Medlock Place, Phoenix: big lots and flood-irrigated lawns in a historic district

At a glance

Lot sizes in Medlock Place, subdivision by subdivision

Lot size is the reason to look at Medlock Place. Across the district, lots run from a fifth of an acre to half an acre, Medlock Place and South Medlock have large half-acre lots, and Orangewood Estates was platted in tracts of one to two acres. The size comes from the land's history: the district grew from replats of the 20-acre farm lots of Evans' Addition to Orangewood, which J. M. Evans platted in 1897 between Camelback and Bethany Home roads and 7th Street and 7th Avenue. Five subdivisions make up the district, and the one a house sits in tells you most of what to expect.

Medlock Place, the 1926 subdivision

The original subdivision is where the half-acre lots and many of the historic garages are. Its streets have no curbs or gutters.

South Medlock Place lots on Pasadena Avenue

South Medlock lots sold for $150 down and $25 a month, and a third of them sold in the first week, mostly on Pasadena Avenue, with views of Camelback Mountain. Like Medlock Place, it has no curbs or gutters.

Orangewood Estates acreage in the Medlock Place district

Orangewood Estates was sold as tracts of 1 1/4 and 2 1/2 acres and saw little building until after World War II, so most of its houses date from after the war, on the biggest lots in the district.

South Orangewood and Aldrich Place in Medlock Place

South Orangewood's 24 lots were almost all built between 1937 and 1942. Aldrich Place followed in 1939; architect Jack Knapp designed a house on Oregon Avenue there, finished in 1940. Most of the lots left in the Evans' Addition subdivisions were built between 1945 and 1955, by builders including Bob Dill and John Ramson.

Flood irrigation and lawns in Medlock Place

Setbacks run 20 to 30 feet, and the lawns in front of them are broad and flood-irrigated. In Medlock Place and South Medlock there are no curbs or gutters, so the lawns run straight to the palm-lined streets, and keeping that much grass green is the owner's job. Ask the seller how and when the lot is watered, and have your inspector look at grading and drainage around the house; flood irrigation is why the historic home inspection guide puts foundation moisture on its list.

Palms and shade trees on Medlock Place streets

When Floyd Medlock opened the subdivision, he planted seven-year-old palms and shade trees along what were then gravel streets, and advertised low taxes and "lots of elbow room". Today the streets are lined with palms.

Two eras of Medlock Place houses

Medlock Place houses fall into two eras, and they sit in different parts of the district. Homes are mostly single-story, and original two-story houses are rare.

Period Revival houses in Medlock Place, 1926 to 1930

In Medlock Place and South Medlock, most houses are late Period Revival: English Tudor Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival and late bungalow. Mason R. L. Moore built Medlock's "semi-English" brick homes, with hardwood floors. Houses here tend to be larger, to match the lots.

Early Ranch houses in Medlock Place, 1935 to 1956

Further north, the houses are mostly Transitional and Early Ranch designs, built from the late 1930s through the mid-1950s on the lots that filled after the war.

Less common Medlock Place styles

The nomination also records Pueblo Revival, American Colonial Revival, Southwest, Art Deco and International Style houses, and French Provincial, Spanish Colonial, Contemporary and American Colonial Ranch houses.

How the Medlock Place subdivisions were sold

Medlock Place takes its name from Floyd W. Medlock, a cotton broker who subdivided his part of Evans' Addition as Medlock Place in 1926 and South Medlock Place in 1927. Developer William J. Murphy had platted the Orangewood Subdivision to the north back in July 1895, with 20-acre country-estate lots.

Medlock Place sold houses, not lots

The subdivision opened in October 1926, then 4 miles north of the edge of town, according to the neighborhood association. Medlock sold pre-built homes rather than vacant lots. He built model homes, had sold nine houses by February 1927 and had put more than $70,000 into the project by April 1927. "Spanish style" homes sold for $8,000 to $10,000, and he sold thirteen homes that year.

Buying in Medlock Place, Phoenix: rules, values and edges

The City added Medlock Place to its register with HP overlay zoning in April 2003, with a period of significance of 1926 to 1956, bounded generally by Seventh and Missouri avenues, the alley west of Central Avenue and the alley south of Pasadena Avenue. The National Register listing followed on June 1, 2006, over about 77 acres with 161 contributing buildings.

The HP overlay reviews what changes the outside of a house. A new paint color, a repair in kind or a kitchen remodel goes ahead without approval; an addition or a change to the front of the house goes to review, and with lots this size, an addition is the likely project. The guide to Phoenix HP zoning covers the steps.

Medlock Place home values

Values here run high for Phoenix. Census tract 1075, which holds the district, has a median owner-occupied value of $806,500, nearly twice the city's $420,700. The tract reaches beyond the district, and a half-acre Period Revival house and a postwar Ranch on a fifth of an acre won't sell near the same number, so ask for recent sales in the same subdivision.

Central Avenue and Camelback Road at the Medlock Place edges

The district is bordered by redeveloped commercial uses along Central Avenue and Camelback Road. The Fiesta Bowl Parade and the annual Electric Light Parade run along Central Avenue past the district, which is worth knowing if you are looking at the eastern blocks.

Medlock Place or Campus Vista: same ZIP code, different land

Medlock Place and Campus Vista share ZIP code 85013, where the median home value is $567,700, and both run to 1956. What separates them is land. Campus Vista's average lot is 70 by 125 feet, about a fifth of an acre, under FHA-sized houses of about 1,600 square feet, and its tract median is $539,900. Medlock Place offers lots up to half an acre in its oldest blocks, and more in Orangewood Estates, at a tract median of $806,500. If the yard comes first, Medlock Place is the one to tour first; if you want a newer Ranch house with less to water, start in Campus Vista.

Inside Medlock Place, three questions narrow a search. Do you want a 1920s Period Revival house or a postwar Ranch? The first points to Medlock Place and South Medlock, the second to the northern blocks. Do you want the most land? Then watch Orangewood Estates, platted in one- to two-acre tracts. Do you want a lawn that runs to the street with no curb? That describes Medlock Place and South Medlock.

For estate-scale 1920s houses closer to downtown, compare Alvarado. The full list of Phoenix historic districts has the others. The City lists the Medlock Place Neighborhood, at medlockplace.com, for the district. Joe Janus can look up recent Medlock Place sales and lot sizes with you: contact Joe.

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