Stillwell House

Garden-style event venue featuring an elegant hall and a patio for wedding parties and corporate events.

About Stillwell House

Stillwell House is a family-owned and operated event venue in Tucson's Historic Downtown and Arts District. The garden-style property offers a historic setting for weddings, corporate events, and other special occasions, with an elegant main house, a landscaped courtyard garden, and the 1901 Bar Room. Its setting combines indoor and outdoor spaces with the character of an authentic Tucson property landmark.

The venue's history reaches back to 1901, when James Twiggs, an Irish innkeeper, and his wife, Lucy Stillwell-Twiggs, built the house as a boarding house for railroad workers. The property fell into disrepair in the 1980s and endured two fires while vacant, leaving the facade charred and the interior damaged. A local couple purchased the building in 1988 with plans for a sheet music store and performance space. Although the facade could be salvaged, the interior required extensive work, and renovations were completed in 1990, when the house opened for bookings.

The Flores family of El Charro Café purchased Stillwell House in 2000 after searching for a distinctive location for a family wedding. Today, the property is owned and operated by Candace Flores Carrillo, a certified wedding planner with more than 25 years of catering and event design expertise. Her mother, Chef Carlotta Flores, leads Stillwell Catering Co. with its culinary team. Together with the broader staff, they bring experience in event planning, food and beverage, restaurant management, culinary creativity, and event details.

Guests enter through double mesquite wood gates into a brick-lined courtyard accented by landscaped grounds, blossoming fruit trees, fountains, lounge settings, and bistro lights. The Courtyard Garden includes mature shade trees, romantic lighting, and a garden bistro suited to morning brunches by the fountains. Its brick and patio areas can accommodate ceremonies, receptions, dinners, and dance floors. The Twiggs House provides a two-story indoor setting for ceremonies, cocktail hours, and plated dinners, with a white banister staircase that offers a distinctive photo setting. The 1901 Bar Room, once the property's carriage house, contains an antique bar dating to around 1900 from the Old Pueblo Club. It can serve as a space for cocktail hours or dancing and includes an entertainment stage, dance floor, restrooms, coffee bar, and areas for gifts, cards, cakes, and desserts.

Stillwell House's services include weddings, special events, catering, and photobooth services, along with event partners for additional planning needs. Event packages include tables, mahogany chairs, and an assortment of linens. With its combination of historic architecture, garden surroundings, indoor rooms, and in-house catering, the venue gives Tucson event hosts several ways to shape a gathering. Prospective clients can begin by connecting with the Stillwell House team to discuss their event, explore the property and its settings, and determine which services and spaces fit the occasion.