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Villa Montezuma
 Designed by the renowned architecture firm of Comstock & Trotsche, the ornate, polychrome 1887 Villa Montezuma has been a beloved landmark ever since it was built for the world-famous concert pianist and spiritualist Jesse Francis Shepard. The colorful artist invited friends and neighbors for classical concerts and mysterious séances in grand rooms with specially commissioned stained-glass windows at a time when cultural offerings were relatively scarce in San Diego.
Returning to SOHO's Most Endangered List after a three-year absence, the Villa remains empty and vulnerable, and City officials still have not managed to get a non-profit group to operate it. It is well past time for the City to provide regular public access to this magnificent site, as the community deserves to have its most iconic landmark back. The City has been working with The Friends of the Villa, a neighborhood group that hosted an open house four times a year, but even then public access remained limited. The rest of the time, this architecturally fragile residence is shuttered, and its complex paint schemes and delicate exterior trim deteriorate by the day. Since early 2009, when its lease was abandoned and the Villa reverted back to City supervision, this captivating landmark has remained mostly closed, and highly vulnerable to vandalism and decay.
SOHO helped save this important site in 1971, when the then-occupied house first left private ownership. Because of this early association, when SOHO was only two years old, and the subsequent success of operating as a beloved house museum and community meeting space for two decades, it is difficult for our members to see this special building ignored for so long. Before the house suffers any more, the city must restore, reopen, and maintain it. One of our region's finest Queen Anne-style Victorian homes, the Villa Montezuma is an alarming, high-profile example of how the city of San Diego is overwhelmed, understaffed, and ill prepared to properly care for our irreplaceable historic resources. SOHO continues to offer gratis our professional and expert advice and assistance for preserving the Villa, as well as for all other City-owned heritage sites and resources. SOHO is willing to work with and guide any nonprofit the City installs to oversee this treasured home.
Faded, cracked and peeling paint, the prevailing conditions. Photo by Sandé Lollis
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