Cherry Lynn Historic District

I am excited to write a bit about Cherry Lynn Historic District in midtown Phoenix, AZ. Cherry Lynn is one of my favorite historic sites in the area. It has personality and a rich history. Let’s start with the history and move on to look at the homes in Cherry Lynn.

CHERRY LYNN… a bit of history

Cherry Lynn historic district has two major histories in its making. I would call them the Fosburg and the Strough eras. In 1928 Mr. & Mrs. William Fosburg owned and developed the newly platted Cherry Lynn subdivision. At the time it was considered adventurous for a couple to undertake such a project. they hired local designer/builder Marion E. Carr to architect the project and serve as building superintendant.  

Fossburg and Carr chose to build English style homes in the Tudor and Elizabethan revival styles. By the end of 1929 they had completed 29 of their “ultra modern english style” homes. NOTE: As we’ve discussed in other writings, English revivals were the rage in the roaring 20’s. Perhaps because of their whimsical nature and likely due to east coast design influences and the European influenced housing display at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1892.

Home sales were brisk during the Fossburg/Carr years. They did a lot of advertising calling the project “The Most Distinctive Subdivision in the Southwest.” In addition to the English designs, they offered liberal financing, indoor plumbing, electricity, basements, paved streets, sidewalks, street lamps and easy access to shopping, the newly build Arizona Biltmore and downtown Phoenix.

In 1932 Fossburg traded or sold Cherry Lynn to H.M. Strough, a builder from Los Angeles who was operating a cotton farm in Peoria. By all accounts Strough was a hard working, creative thinker. he was one of the few developers who actually built in the early to mid-1930’s. While most were hunkered down trying to survive the depression, Strough built 23 homes before he died in 1938.

During the 1930’s the home styles moved from the English revivals to the new fad, Monterey and Spanish revival. This home style gained fame after the 1915 Pacific Panama Exposition in San Diego. If you’ve been to Balboa Park, you have seen the early demonstrations of this architectural style.

TODAY IN CHERRY LYNN:

As we’ve discussed, Cherry Lynn has rich offerings of period revival homes. 33% of the 68 properties are English style homes, 49% are Monterey or Spanish revivals and the balance are bungalow or ranch. Also of interest is a Will Bruder modern home built in 1979. The home owners show a lot of pride in their neighborhood and most homes and yards are well maintained. The streets are wide with mature trees creating an intimacy and warmth. Since most of the lots and homes are smallish, prices tend to be lower than in some of the nearby historic districts.

Below we have a slide show tour of Cherry Lynn. About 40 homes are pictured here so you should get a good feel for the area. Below the slide show you can see the homes currently for sale in Cherry Lynn. The information is updated several times per day so you won’t see something that was sold 2 months ago like on so many public real estate sites… we hate that.

Thanks for spending some time with us today and we hope this info has been helpful.

Gene Urban
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For information about other historic districts and homes in the downtown and midtown Phoenix, AZ area, check out the historic district page here on UrbanTeamAZ.com.