Photos by Art Holeman An overhang of beams and latillas brings sun-streaked shade into the enclosed brick-floored entry courtyard. A cantera cross the homeowners purchased in Mexico is displayed in a nicho above a bed of sago palms. Flanked by lanterns and chile ristras, the glass door opens to the living room.

A Tucson Home Meshes Well With Its Natural Environment and Colorful Regional History

While a Ranch-style home in Tucson served Patty and John Doerr well for many years, it never quite lived up to the couple’s impression of this area of Arizona, which they consider “special and unique.”

So, with their children grown and gone, the two decided it was time to make a change, and they purchased land on which to build anew.

Having traveled often to Mexico, they had dreamed of one day living in a Hacienda-style residence—one with elements they had seen in homes and hotels south of the border. Prime among them: a romantic-looking central courtyard; fountains; beamed ceilings; and a colorful tiled kitchen with cozy banco seating.

“We wanted to build a home that reflected our strong and rich cultural heritage here in Tucson,” says Patty. This blending of Spanish, Indian and Anglo influences “has given Tucson its character and an identity not found anywhere in the state.”

The home meets all their requirements. Exterior walls with the look of adobe are reminders of how Spaniards, Mexicans and Native Americans had used the material for centuries. Anglo settlers in the Southwest came along and added glass windows to the adobe construction.

Lit by vintage iron sconces from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a hallway becomes a mini gallery. A painting by Howard Terpning hangs over the 19th-century French cabinet, and artist Harley Brown’s portrait of an Indian hangs at the cabinet’s right side. The fragile 18th-century English ladder-back chair is roped off for guests’ safety. Flooring is brick in a herringbone pattern, “a look that’s very Old Arizona,” says homeowner Patty Doerr.

Bringing the couple’s dreams to fruition was architect Michael Franks, builder Jeff Franks, and interior designer Pam Duncan, who coordinated furnishings and other elements of main spaces. Interior designer Anne Gale, a Phoenix Home & Garden Master of the Southwest, offered guidance in the early days of the project.

“The house is a Territorial that lives like a hacienda,” with its courtyard and covered brick patios—or portales—providing a strong indoor/outdoor connection, the architect notes.

It was Gale who suggested adding character to the house with antique doors from Mexico. One comes upon a pair of them, used as gates, at the entrance to the home’s entry courtyard.

With its tiled trough water feature and potted plants, the space has its origins in the Spanish colonization of the New World. “Initially, courtyards were created out of needs for privacy and security,” the architect says. “We translate that by adding landscaping, water and wonderful amenities for year-round living.”

Indoors, the decor is one of informal elegance; it is rich with European, Asian and Mexican collectibles the homeowners acquired during their travels.

Under Spanish-inspired beams and carved corbels, the living room and adjacent dining room are eclectic in spirit. Here, a Vietnamese portrait painting mixes well with select French Provencal furnishings. The French pieces are compatible with Hacienda style, notes Duncan. “In the history of the colonial periods of Mexico, the French were there,” she says, reminding one of the short reign of Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota.

With its soothing palette, inviting ambience and fine Santa Catalina Mountains view, the living room is a vision of comfort and serenity.

Along with heavy beams and corbels, the backdrop the designer worked with indoors included red-brick flooring. “The brick floor is a new version of the old oxblood floors used in Arizona and New Mexico,” the Santa Fe-based designer points out. Before the railroads brought bricks out West in the 1880s, she says flooring was made of dirt mixed with ox blood.

This house is very livable, Duncan relates. “It was made for family comfort”—for when the Doerrs’ “bunch of adorable grandsons” visit and have a good time running through it. Patty agrees: “This is a happy home, I must say!”

This Hacienda-style residence, with its burnt adobe-like slump block exterior, satisfies the couple’s wish for a house that meshes with its environs. “We have a rather organic home,” Patty remarks. “It doesn’t stick out, but it rather blends into the land and feels balanced with it.”

Interior designer Pam Duncan designed this Hacienda-style kitchen. The stainless steel island top mimics the zinc often used in Mexico, notes homeowner Patty Doerr. Designer Anne Gale recommended placing Mexican tile around the steel-framed window for an authentic hacienda look.

A 19th-century French Provencal hutch laden with Talavera dishes has a place of honor in a boldy painted niche.

Antique doors from Mexico open to the powder room. “I found an old sabino wood Spanish trunk in San Miguel de Allende and had it made into a vanity,” says Doerr. The brass sink and faucet also came from San Miguel. The mirror is French.

Just beyond the living room, the dining area is international in spirit. Surrounding the custom table are Queen Anne-style chairs—two of them painted red with floral accents. In the nearby arched niche, painted a bright yellow, a painting the homeowners bought during a trip to Vietnam hangs above an antique French Provencal buffet.