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Windsor Square: An Historic Narrative Karen Olson, a former resident of Orange Drive, wrote this history of the Windsor Square neighborhood, which accompanied the documentation submitted to the City of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Department, as part of the request for historic designation. 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 and 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." The owners of Owens-Dinmore, L.D. Owens and H.C. Dinmore, organized their real estate firm five months prior to purchasing the Bennitt property. After the purchase was announced, they quickly named the property and set the formal opening date of Feb. 17,1929; Holmquist and Maddock, a Phoenix engineering firm, and W. Lee Woolett of Albany, NY, were retained to design the subdivision. Also retained as a consultant was John R. Case of Case and Hughes in Los Angeles, a firm specializing in subdivisions. He said, "The Windsor Square community will stand out as one of the very finest home communities in the entire southwest, incorporating ideas which have proven highly successful in the finest select colonies in America today." Improvements were to include curbs, sidewalks, ornamental lights, landscaping and a high-pressure water system. A Tudor-style sales office was constructed in record time, and more than 5,000 visitors attended the pre-opening inspection of 25 miniature model homes. The models were a product of Meidler Studios of Pasadena and were constructed under the supervision of architect Alfred Meidler, to represent the Spanish, English, Italian and Norman architecture projected for the subdivision. Sales manager Ardo Peterson announced that construction of 20 homes would soon follow. Opening of the subdivision actually followed one week later, on Feb. 24, with a large balloon floating over the tract of 270 home sites. By the first week in March, five more models had been added to the display of miniatures, and developers announced that Lincoln Finance Company would build 12 homes. A May 4 Phoenix Evening Gazette ad announced that lots could be purchased for as low as $1,100, and a week later the Republican featured a drawing of the first residence, to be built for Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Dinmore. That first May also featured a home-building show with displays open day and night, along with the announcement that lots had been purchased by a prominent Arizona cowboy artist, a doctor, and the manager of the Country Club Estates. |