Rosson House - Other Brick Landmarks

Other Brick Landmarks

The Rosson House is an early example, though not the first, of a house in Phoenix constructed of fired brick and wood instead of adobe bricks. At least one local brick-making factory had previously been established, and some fine examples of early brick houses that predated the Rosson House include the mansion built in 1887 for John T. Dennis at 242 E. Monroe and its neighbor at 230 E. Monroe built for M. Jacobs. The John T. Dennis mansion mansion was demolished in the 1950s. Additionally, there was the large house built for Columbus Gray in 1890, and the J.Y.T. Smith House at 5th St. and Adams reportedly dates from 1892. Almost all of the early hotels of Phoenix were made out of locally produced red bricks as well.

A number of smaller homes were built outside the city limits in the 1880s by J.J. Welty, and made out of poured concrete blocks made to look like hewn-stone. There is also the mansion built by John T. Dennis' neighbor Clark Churchill which later became the first home of Phoenix Union High School.