NEW BOOK COMING OCTOBER 2025

STORIED PROPERTY

Photo by Karina Kedansky

Through her determination, María Cordova turned her downtown adobe home into a place where historical memory, urban renewal, and preservation politics collided.

Author Lydia R. Otero is a historian and memoirist, born, raised, and rooted in Tucson’s oldest barrios.

Explore additional archival layers that contributed to the book’s development.

What is an Interactive Book?

Storied Property includes QR codes that link to archival documents, maps, court records, and photographs. These materials are meant to allow readers the opportunity to explore beyond the photos and maps provided in each chapter.

To access the full range of interactive content, readers need a copy of the book or ebook. The QR codes are embedded throughout and are not available elsewhere, ensuring that this approach to writing and publishing is supported.

In downtown Tucson, La Casa Cordova has long been described as the city’s oldest building, yet its story is far more complicated.

In Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa, historian and memoirist Lydia R. Otero moves María Navarrete Cordova (1895–1975) to the center of the story. Living for decades in her adobe home and often speaking through local newspapers, María was forced out through eminent domain in 1972. Her and her family's removal cleared the way for preservationists to reshape the property’s meaning.

Drawing on court documents, news coverage, and María’s own words, Otero examines how urban renewal and historic preservation converged on this storied site. The book goes beyond historical debates, questioning even the deeds that claim ownership. It asks what it means to protect a building while erasing the people who gave it life and what that reveals about how history is written and remembered.