Casas Adobes Plaza, Sam Nanini’s landmark shopping center at the corner of North Oracle and West Ina roads, keeps its original Italian statues and fountains and a historic Mediterranean observation tower, and the town page says many considered his plaza and subdivisions Tucson’s first suburb. Casas Adobes Plaza is printed on this map, along with Casas Adobes Park, the Casas Adobes Congregational Church and Amphi Academy at Donaldson, from Valley View out to Tucson National Estates, with Garfiled Wash and Geronimo Wash. The Cañada del Oro crosses the land as well.
Casas Adobes is in Pima County, on the north side of the Tucson metropolitan area, south and southwest of Oro Valley.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded relief of the washes and foothills comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. The community covers 22.6 square miles and stays unincorporated, though the town page notes it’s older than both Oro Valley and Marana. Casas Adobes had 70,973 people at the 2020 census.
Citrus and guest ranches
The land between the Cañada del Oro on the north and the Rillito River on the south was cattle country until the 1920s, when Tucson had grown far enough north and the automobile made the area easier to reach. One of the first people to build a home here was Maurice L. Reid, who came to Tucson in 1923 looking for a “walking cure” for tuberculosis. In the late 1920s he bought a 1,500-acre former ranch bounded by North Oracle Road, Orange Grove Road, Ina Road and North La Cholla Boulevard, and he planted more than 200 acres of citrus trees and date palms that became the heart of Tucson’s citrus industry. Some larger estates still keep his groves and orchards.
In the early 1930s Leonie Boutall, who had come from Tennessee because her doctor said the dry air would help her bronchial troubles, bought 100 acres west of North Oracle Road and built Rancho Nezhone, a luxury guest ranch of lush plantings, monkeys and parrots. Kate Smith, Liberace, General John Pershing and William “Hopalong Cassidy” Boyd all stayed there. The site is now the Mission Palms Apartments, where much of the original planting and a 300-stone wall in front still remain.
Adobe houses
Sam Nanini, born in Italy and later of Chicago, moved to Tucson in 1948 with his wife, Giaconda, hoping to ease her asthma. Beginning in the mid-1950s he developed three subdivisions on about 300 acres, mostly large ranch-style homes built of adobe brick, and they became the heart of the community and gave it its name, Spanish for “adobe houses.” Nanini and his son William went on to build the Tucson National Resort, now the Omni Tucson National Resort, home to the PGA Tour’s Tucson Open for more than forty years, and the Tucson National Estates subdivision. The town page says Jack Nicklaus was discovered and promoted by Nanini. Pima County’s Nanini Branch Library is in Casas Adobes.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Names on this map
These names are printed on this map.
Streets and roads: W Sweet Haven Dr, W Flying Diamond Dr, W Spectacular Way, W Greenock Dr, W Oasis Rd, W Sumter Dr, Linda Vista Blvd, Cam Horizante, Lobo Rd, W Pecos Way, Oasis Dr, N Linda Vista Pl.
More street names, A to Z
Burke Dr, Chapala Dr, Club Dr, E Ina Rd, E Linda Vista Blvd, E Orange Grove Rd, First Ave, Greenwood Rd, Hardy Rd, Las Lomitas Rd, Messner Rd, Moall Dr, N Christie Dr, N Cross Rd, N Quail, N Silverbell Rd, N Sunray Dr, N Thornydale Rd, Orange Grove Rd, Panorama Dr, Patrick Rd, Ramar Rd, Sage St, Twin Peaks Rd, Valley Vw, View Ln, Walker Rd, W Auto Mall Dr, W Birch Way, W Cam de la Amapola, W Canada Hills Dr, W Cll Concordia, W Cortaro Farms Rd, W De Green Ln, W Desert Splendor Ct, W El Camino del Cerro, W Gymkhana Way, W Hardy Rd, W Jacob Rd, W Lambert Ln, W Las Lomitas Rd, W Lucero Rd, W Magee Rd, W Panorama Rd, W Paradise Ln, W Sahuaro Divide, W Sunset Rd, W Ternero St, W Valle del Oro Rd, W Via Hacienda, W Wetmore Rd.
Desert corner
Tohono Chul, a botanical garden, nature preserve and cultural museum on 49 acres northwest of North Oracle and West Ina roads, was created in 1985 after Richard and Jane Wilson gave their historic home and property to preserve the desert and teach visitors about its plants and wildlife. Its name means “desert corner” in the language of the Tohono O’odham, and in 2008 Travel+Leisure named it one of the Great Botanical Gardens of the World. The town page also notes that Casas Adobes has one of the highest concentrations of mid-century modern architecture in the Tucson area, including Saint Odilia Catholic Church and Dove of Peace Lutheran Church, and that the Westward Look Resort, a dude ranch expanded in the late 1960s, became the Tucson area’s first resort.
The Cañada del Oro, Spanish for “canyon of gold,” rises in the Santa Catalina Mountains, fed by rain and snowmelt from the north face of Mount Lemmon, and feeds into the Santa Cruz River northwest of Tucson; prospectors searched it for gold from the 17th century into the 1930s. It’s printed on the map with Geronimo Wash and Garfiled Wash. Casas Adobes Park, the Casas Adobes Congregational Church and Amphi Academy at Donaldson are printed too. You’ll also find Lawrence W Cross Middle School and EDGE High School – Northwest.
This Casas Adobes map is a good addition to an office, library or den, and it can help teach children the geography and history of the area. It’s made for anyone who calls Casas Adobes home, from Valley View to Tucson National Estates, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the community as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Casas Adobes map.
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