Windsor Square Historic District

Windsor Square is a small residential neighborhood in north central Phoenix, Arizona. This 260-home Historic District where homes date back more than 80 years is bordered by Central Avenue and Seventh Street, Pasadena Avenue and Oregon Avenue, and is considered one of the oldest suburbs of Phoenix. Started in 1929, the curvy development with charming homes was created during a time where the population of Phoenix was totaled at 70,000 people and the trolley line ended at Thomas Road.

The Phoenix subdivision which would eventually become Windsor Square was first announced on Feb. 5, 1929, with a banner headline on the front page of the Phoenix Evening Gazette that read “Home Project to Involve Millions.” Originally owned by Mrs. Margaret Barringer and E. J. Bennitt, it was purchased by the Owens-Dinmore Company for approximately $150,000. The property extended from Camelback Road to Colter Street anFor more information visit http://windsorsquarephoenix.org/ – See more at: http://dwellarizona.com/historic/windsor-square#sthash.bBLF8QKc.dpufd from Central Avenue to 7th Street, with the exclusion of the lot at Central and Camelback. Its location was touted for proximity to the Westward Ho Hotel and the “new” Arizona Biltmore as well as to Brophy College, “Arizona’s newest educational institution.”

Windsor Square is a neighborhood whose development was interrupted by the forces of history. The subdivision was conceived during a burst of building activity in Phoenix in the late 1920s, only to be brought to a halt by the Crash of 1929 and the subsequent depression into which the country plunged. As FHA financing became available to help bring back the nation’s economy, Windsor Square emerged from a long legal battle to begin a new round of building. Once again, history intervened, and World War II stopped all building in Phoenix. Windsor Square languished until returning GIs created another building boom in Phoenix, and Windsor Square at last became a completed subdivision.

While the magnificence envisioned by the original developers never truly came to be, there has always been a kernel of their dream alive in residents of Windsor Square. Those who seek historic designation for Windsor Square hope to see it flourish in the manner first intended in the 1920s.

Windsor Square … If you have more info, please email rick@lcmhomegroup.com