The property that would become the Bolsius was first sold by the United States Land Office to French born Severin Rambaud in 1897. A year later it was sold to Missouri-born Robert Dysart Cole who established a farming operation. Cole invested in significant agricultural infrastructure including irrigation acequia which supported crops including 25,000 strawberry plants, 600 apple trees, chili, and cabbage. In October 1909, Cole sold the 90-acre ranch to H. Warren Shepard, a wealthy starch manufacturer from Merchantville, New Jersey, who paid $14,000. During this period, the adobe storehouse and commissary buildings were occupied by several Mexican families who called it comisario. Shepherd sold the farm in 1910, to Nellie and A. R. Swan, who, in turn, sold it to Frank St. John. In 1935, it was acquired by Mary and Ambus Barnet Earheart who owned the property for seven years. 

Bolsius with Pete and Nan purchased the ruins of the Fort Lowell Post Traders Store and rebuilt it by hand into an icon of pueblo revival architecture called Las Saetas. The trio next purchased the adjacent Fort Lowell Quartermaster Commissary ruins on December 18, 1942 from Ambus Earheart and set to work completing a reconstruction and conversion into a collection of five apartments they called El Cuartel Viejo. In the 1940s, with his extraordinary wood carving skills and a romantic stylistic approach Bolsius began construction of his own home. 

Despite his involvement in the vibrant artistic community of Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Tucson, Bolsius charted his own course in architectural design by utilizing adobe runs as the base for his projects.  Bolsius's artistic residence is fusion of revival styles, the outside reflecting the territorial traditions of Arizona and the interior embracing the elements of the pueblo revival. Despite the visual contrast between the burnt adobe mortar washed southwestern territorial exterior and the pueblo revival interior, there is a harmonious spirit connecting them.