[Jjs5056]

Appreciate the thread and photos. It's easy to always just assume things are different because of the weather, but that certainly isn't always the case.

While the addition of levels/stairs between the road and front door had to have been at least partially to try and prevent flooding, the system does a lousy job of accomplishing that. My house is risen 2-3 flights from the road, and still gets several inches of water in the basement during major storms.

I'm more familiar with the details of homes back east, and have really only been inside historic homes in Phoenix that have been converted to commercial use, so I hope at least some of these make sense:

1) Side doors: I've probably walked up those 2-3 flights of stairs less than 10 times in the last 25 years; my home, and most others of the time and in my area have side doors that are more commonly used for entering the house.
2) Mudroom/Foyer: Those side doors are typically accompanied by a mudroom, which would seem like it would be a nice feature in the desert given all the dust, etc. Our front doors also enter into foyers that are completely separated from the main house (the living room would likely be the first main room), some/most of the time by a second door even. The exception would be for center hall colonials, but even those will have a small foyer area separated by a change in grade, flooring materials, etc.
3) Icebox: I *think* I remember seeing someone post pictures of a hidden icebox, but I am not sure how common they were here. Ours has a window at the top where the milk would be placed, and then a cabinet below where I guess the ice was stored when it was a working icebox?