick and clapboard walls are common and generally painted white. Interior brick chimneys are also common.

English Cottages were a popular style, especially for small homes. English Cottage characteristics include a compact, cross-wing plan; a medium-pitched gable roof, frequently with jerkinhead gables; rustic stone or brick walls; a prominent chimney, sometimes with stepped sides; and small-light casement windows.

Southwest Style houses include design features from both Spanish Colonial Revival and Pueblo Revival styles and is unique to Arizona. Houses in this style are most often one story, low-lying, rectangular and often symmetrical. Roofs are typically flat/built up or low-pitched red tile. Ornamentation is sparse except for water scuppers (canales) or vigas (exposed wood roof beams). Exteriors are sheathed in stucco.

Spanish Colonial houses are often long and rectangular with a horizontal façade. The buildings are more often one story than two. Sections of the roof are gabled and covered in red tile with parapet walls along the flat sections of roof. Porches are small and doors and windows are arched. Exteriors are plastered with little texture. Decorative iron work over vents and windows is a distinguishing feature.

Tudor Revival houses are one to one-and-a-half stories; rectangular or L-shaped; imposing and complex forms with vertical massing and asymmetrical facades. Multiple gables under steep roofs prevail. Porches are not open but rather inset vestibules under the main roof. Walls are typically brick, stone or plastered with half-timbering in some examples. Window and door openings can be flat-topped, Tudor, Gothic or roundarched. Leaded glass casement windows are common, and the lights are often diamond shaped.

Modern Movement

Transitional/Early Ranch style houses have simple, rectangular or L-shaped footprints with some

characteristics borrowed from the Bungalow and Period Revival styles. Roofs are low-pitched with gable ends or low and hipped. Porches are small and door and window openings are rectangular with no framing ornamentation. Building materials include wood, brick and block. Windows are typically multi-light, steel casement.

Ranch style houses have more elongated plans than their box-like Transitional/Early Ranch predecessors.Ranch houses are low and horizontal with asymmetrical window and door fenestration on the façade. The roofs are either gable-ended or hipped. Front porches are half to the entire length of the façade with wood or ironwork posts. The most common roof material is three-tab asphalt shingle.

Integrity

Brentwood appears today much as it did in the early to mid-20th century, retaining a high level of integrity in both its architecture and setting. Some of the neighborhood’s houses have undergone alteration including additions, window replacements, stucco treatments and roofing substitutions. However, the majority of houses are little changed from the time of their construction. When additions have occurred, they are mainly at the rear of the building and have little effect on the streetscape of the historic district. Viewed in its entirety, the neighborhood is a largely intact assemblage of moderately valued houses with a diversity of

architectural styles. Despite the commercial encroachment on two sides and the construction of freeways on the other two sides, the district has managed to maintain its historical residential characteristics and feeling.