In 2023, the City of San Diego Historical Resources Board designated 37 historical resources, 35 of which are residences. These include (left) a Spanish Colonial Revival style home built in 1924 by Master Architect William Templeton Johnson, who excelled in this evocative style. (right) An inviting Craftsman bungalow (1920) is the result of the brief partnership of Master Designer Ralph Hurlburt and Master Builder Alexander Schreiber. Photos courtesy the California Historical Resources Inventory Database (CHRID)

They say all politics is local. The same goes for historic preservation.

Thousands of civic-minded and determined San Diegans made 2023 standout by demonstrating strong public support for preservation and helping to defeat (so far) some terribly ill-conceived proposals that threatened irreparable harm to historic homes, other landmarked sites and properties, and historic districts. In short, countless citizens showed up to speak at public meetings or on the street, wrote persuasive letters, and signed petitions to protect our increasingly valuable historic neighborhoods and priceless architectural and cultural heritage.

San Diego’s severe need for more affordable housing, a national crisis, has brought historic preservation to the forefront of available solutions. SOHO presented to the HRB, the city, developers, and the public strong reasons to adaptively reuse historic buildings for much sought after affordable housing with history, character, and sustainability that no new construction can match. By preserving and reusing old buildings, individuals, families, and whole communities come out ahead on economic, sustainable, and aesthetic grounds.

As it has for decades, SOHO helped organize preservationists, community activists, and concerned residents in 2023, often in partnership with Mission Hills Heritage, Neighbors for a Better San Diego, the Neighborhood Historic Preservation Coalition, and other community groups fighting to save a variety of cultural assets, from the 1962 Mission Hills Branch Library to historic trees and lamp posts. Organized preservationists effectively lobbied the San Diego Historical Resources Board, the City Council, and the Planning Commission, among other entities.

Notably, SOHO is responsible for the city’s carve out for historic resources in the proposed local adoption of California SB 10. However, the carve out was soon removed, which meant historic resources could be demolished without review. Furthermore, by state law, once SB 10 was adopted locally, it could never be changed by any council or vote of the people. These rigid tenets led to the large and successful community activism to stop SB 10 altogether (at least for now) by removing it from San Diego’s Housing Action Package 2.0.

SB 10 was just one challenge. More than any other year in recent memory, 2023 saw a pile up of serious threats to San Diego’s preservation ordinance and policies. There was the city’s Independent Budget Analyst’s report, prepared without HRB input, with its unsound, incompletely informed, even detrimental recommendations for historic preservation to the City Council. Read the objections to the recommendations in the IBA report from the preservation community. In January 2024, the HRB’s Policy Subcommittee is expected to discuss whether the full HRB might respond to the report, and to present their conclusions at the January 25 HRB meeting.

Before the IBA report, HRB members were caught off guard by a newspaper story that, unbeknownst to them, the city was embarking on an overhaul/update of its preservation ordinance and procedures. Might the board be eliminated, they asked? Since then, the head of the newly renamed Historic Preservation and Cultural Heritage division of the Planning Department told members they and the public will have plenty of chances to influence and/or shape the update.

Another 2023 development was an uptick in the number of appeals of HRB historic designations and the spread of misinformation about the social and economic impact of historic preservation and California’s best preservation incentive, the Mills Act. Some of the appeals were dropped, others were heard by the City Council, which voted to maintain all but one of these designations.

Historic resources, as we all know, are often vulnerable when developers develop grand visions. Sadly, even a huge swell of heartfelt public support for preserving or adaptively reusing a 1912 Craftsman style duplex in Mission Hills could not save the beloved “Little Red Bungalow.” Nor could new evidence authenticating its design by Master Architect William Wheeler. The owner-developer was evidently unmoved by hours of testimony before the HRB and a flood of letters, preceded by a petition with more than 1,000 signatures. The HRB, for its part, experienced unusually high absenteeism that day, robbing the building of the necessary votes to designate and dooming it to the wrecking ball.

When I first learned the Red Bungalow was endangered, I immediately scoffed at the threat. No way would San Diegans let anything bad happen to this endearing, but undesignated landmark. As home to a couple of well-loved shops over recent decades, the bungalow had become a charming community centerpiece and social magnet.

We all know of historic homes and other old buildings and landscapes that resonate with the personas of accomplished former residents or are architecturally memorable and warm—inviting places that attract social gatherings and enduring community attachment. Call them cultural incubators, spiritual havens, or party houses, these vibrant landmarks are soon woven into a community’s soul. This deeply felt charisma is not officially recognized as a criterion for local, state, or national designation, but perhaps it should be. We already have Criteria A through E, so why not launch Criterion F for charisma, with high marks for community charisma. This would fill a significant gap in the way we recognize our built environment’s cultural heritage and value.

In 2023, the HRB designated 37 landmarks, from the 1966 Ocean Beach Pier (to ensure a historically correct reconstruction) to a College Area birdhouse cupola, a featured detail of a 1936 Colonial Revival style home. As has been the case for years, the vast majority of these are residences: 35 plus 1 commercial building and the pier. This total matches 2022’s 37 designations, but is significantly down from 48 in 2021. The City of Coronado, the next most active municipality in San Diego County preservation, designated four homes, compared with 12 in 2022.

The links below will guide you on a rich tour of historically designated homes and other sites in many architectural styles and settings. Though problematic preservation-wise, 2023 served up these gems, which are well worth perusing from your easy chair. Their protection reaffirms this advocate’s commitment to preservation in a fast-changing region.

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