Tucson's Unique Sonoran Architecture
Barrio Viejo's Casitas
Tucson’s distinctive Sonoran architecture blends European, indigenous Mexican, and Spanish influences. Many of the buildings in Tucson’s historic neighborhoods were built by working class Mexican Americans from the 1840’s to 1920’s. Chinese and other workers on the railroad moved into the neighborhoods in the late 1800’s. (Click on a photograph to expand it.)
Streets lined with row homes whose front walls begin at the sidewalk’s edge are a key feature of Sonoran-style architecture. The homes are known for their high ceilings, interior courtyards, adobe brick construction, flat roofs, exposed wooden beams, and colorful stucco exteriors. The railroad brought materials, such as gabbled roofs and milled lumber moldings, which added European influence to traditional Sonoran homes.
Some homes are surrounded by Ocotillo fences. They are known as living fences because when the tall, thin Ocotillo branches are placed in the ground they begin to grow. The photo shown in middle in the top row shows an Ocotillo fence enclosing a small front yard.