Pattison House

Colonia Solana’s residential architecture reflects the local popularity of revival styles between the World Wars and during the state’s postwar boom in residential construction. Spanish Colonial Revival and ranch-style houses are the dominant architectural styles throughout the district. Although the majority of residences were built after World War II, their revival-style features and details give Colonia Solana the feeling and appearance of a prewar neighborhood. The individuality of this collection of large, custom-built residences reinforces the exclusivity of the district, as does the subdivision plan with large lots, deep setbacks, lush vegetation, and deed restrictions.

Many of the houses here were designed by influential local architects whose built legacy is visible throughout Tucson, in buildings both private and public. Designers like Roy Place and Josias Joesler were responsible for the district’s first, largely revivalist houses; Anne Rysdale, Arthur Brown, and Tom Gist designed many of the later, modernist houses in Colonia Solana.

Roy Place designed the Voorhees residence for Brooklyn transplant Anson Voorhees and his two sons. One of the earlier examples of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture within Colonia Solana, the residence was built as a model home to entice prospective clients. The long, rectangular, two-story house is constructed of brick and stucco and remains essentially unchanged on the exterior. It has many typical features of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, including tile roofing and floors, arcades, and plastered walls, but also has more distinctive decorative flourishes, including wrought-iron grillwork, a second-story fireplace, a floor-to-ceiling tiled octagonal lavatory, balconettes, hooded windows, and a second-story sleeping porch on a detached three-car garage.