Design Through the Decades - Part 1
We start the Design Through the Decades series in the 1950s, focusing on the exterior (architecture and design) of homes in Phoenix, Arizona.
But first let’s look at how Phoenix has changed. This is a map of Phoenix in the 1950s. The city limits didn’t really extend much north beyond Indian School Road. Phoenix was the country’s 99th largest city in 1950 with a population of 106,818. To see more photos of Phoenix in the 1950s, click here.
Brick homes like this one were considered the norm in Phoenix in the 1950s. The pop-out bedroom window (the precursor to bay windows) was quite common.
Built in 1959 and reversed from the previous photo.
Built in the 1950s, the quintessential ranch style home. Diamond pattern windows were popular.
Built in 1958 with decorative wood “shutters” flanking the windows.
Built in the 1950s with squished out mortar between the blocks. The one-car carport was likely converted to a garage at a later date.
Here’s a close-up of the squished mortar.
This Phoenix home built in 1951 really shows off the brick.
Built in 1950.
Here are three drawings of 1950s ranch architecture, all from 1957.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Amilia // Nov 2, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Tall trees are O-U-T OUT, sorry to the 50’s
2 Amilia // Nov 2, 2008 at 2:22 pm
MAMA MIA MAMA MIA (lower voice) MAMA MIA MAMA MIA! that means horrible (no afence) in my launguage!
3 Ann-Marie Meyers // Dec 23, 2010 at 11:09 am
I love seeing Phoenix’s version of the Storybook, Hansel and Gretel or Fairytale style, ranch. There are a few here in the Dallas Fort Worth area, and I am trying to nail down one with a few of the exterior details to it, but not enough to make a true aficionado jump for joy. Still, you take what you can get.
We do what we can to save an era from destruction.
4 IaceIt // May 12, 2011 at 11:29 am
Rancher’s from the 50’s 60’s and 70’s are contructed better and will last longer than any new house built today. The nice ones look better than new as well - you didn’t do any justice with these pix, that’s for sure.
5 Lola Granola // Jan 5, 2012 at 8:20 pm
My mother tells me that the squished mortar was called “gingerbread” back in the day.
6 Greeney // Mar 13, 2013 at 11:23 am
Ironically, despite everyone’s claims that these plain, old, tired, cramped ranches are so well built, the fact is, during the baby boom, everything was cheaply built with no frills. 99% of the worn out slums on this website are from the 50s, 60s, 70s. All the bad neighborhoods are those from those times. An older home with real quality and class would be a Colonial style one from the 20s, 30s, or 40s. I’ve lived in 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s homes, and the experiences we had indicate the best built one is the 90s one, the worst from the 70s, and 60s the second worst.
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