Rincon Heights has been a vibrant neighborhood since the late 1800’s. In collaboration with Dr. Brooks Jeffery from the University of Arizona and his students we completed work and submitted an application for official designation as a historic district.
Our nomination package was reviewed by the State Office of Historic Preservation and in a unanimous vote by the Historic Preservation Board our nomination was approved on March 23, 2012. For more on the story see news page for week of March 25, 2012.
Summary of Description from Nomination Application
The Rincon Heights Historic District is located in central Tucson approximately one-half mile east of downtown and immediately south of the University of Arizona. It is primarily a residential neighborhood characterized by a grid-iron pattern of wide streetscapes encompassing five historic subdivisions: Buell’s Addition (1881), Drake’s Addition (1882), Rincon Heights Addition (1887), Altadina Heights Addition (1902), and the Bingham Addition (1905). The overarching name of Rincon Heights was adopted reflecting the name of the neighborhood association that was established in 1987. While the neighborhood is generally bounded on the north by Sixth Street, the east by Campbell Avenue, the south by Broadway Boulevard, and the west by Fremont Avenue, the delineation of the Rincon Heights Historic District’s northern boundary is a jagged edge defined by the University of Arizona’s comprehensive campus boundary and articulated in a 1996 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the university and the neighborhood. Within the Rincon Heights Historic District there are 490 properties, of which 280 (57%) are considered contributing properties and 210 (43%) are considered non-contributing properties. The unique character of the neighborhood is derived from the combined uniformity of its streetscape and varied single- and multi-family residential building types and styles reflecting three distinct periods of development and relationship with the University of Arizona.
Project Coordinator: Laura Tabili - tabili@u.arizona.ed