Justice O’Connor’s Ariz. home makes National Register
PHOENIX — Before she was hearing cases on the U.S. Supreme Court, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was bringing people together in her historic Arizona home.
The 1950s adobe, where the first woman on the nation’s highest court loved to cook and serve meals across party lines, was added Friday to the National Register of Historic Places.
“This is where she had these very productive policy conversations,” Arizona State Preservation officer Kathryn Leonard said. “When people were breaking bread with each other ... and getting to know each other as individuals, she believed there was almost no problem that couldn’t be solved over one civil dinner.”
The National Park Service officially approved the Sandra Day O’Connor House as a historic place, marking the culmination of a decade-long effort by the State Historic Preservation Office and the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute, which owns the home in metro Phoenix.
“Justice O’Connor’s adobe home deserves this historic designation,” institute board chairman Matt Feeney said in a statement. “Her storied life is symbolized by this iconic structure that embodies her character and quest for civil discourse,”
O’Connor and her husband, John O’Connor, actually helped place the adobe bricks for the home when it was being built in 1957. The mid-century modern house was heavily influenced by the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.
The single-story 1,700-square-foot property had three bedrooms, floorto-ceiling windows and a large patio where the couple congregated with international guests or state legislators.
The designation means the property is deemed worthy of preservation. It doesn’t guarantee complete protection against demolition. But any federally funded project that could negatively impact the house would have to consider its protection.