San Diego architecture as covered by Susan Vaughn in the '90s

Bungalows in National City, Rancho Santa Fe mansions. San Diego’s best Craftsman and Victorians, the ugliness of Pardee homes

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Sept. 22, 2016

Frank Kimball House and Museum. National City was incorporated in 1887 and within a few years was dotted with ornate Victorian homes. (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

Read about San Diego architecture by Peter Jensen.

When the Bungalows Came to Town

I drive down East Plaza Boulevard and at first pass a series of contemporary commercial buildings — a red Monterey-style Boll Weevil restaurant (“Home of the Steerburger!”); a glass, postmodern McDonald’s Play Place (“Toys and Fun Galore!"), a Spanish-Revival, earth-toned Family Loompya Seafood Market (“Scrumptious Fish on Sale!”)—and then I encounter a procession of bungalows. They are no different from their other National City brethren — modest, weather-beaten, with bars on their windows and doors.

August 28, 1997 | Read full article

It's an exclusive neighborhood, home to Joan Kroc and Jenny Craig, where “entry level’’ homes sell for $1 to $1.2 million and golf club memberships cost between $25,000 and $110,000. (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

Many Mansions

Cathy invites me to attend “Caravan,” an afternoon of “for-the-trade” open-house showings, during which agents inspect local inventory. We drive along Rancho's shaded thoroughfares, and I watch the glossy magazine photographs come to life — horse ranches, sprawling estates, orange groves, palm-lined drives. As a former Berkeleyite, I feel guilty ogling the properties. I know I should curl my lip and mutter about bourgeois excess, but the blue sky, scent of oranges, and nodding horses overpower this urge.

How a Shack Grew into a Big, Brawny Guy Swinging a Hammer

“Frankly, I think it's an incredible waste,” says one high-ranking UCSD administrator. “But the people who donate funds for such things probably wouldn’t redirect their money to things the college needs, like a mass spectrometer. Many of the sculptures are too modern, too freaky. They don’t appeal to those of us here who are conservative. For example, take that big 12-foot-high red-and-yellow shoe they put up [Elizabeth Murray's Red Shoe]. Give me a break..."

October 29, 1998 | Read full article

Del Mar Heights. Pardee’s 15-year building odyssey in Carmel Valley reflects a burgeoning trend. (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

The Garage Identity Problem

A solution that Lagoni admits is imperfect is the “third-car swing garage" — a space set at right angle to the house's facade. Yes, it is inconspicuous but unless one has a large lot, wide driveway, and a teeny vintage Metropolitan, ingress and egress is difficult. In newer Pardee communities, Rassenian & Lagoni have located some garages behind porte cocheres or in courtyards. Slowly, perhaps more slowly than one can angle a Cadillac sedan into a "third-car swing garage.”

April 15, 1999 | Read full article

Senlis cottage, Heritage Park. This vernacular cottage once stood at 1536 Second Avenue. It was purchased by Senlis and his wife for $1200 and is an example of a late-19th -century Victorian working-class home. (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

Unfashionable Castles

This Stick/Eastlake house, which stood at the southeast corner of Second and Fir, was designed by Comstock and Trotsche for John Sherman, a cousin of General William Tecumseh Sherman. From 1892 until 1965, the home was inhabited by sisters Bess and Gertrude Gilbert, who held receptions there for internationally famous entertainers such as Yehudi Menuhin, Anna Pavlova, Arthur Rubinstein, and Marian Anderson, who spent the night there after being denied lodging at the El Cortez Hotel during WWII.

July 1, 1999 | Read full article

El Cajon policeman on Lexington Avenue. Concedes El Cajon City Councilmember Todd Keegan, “The valley floor needs a lot of improvement." (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

City of Boxes

Before the 1950s, El Cajon had been a sleepy valley of citrus groves and vineyards. But a population stampede prompted developers’ bulldozers to raze the croplands to make room for hundreds of new families. This sudden change from agrarian to suburban vista put the EI Cajon Citrus Association, which had been operating since 1918, out of business. Between 1950 and 1960, El Cajon’s population increased by 623 percent. It became the second fastest-growing area in the state.

July 22, 1999 | Read full article

3676 28th Street. One of six homes by David Owen Dryden to see. (Sandy Huffaker, Jr.)

A Perfectly Sanitary, Labor-Saving House

I’m a Boomer, and I’m tired of all the plastic. But Arts and Crafts zealots may have trouble finding furnishings and fixtures from the period, he warns. “Antique shops here are pretty devoid of it, because it’s been gobbled up so quickly. I believe a lot of Arts and Crafts furniture is locked up in the John Wayne generation’s closets. And I think a lot of them just don’t know what they have or what it’s worth.”

Nov. 4, 1999 | Read full article

Postmodernist students look for meaning in the movement’s designs. Perhaps San Diego’s two screwdrivers, the Hyatt and One America — harbingers of shapes to come — are tools for its future.

Invasion of the Tall Buildings

Perhaps the most significant structure erected downtown during this era was the 13-story San Diego Trust & Savings Bank built in 1928 at 530-540 Broadway, the 240-foot Italian Renaissance Revival structure became the county’s tallest commercial office high-rise. Its massive pillars, marble floors, and heroic arches emanated luxury and power. At a time when most buildings’ elevators traveled 300 feet per minute, the Trust & Savings Bank Building’s elevators ascended at an ear-popping 660 feet per minute.

March 30, 2000 | Read full article