Commanding Officers Quarters

The buildings at Fort Verde were built in the typical architectural style once found at nearly every 1870s military post in the United States, and probably fewer than a dozen such buildings remain west of the Mississippi River. This one and a half story, ten-room building is in the Second Empire style with a mansard roof. Its outer walls are made of pise adobe covered with board and batten, a method of casting massive adobe in a temporary wooden form similar to rammed earth that was simpler and faster than making adobe bricks and produced a structure less susceptible to water damage. The upper story is wood framed with dormer windows and a shingle roof. On its front porch, Tonto Apache Chief Chalipun and 300 of his followers surrendered to General George Crook in 1873. Fort Verde's commanding officer was typically the senior company captain, whose monthly salary of $166 was enough for his wife to gradually assemble the respectable household furnishings needed for their roles at the center of military society.

Camp Verde, Arizona · United States