The Sanborn Fire Maps for the City of Tucson first recorded this building in 1883 as an adobe dwelling with an attached ramada. Between 1901 and 1930 additions were made to the main building and construction was completed on the outbuilding behind you.
The original building was constructed in the idigenous Sonoran style characterized by a flush-fronted adobe facade, a flat mud roof with parapet walls, stone foundations, canales (projecting roof-drains) and a horizontal mass with recessed doorways and windows limited to the bottom half of the exterior walls. Later additions used the prevailing architectural style at the time. The building has elements characteristic of Transformed Sonoran, Early Transitional and Late Transitional architectural styles. A hipped roof and ventilator holes were added early in the 1900s.
Tucson's first maternity ward, the Stork's Nest, was established here in 1922 by Mrs. Helen V. Jacobs. She continued to operate the Stork's Nest until shortly before her death in 1946. A generation of Tucson mothers came to one of three rooms for the then-typical 10-14 day stay. In 1936, the Pink Room, the best of the three, rented for $35: the Blue Room for $30 and the Yellow Room for $25. This included all meals, care and doctor's fees.
In 1947 the building was purchased by Mrs. James Aspell who undertook a major restoration of the structure. Noted Tucson architect Josias Joestler aided in drafting plans which called for removing the hipped roof over the main building.
The most current restoration was undertaken in 1984 by Southwest Parks and Monuments Association.
This building, located in El Presidio Historic District, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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