Harold Bell Wright Estates Homes for Sale — Tucson, AZ

Key facts

Jurisdiction

Tucson, Arizona — incorporated city, Pima County

Average sale price

$498,000

Price range

$385K – $725K

School district

TUSD (Sewell Elementary, Booth-Fickett K-8, Rincon High School)

Approximate population

~280

Approximate number of homes

~112 homes

What defines this area

• National Register Historic District (listed 2011, NRHP #11000082)
• 116 acres, 112 single-family homes (99 contributing)
• Built on Harold Bell Wright's original 1921 desert estate
• Subdivided 1950 by Mary Gardner & L. A. Romine
• Streets named for Wright's novels — Barbara Worth, Shepherd Hills, Brian Kent
• Burnt-adobe Ranch-style custom homes (1950s period of significance)
• Half-acre and larger lots — large period floor plans
• Retained mature desert vegetation (saguaro, ocotillo, mesquite)
• Wilmot Road & Speedway Boulevard — east-central Tucson
• Walk to Wilmot Library & St. Joseph's Hospital
• No fee HOA — volunteer Harold Bell Wright Estates Neighborhood Association
• TUSD — Sewell Elementary, Booth-Fickett K-8, Rincon High School

About Harold Bell Wright Estates

An east-side Tucson National Register historic district built on the original 160-acre desert ranch of bestselling American author Harold Bell Wright (1872–1944) — credited by multiple sources as the first U.S. fiction writer to sell more than a million copies of a novel and the author of 19 books between 1903 and 1942, including "The Shepherd of the Hills" (1907), "The Winning of Barbara Worth" (1911), "The Re-Creation of Brian Kent" (1919), and "The Mine With the Iron Door" (1923). Wright bought the property in 1921 to escape the failing health that had pushed him out of the Ozarks, completed a large Pueblo Revival main house at the southeast corner of Speedway Boulevard and Wilmot Road in 1922, and lived and wrote there until Tucson's growth pushed up to his fence line in the mid-1930s. He moved to Escondido, California, in 1935, sold the Tucson estate in 1936, and died in La Jolla in 1944. In 1950, Mary Gardner and L. A. Romine purchased the property, platted it as the Harold Bell Wright Estates subdivision, and laid out the streets with names drawn directly from Wright's novels and characters — Barbara Worth Drive, Shepherd Hills Drive, Brian Kent Street, Printer Udell Street, and Marta Hillgrove Street still anchor the grid today. The district covers 116 acres and contains 112 single-family dwellings on a site-specific street plan that combines a relaxed grid with curvilinear interior loops; 99 of the homes were built during the period of significance and contribute to the historic listing. The defining architectural character is single-story Ranch — the majority of it constructed in burnt adobe rather than the more typical slump block, with mid-century detailing layered over the traditional Western Ranch silhouette: deep eaves, low-slung asymmetrical massing, oversized picture windows, exposed beams, and walled rear-yard courtyards. Because the original developers targeted custom buyers rather than tract production, lots are uncommonly large for in-city Tucson — generally a half-acre and up — and floor plans run noticeably bigger than typical 1950s ranches, with retained mature desert vegetation (saguaro, ocotillo, mesquite, and palo verde) screening many homes from the street. The Harold Bell Wright Estates Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 (NRHP reference #11000082); there is no fee-based HOA, and preservation and community advocacy are handled by the volunteer Harold Bell Wright Estates Neighborhood Association registered with the City of Tucson Office of Neighborhood Services (NBH59). The district is bounded by N. Wilmot Road on the west, E. Speedway Boulevard on the north, the El Dorado Hills subdivision on the east, and St. Joseph's Hospital and adjoining parcels on the south, which puts the Wilmot branch of the Pima County Public Library, the St. Joseph's Hospital campus, and the Speedway/Wilmot retail corridor within walking distance. El Con Center is about five minutes west on Broadway, Park Place Mall is roughly five minutes south on Wilmot, downtown Tucson and the University of Arizona are about fifteen minutes away via Speedway or Broadway, and the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area sits roughly ten to fifteen minutes northeast at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Tucson Unified School District serves the area through Sewell Elementary, Booth-Fickett K-8, and Rincon High School (confirm exact assignments by specific address). Recent closed sales in the broader neighborhood have ranged from the high $300,000s for original-condition ranches to the low $700,000s for fully renovated estates, with the average sale price running in the high $400,000s (MLSSAZ, Zillow ZHVI, and Redfin neighborhood reports, Q1–Q2 2026).

Harold Bell Wright Estates is a suburban neighborhood in the City of Tucson, on the central side of metro Tucson, Arizona, served by TUSD (Sewell Elementary, Booth-Fickett K-8, Rincon High School). Homes trade in the $385K – $725K range, with an average sale price of $498,000 across roughly 112 homes and a population of about 280. Kyle Berglund, REALTOR® at Tierra Antigua Realty, represents buyers and sellers here — call (520) 250-8904.

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