El Presidio, the prominent downtown historic district of Tucson, AZ, arose from the Spanish fort, El Presidio San Agustin del Tucson, the adobe walls of which were completed in 1787. These sun-dried, double adobe brick walls of the rectangular fortress that stood tall for nearly one hundred years, were fixed approximately along Main Avenue (El Camino Real) on the west, Washington Street on the north, Church Street on the east, and West Pennington on the south. The Spanish soldiers who built and occupied the Presidio of Tucson arrived here to drive off Apache Indians who raided growing Hispanic settlements along the Santa Cruz River Valley. The Presidio garrison also protected the Tohono O'odham, a Native American agricultural community lying nine miles to the south of the San Xavier del Bac, the mission established in the early 18th century by the Jesuit priest Eusebio Kino.

Today¹s El Presidio Historic District is composed of a few square city blocks and is only a fragment of a former quiet neighborhood of ample trees, private homes, rentals, condominiums, and offices. El Presidio now rests nestled between the Santa Cruz River Channel on the west, Sixth Street on the north, Church Street on the east, and Alameda Street on the south. Within El Presidio neighborhood, composing part of the Historic Art Block of the Tucson Museum of Art, stand the oldest residential adobe structures to be found in Tucson. The Cordova house on Meyer Avenue dates from about 1850, while the Fish-Stevens house and the Sam Hughes house on Main Avenue date from the 1860s. Further north along Meyer Avenue may be found several adobe row houses constructed during the 1870s and 1880s. In the area known as "Snob Hollow", gracing the west side of Main Avenue and descending towards the Santa Cruz River, there still remain a few elegant homes build after 1900 by Tucson¹ wealthiest families.

Although El Presidio neighborhood traces its cultural and architectural roots to the establishment of the Spanish Presidio, within the district is evidence of an earlier Native American settlement, dating from perhaps as early as 200 AD until the 14th century.

Today, nearly 80 historically important and architecturally significant homes constructed between the mid-1800s and 1912 remain in the district. Although a relatively small and homogeneous neighborhood in many respects, the El Presidio Historic District reflects a great diversity of architectural styles: Sonoran, Transformed Sonoran, Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, Victorian, Sullivanesque, and Craftsman styles are all represented.

El Presidio received its City Historic District designation in 1975 as part of Tucson's bicentennial celebration. National Register status was acquired in 1976.

Prior to district designation, many significant historic homes were lost to private demolition and urban renewal.