Rancho Joaquina House, Spanish Colonial Revival residence in Arcadia district, Phoenix, US.
The Rancho Joaquina House is a residence built in Spanish Colonial Revival style, distinguished by stucco walls, red tile roofs, and decorative details throughout. The building was constructed between 1924 and 1925 and sits on spacious grounds within an established residential neighborhood.
Built in 1924–1925 by the Phoenix firm Fitzhugh & Byron for J.E. Thompson, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate from Arizona and younger brother of William Boyce Thompson, the house is called the earliest adobe revival property in the Phoenix area. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and on the City of Phoenix historic register.
The name Rancho Joaquina links the mansion to the ranch era of the Arcadia area. In 1970 the property was renovated and opened as a designer show house, with interior professionals styling its rooms. The estate is now ringed by the El Coronado Estates community, built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The house stands within El Coronado Estates, a subdivision laid out in the late 1960s and early 1970s, so the surrounding streets are residential and the mansion is seen from the public road. It is a private home, not a museum, so plan to view the Mission Revival exterior from the street rather than expecting interior tours.
J.E. Thompson once shot and killed a man on the grounds who had threatened to kidnap his son for a $35,000 ransom; after learning the man's wife was ill, he gave the money to the family anyway. In the 1950s and 1960s the largely vacant house was thought haunted by local children.
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