Single-family homes have been built around Tucson since the mid-1800s. Prior to that, most homes in Tucson were of Spanish origin which favored row houses with shared courtyards, walls, and public areas. These can be quite similar to townhouses you would see today. American settlers and Arizona pioneers tended to favor the English style of home, which is a typically a square parcel of land with an individual house on it. The homeowners (or landlord) owns everything on the parcel with nothing being shared.
Neighborhoods like Armory Park, Ironhorse, and West University were some of the original single-family neighborhoods to be developed in Tucson. Eventually, Tucson's original downtown neighborhood, El Presidio, also converted to some single-family homes as the older row houses started to deteriorate.
Today, the Tucson area is one of the most amazing places to live due to our sunny climate, natural high desert surroundings, and friendliness of the locals. What once was a small outpost of the Spanish Empire has become one of the fastest growing metro areas in the United States for the last 50 years. We expect this growth to continue due to Tucson's high affordability and excellent quality of life.
Stucco is the most common exterior construction material used these days in Tucson single-family homes. Other exteriors are also found depending on the era when built. Those materials include brick exteriors (
Tucson single-family homes usually require less maintenance than houses in other areas of the United States. Our climate allows for homes to be simpler, and that simplicity means there are fewer things to go wrong.
In Tucson, we almost always have rock or gravel front yards. Gravel requires less maintenance and water, and is less expensive to install. There are some Tucson neighborhoods that have grassy grounds such as EL Encanto and Winterhaven. The lack of grass is shocking to most people used to Phoenix or Las Vegas.
In Tucson, many homes have decorative wrought iron work on doors, windows, patios, and front entrances—especially homes built in a Spanish or Mediterranean style constructed during the late 1970s to 1990s. Today's new 
