Woodlea Historic District

The Woodlea Historic District is one of the northern historic districts in Central Phoenix. It is a small neighborhood, only taking up a few blocks of houses, but treasures are to be found within it.

The neighborhood consists of 166 homes that were constructed from the late 1920s through the mid-1950s. A variety of architectural styles, including Spanish Colonial Revival, Streamline Moderne, Transitional Ranch-Style, French Provincial, Ranch, English Tudor and Craftsman bungalow are all represented within the neighborhood.

In 1928, Thomas Mackenzie purchased 47 acres of lettuce fields north of the city limits for $20,000, according to Phoenix historians. He named the planned subdivision Woodlea due to the abundant trees on the land he purchased. With a handful of homes constructed before the crash, building slowed down substantially with the Great Depression, like other historic districts in the city. Construction continued slowly, with only a few homes being constructed during the 1930s, and by 1936 Mackenzie was forced to foreclose on the remaining lots.

Building picked up again a few years later and boomed during the 1940s. Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built during this period. Some owners hired independent builders to construct their homes, but there were also a few builders who made investments in several lots each.

One of these contractors, Andy Womack, built eight houses and would go on to become a major figure in the Phoenix area, including constructing the adjacent subdivision, Melrose Manor, and the well-known Fairview Place Historic District located to the southwest closer to 19th Ave & Encanto Blvd. Womack and his brother are well known figures who ushered in the modern era of subdivision construction in mid-century Phoenix.