I lived in Tucson between 1973 and 1986. My parents bought the house on South Wilshire Dr and the second street that connected North and South Wilshire (I don't recall the name). We were between the arroyo and the corner. 5635 was the house number. You didn't do the neighborhood justice. Our house was one of the first passive solar houses in Arizona so I think it was designed by Arthur Brown. The house was 'L' shaped, with the leg that was living room, master bedroom and another bedroom had the wall, slanted for the bottom 2' or so, to absorb heat in the winter. That leg had glass walls, literally the entire wall from front door all the way through the master bedroom, floor to transom. It looks like they used 4' by 8' sheets of glass. The opposite side, that looked into the backyard, had 4' by 10' sheets of glass in living room, bedroom, opaque plexiglass at the twin bathrooms and back to glass in the master. There was a pocket door between the bathrooms that closed off the master bedroom. Shortly after it was built, in 1949/50, two more bedrooms were added, in a detached building off the western end of the original building. The addition was not passive solar or in any way energy efficient, but one of the rooms had a Pullman kitchen. Eventually, they closed in the breezeway between the original house and the addition and made a very long family room.
Thank you for your comment about your home in Wilshire Heights! It sounds like an amazing place. In the past 20 or so years, Art Brown has gained a lot of name recognition, especially for his work incorporating passive solar design in his buildings, both residential and commercial. It would be amazing to be able to see what your home looks like now.
I love this video you guys! So informative and super fun for those of us who are interested in real estate, architecture and the stories behind the people that were responsible for designing and building. Really enjoying your videos and getting to hear your insights!
Is it better for sale to update a mid century home in these neighborhoods by knocking out walls and creating open voncept? Or better to maintain the original floor plan? The knocked out kitchen and dining room walls look odd to me.
In most cases, I would not knock out walls in a midcentury home especially if you're planning on selling it. I don't think you'll get much (if anything) back at resale, and it could even be a turn off for many buyers. I agree, it looks odd and oftentimes the wall that's being removed is load bearing. In that case an awkward post remains to hold up the roof since adding a load bearing beam is a lot more expensive. I believe in letting a house be what it is. Also, for as many people who love an open floor plan there's probably the same amount who dislike it. Thanks for the comment! :)
Love the info on the mid century neighborhoods! Retirement for us isn't that far away, and Tucson is on our list, ...and, we love mid-century, so these videos are great! I'd have to say mid-century and spanish are our favorites. Thanks for these!
Thank you, I'm glad you're finding our videos helpful! We're working on more videos that you might like. The next one will be about the historic neighborhoods surrounding University of Arizona which have more Spanish Revival style homes, so keep an eye out for it soon.
Wow! This video and your insights are utterly fascinating to me. My wife and I have been scouting Tucson as a potential retirement destination and we have limited ourselves to exploring just a few areas. This just opened my mind to a whole new world and a whole new way of looking at things. Thank you so much!
H Franklin, thank you for the compliment! I'm glad you found it useful. We are just getting started with the youtube videos, so hopefully you'll enjoy more videos to come. In the meantime, we're happy to answer any questions you may have about Tucson. :)
I lived in Tucson between 1973 and 1986. My parents bought the house on South Wilshire Dr and the second street that connected North and South Wilshire (I don't recall the name). We were between the arroyo and the corner. 5635 was the house number. You didn't do the neighborhood justice.
Our house was one of the first passive solar houses in Arizona so I think it was designed by Arthur Brown. The house was 'L' shaped, with the leg that was living room, master bedroom and another bedroom had the wall, slanted for the bottom 2' or so, to absorb heat in the winter. That leg had glass walls, literally the entire wall from front door all the way through the master bedroom, floor to transom. It looks like they used 4' by 8' sheets of glass. The opposite side, that looked into the backyard, had 4' by 10' sheets of glass in living room, bedroom, opaque plexiglass at the twin bathrooms and back to glass in the master. There was a pocket door between the bathrooms that closed off the master bedroom. Shortly after it was built, in 1949/50, two more bedrooms were added, in a detached building off the western end of the original building. The addition was not passive solar or in any way energy efficient, but one of the rooms had a Pullman kitchen. Eventually, they closed in the breezeway between the original house and the addition and made a very long family room.
Thank you for your comment about your home in Wilshire Heights! It sounds like an amazing place. In the past 20 or so years, Art Brown has gained a lot of name recognition, especially for his work incorporating passive solar design in his buildings, both residential and commercial. It would be amazing to be able to see what your home looks like now.
I love this video you guys! So informative and super fun for those of us who are interested in real estate, architecture and the stories behind the people that were responsible for designing and building. Really enjoying your videos and getting to hear your insights!
So glad you found it helpful and enjoyable! Thanks for watching :)
Is it better for sale to update a mid century home in these neighborhoods by knocking out walls and creating open voncept? Or better to maintain the original floor plan? The knocked out kitchen and dining room walls look odd to me.
In most cases, I would not knock out walls in a midcentury home especially if you're planning on selling it. I don't think you'll get much (if anything) back at resale, and it could even be a turn off for many buyers.
I agree, it looks odd and oftentimes the wall that's being removed is load bearing. In that case an awkward post remains to hold up the roof since adding a load bearing beam is a lot more expensive.
I believe in letting a house be what it is. Also, for as many people who love an open floor plan there's probably the same amount who dislike it. Thanks for the comment! :)
Love the info on the mid century neighborhoods! Retirement for us isn't that far away, and Tucson is on our list, ...and, we love mid-century, so these videos are great! I'd have to say mid-century and spanish are our favorites. Thanks for these!
Thank you, I'm glad you're finding our videos helpful! We're working on more videos that you might like. The next one will be about the historic neighborhoods surrounding University of Arizona which have more Spanish Revival style homes, so keep an eye out for it soon.
Wow! This video and your insights are utterly fascinating to me. My wife and I have been scouting Tucson as a potential retirement destination and we have limited ourselves to exploring just a few areas. This just opened my mind to a whole new world and a whole new way of looking at things. Thank you so much!
H Franklin, thank you for the compliment! I'm glad you found it useful. We are just getting started with the youtube videos, so hopefully you'll enjoy more videos to come. In the meantime, we're happy to answer any questions you may have about Tucson. :)