Red Rest and Red Roost Bungalows

For more than 25 years, SOHO has placed the Red Rest and Red Roost cottages on its Most Endangered List. Few historic places in San Diego better illustrate the consequences of prolonged neglect and inadequate enforcement of historic preservation protections.

Built in 1894, the 132-year-old cottages are among La Jolla’s oldest surviving buildings. These modest redwood bungalows are rare reminders of the seaside artists’ retreats that helped shape La Jolla’s earliest character and are important precursors to the California bungalow tradition that would become so deeply associated with San Diego and throughout Southern California.

The cottages were designated historic resources by the City of San Diego in 1975 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 2024, they received additional and particularly important recognition: Both Red Rest and Red Roost were identified as contributing resources within the National Register-listed La Jolla Park Coastal Historic District. The National Register District nomination specifically acknowledges the severe deterioration and 2020 fire damage to Red Rest, yet concluded that the cottages retained sufficient historic integrity to contribute to the district.

For decades, SOHO has worked with successive owners and City officials to encourage stabilization, restoration, rehabilitation, and productive reuse. The cottages were sold in 2014 and again in 2018. Despite their protected status, they continued to deteriorate while the City continued to fail to adequately enforce its demolition-by-neglect ordinance.

In October 2020, an arson fire nearly destroyed Red Rest and damaged Red Roost. After the fire, the owners publicly committed to stabilizing and restoring the cottages.

In 2022, architects submitted plans to rehabilitate both historic buildings, reconstruct missing historic features, and adapt them for commercial use as part of a larger development proposal that included a new four-story, eight-unit condominium building and underground parking. That application was suspended for inactivity in 2024.

Now the situation has changed dramatically. The City has issued an environmental determination allowing demolition and removal of the remaining historic fabric of Red Rest while permitting stabilization work on Red Roost. The determination relies on categorical exemptions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and on the City's conclusion that Red Rest no longer qualifies as a historical resource because of the damage sustained in the 2020 fire.

That erroneous conclusion is being challenged. The Museum of History and Culture La Jolla (formerly the La Jolla Historical Society) filed an appeal on June 16, 2026, arguing that the proposed demolition would harm the integrity of the historic district, which was approved by state and national preservation officials. The appeal, which SOHO stanchly supports, points to the 2024 National Register nomination’s identification of Red Rest and Red Roost as contributing resources even after the fire and deterioration. It argues that the City failed to evaluate the impact of removing Red Rest on the pair of cottages and on the La Jolla Park Coastal Historic District as a whole.

The appeal also argues that the City failed to evaluate feasible preservation alternatives, as CEQA requires. before approving Red Rest’s removal. Myriad feasible alternatives include stabilization, retention of surviving historic fabric, rehabilitation, partial reconstruction, and reconstruction using salvaged materials.

Here is the critical issue: Fire damage does not automatically erase historic significance. The National Register District recognized the cottages as contributing resources after the fire, and the City's own permit requirements acknowledge the continuing historic value of the surviving materials by requiring their salvage.

The Red Rest and Red Roost form a rare surviving historic ensemble associated with La Jolla's earliest development and tourism origins. They are contributing resources in a nationally recognized historic district. Allowing decades of neglect to result in the permanent loss of one of the cottages would send a message that contradicts the City’s own policy.

Neglect should not become a path to demolition. The City must require a complete evaluation of preservation alternatives for the cottages, including stabilization, rehabilitation, or reconstruction, using surviving historic materials. The appeal specifically asks that the City's approval of the environmental determination be reversed or remanded for a complete analysis of the effects on Red Rest, the Red Roost/Red Rest ensemble, and the La Jolla Park Coastal Historic District.

SOHO has been warning about the fate of these cottages for more than a quarter century. During that time, we and generations of advocates documented their decline, urged enforcement of the City's protections, and worked with successive owners to find a path toward restoration.

The cottages did not become endangered overnight. They became endangered one missed intervention, one unenforced protection, and one year of neglect at a time.

Red Rest and Red Roost have survived 132 years. Their future should not be decided by decades of neglect. SOHO strongly urges the City to protect them, not simply document their disappearance.

What You Can Do
The future of Red Rest and Red Roost is now in the public process phase.

The appeal will go before a City hearing officer. A hearing date has not yet been scheduled. SOHO urges everyone who cares about La Jolla's history and San Diego's historic resources and its preservation policies to participate when we let you know the hearing date.

Right now, you can also make your position known to City staff and decision makers in advance of the hearing. Write or call City officials, the mayor, and your councilmember with your concerns about the cottages and emphasize that San Diegans expect protections of designated historic resources to be enforced. Read the Museum of History and Culture La Jolla’s letter of appeal.