Inside the Petersen House

On Wednesday I finally decided to go and visit The Petersen House Museum in Tempe. The outside of this house is decidedly very pretty but just wait until you see the interior. The house has been semi-remodeled but mostly restored to it's original condition. Although completely furnished none of the furniture is original to the house however it is true to the time.

The house was built back in 1892 and yet only three families lived there. When the Petersens passed it was willed to a relative but it was stipulated that the house could not be sold. An ASU art professor rented the house for some 18 years up until 1967 or around that time. It wasn't until the mid 80's that the house was given to the Tempe Historic Society and the restoration begun.

Upon entering you see how grand the house is by the foyer's look. The house was built specially for Mr. Petersen's wife. She was accustomed to living in a similar house back east and that's when a well known architect was commissioned to building it.

Although three different families lived there only the Petersen's used the master bedroom in the second floor. There is a huge amount of detail such as the picture rails, the wooden floors, the wall papered borders which to this day are still the original borders and there is even a mural that sits over the chimney that at one point was painted over it. It was discovered by chance while restoring the house and little by little it was cleaned. The parlor had a similar mural but that one could not be saved as it was heavily damaged.

I hope you enjoy the following tour throught this beautiful house.

The dinning room used to be where the parlor is until this was turned into the new dinning room.
This beautiful mural was painted over but recovered during the house restoration.
This is the master bedroom that was only used by the Petersens only, no one ever occupied it after they passed.
How's this for a refrigerator. I believe this is circa 1930s.
This is an original chandelier.


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