The Woodlea Historic District In Phoenix Arizona

Roughly bounded by 7th and 15th Avenues, and Glenrosa Avenue and Indian School Road.

There are just over 140 historic homes in the lovely Woodlea district, which you’ll find just west of the shops at Melrose on Seventh Avenue. (In the gridlike streets of central Phoenix, you can’t miss Melrose on Seventh– where 7th Avenue makes its only curve, just north of Indian School Road.)

Visit Woodlea at night to truly appreciate the rural feel of the neighborhood, created by mature trees and dimly lit streets. During the day, you won’t need signs to tell you that you’ve left the Woodlea Historic District either. The lush greenness of this irrigated residential area is noticeably different from the neighboring areas.

You will find a few early Bungalows and Tudor Revivals in the Woodlea Historic District, mostly along MacKenzie Drive. But the typical Woodlea home is either Transitional Ranch or Ranch from the 30s and 40s with red brick, painted brick or stuccoed exteriors and, more often than not, steel casement windows.

As you’d expect in a historic Ranch-style home, Woodlea homes have clean-line interiors, often with their original polished concrete floors. Homes range in square footage from around 850 to around 1300, with either 2 or 3 bedrooms.

Most of the homes in Woodlea are north-south facing, along three shady streets—Glenrosa Avenue, Heatherbrae Drive, and MacKenzie Drive– while commercial buildings line Seventh Avenue along the eastern edge of the neighborhood. That’s Melrose on Seventh, of course. Neighbors can walk to the Copperstar for a coffee and cupcake, or to the Melrose Pharmacy (one of the few independent pharmacies left in Phoenix) or out to dinner at any number of close-by restaurants.

Melrose on Seventh was voted the Best Street Festival in Phoenix by NewTimes in 2009 for the annual celebration that happens along the curve. It gets bigger and better each year.