|
What makes La Casita so historic? La Casita Del Sol, a fully-restored 1880’s working class adobe rowhouse, is located in the El Presidio Historic Neighborhood, in the northern downtown area of Tucson. The El Presidio Historic Neighborhood is the oldest neighborhood in Tucson, and emerged as Spanish settlers made their simple adobe homes just outside the fort (presidio) that protected the mission and convent established by the Spanish conquistadores in 1776. What is now Main Avenue is one of the remnants of the Royal Road (Camino Real) that connected Mexico City with San Francisco, California. The eventual arrival of other settlers in Tucson and the presence of the railroad in 1880 brought new cultures, languages and architecture to Tucson. The movers and shakers of Tucson’s nineteenth-century political and social life lived in the grand homes and mansions of what came to be popularly called “Snob Hollow” on nearby Main Avenue and Granada Avenues. In contrast, Meyer Avenue, where La Casita is located, and Court Streets were the streets where lived the middle and lower class folks who were the backbone of the development of Tucson, the Arizona Territory and eventually, the State of Arizona. Although many of the grand structures on Main and Granada Avenues were razed during the 1960’s preoccupation with “urban development”, many fine residences still remain; some of which are still occupied by the families who first built and lived in those homes at the turn of the twentieth century. Court and Meyer Avenues still provide a streetscape of historic adobe row houses and brick railroad homes that give hint to the vibrancy and flavor of original Tucson. |
|