Dee, a law firm employee who happened to see us shyly looking around, stopped to talk to us and tell us the building's history: it went from the home of wealthy family to a convent and was about to be torn down until a city development organization made it possible to pay for itself by allowing businesses to occupy it. When it was a convent, Dee said, "The man in charge of the nuns covered the beautiful tile flooring, because it distracted them from their true mission." Ironically, she noted with a sense of sarcasm, the covering was removed and the floors are now in pristine condition.
The open courtyard has a second floor, and it gave Dee pleasure to think about the nuns in their habits stretching over the balcony railing to pick dates from the tree. According to City-Data.com, "the house was purchased upon completion by Albert Steinfeld who was the owner of a large department store, it was also one of the first homes in Tucson to have a bathtub with running water, and this trend was the major contributor to the demise of public bathhouses."
2 Comments
Barbara
1/22/2018 03:31:59 pm
I’ve always liked learning about houses that keep changing over time but manage to hold onto their histories one way or another. Nice write up and photos.
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Michelle R Harmon
1/23/2018 07:26:57 am
Dee was so nice to stop and talk to us. She knew the entire history of the mansion, and was unabashedly critical of the monk in charge of the nuns. And she really held us captive to the idea that even though this monk covered up the beautiful floors to prevent the nuns from being distracted from the heavenly love, the irony is that because he covered the floors, they were in pristine condition when the flooring was stripped to its original state! She was super enthusiastic.
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AuthorWe meet people throughout our travels, and this made me want to connect the folks we meet with the places we met them. In other words, people tell me their stories, and I tell you Enjoy! Archives
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