Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

The Cullen House: the first on the bluffs of Cardiff-by-the-Sea

I’d love to see it restored to its former glory

Every fabulous SoCal beach enclave had to start somewhere. This one started here.
Every fabulous SoCal beach enclave had to start somewhere. This one started here.

Editor's note: An earlier edition of this article listed the incorrect address for the home in the info box at the end of the story. It should read 2286 Oxford, not 2886. The Reader regrets the error.]

In 1911, J. Frank Cullen mapped out the original Cardiff-by-the-Sea subdivision. His wife Esther, a native of Cardiff, Wales, suggested the names of various British towns for the street grid, bucking the SoCal norm of Spanish influence on local geography.

Around 1913, or possibly earlier (the listing and historical records are at odds, while tax rolls indicate a 2009 build date due to remodeling), Cullen built the first house on the bluffs to serve as both his residence and an architectural model for the new community. For years, even local historians believed that house — supposedly built on San Elijo Avenue (the one nomenclatural nod to California’s Spanish past) — to have been lost to time, until a visitor from the original Cardiff pointed out that the home was still standing, albeit a few blocks away on Oxford Avenue. It turns out early photographs of the home were a bit misleading – with no other homes yet built in the neighborhood to lend a sense of scale, the Cullen House appeared much closer to the sea than it actually was.

“This is the original house built on the side of the hill in the Cardiff Walking District,” the Zillow remarks promise at the outset of the listing for 2286 Oxford, which, having served as a vacation rental for years, is now up for sale. Let’s have a look, shall we?

The ocean: further away than it looks!

There’s a bit of a challenge here, as there are actually two listings for the property: one asks $4.3 million and includes three parcels on which the home sits, while another is going for $6.35 million but adds another two 25-by-100 foot adjacent lots. Since the cheaper of the two pops up first in my search results, that’s the photo tour we’re going to take (though I did snag a historical photo available only on the other listing).

The first few shots show the exterior; we can see the “180 degree ocean views from all levels,” despite the home being about four blocks further inland than originally thought. I like the original Craftsman styling, the blue-green paint, and the wraparound deck, even though it appears to be sagging a bit above the garage. The home has reportedly been remodeled a few times over the years; the windows appear to be neither original wood nor modern vinyl, but 1960s-style aluminum-framed single-panes, and quite a few of them have air conditioning units unceremoniously jutting out into the atmosphere.

Our first inside shot shows what appears to be just the edge of a kitchen, looking out past an enormous China cabinet toward the dining area. What we’re really supposed to be seeing here is the ocean view just beyond, but I’m going to pause for a moment to admire the open-beam vaulted ceilings. We also see a small living area off the dining room, and looking back, it appears the front door opens directly onto the kitchen. That doesn’t make sense, however, as we’re clearly upstairs, and this door features some inlaid stained glass that the front door pictured earlier on the ground level does not possess.

Sponsored
Sponsored

These photos are confusing me a bit, and the layout of the house, with its upstairs kitchen and mystery door, isn’t helping. Back downstairs, we see a larger living room with a river rock fireplace that’s curiously painted black, coffered ceilings, and wooden shutters over the windows.

Now I think we’re back upstairs, at least judging from the slope of the ceiling in the bedroom we’ve entered. The bedroom, one of four, is spacious but a bit oddly shaped. At least it looks like we get a nice west-facing private balcony.

Heading back outside, we get a few shots of the larger downstairs deck and then many, many photos of the ocean view, interspersed with a few shots of the garden that sits below the house itself. This would be a pretty steep slope (nice for privacy from your neighbors), but someone had the good sense to terrace it off and create a relatively level grass lawn with a pleasant-looking brick patio for al fresco dining.

The listing doesn’t really have a lot to say about the place, and we don’t even get photos of the other bedrooms or a single shot of the two baths before our tour ends. Sadly, that seems to be because the Cullen House’s days may indeed be numbered.

“Check with city to find out if you can still build 6 units on 3 lots or 3 units each with ADUs,” the listing intones, suggesting that the perceived best use of the land is not to play host to a historical home, but to serve as a subdivision, with a bunch of new, expensive residences shoehorned into as little space as possible. That could explain why they’re asking more than a million dollars each for those other two 2500-square-foot lots.

Public records list a Cattail Properties LLC out of Scottsdale, Arizona as the Cullen House owner. Both listings went live in early October, and the asking prices for each have since been slashed by $300,000. I’d love to see this house restored to its former glory, and it looks like lots of the components are there to do so (please scrub the paint off that fireplace), but if you’re going to buy it just to tear it down, please don’t tell me about it.

2286 Oxford Avenue | Cardiff, 92007

Current owner: Cattail Properties LLC | Listing price: $4,300,000-$6,350,000 | Beds: 4 | Baths: 2 | House size: 1781 sq ft

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Holiday Market At Petco Park, Will Smith’s Dance in the Darkness Tour, Light Shows, Snowfall, Caroling

Events December 12-December 13, 2024
Next Article

94th Aero Squadron – French farmhouse still works

Try the antinoise –tomatoes with olive oil dressing plus capers, garlic, toasted coriander seeds, basil, spring onions, salted anchovies
Every fabulous SoCal beach enclave had to start somewhere. This one started here.
Every fabulous SoCal beach enclave had to start somewhere. This one started here.

Editor's note: An earlier edition of this article listed the incorrect address for the home in the info box at the end of the story. It should read 2286 Oxford, not 2886. The Reader regrets the error.]

In 1911, J. Frank Cullen mapped out the original Cardiff-by-the-Sea subdivision. His wife Esther, a native of Cardiff, Wales, suggested the names of various British towns for the street grid, bucking the SoCal norm of Spanish influence on local geography.

Around 1913, or possibly earlier (the listing and historical records are at odds, while tax rolls indicate a 2009 build date due to remodeling), Cullen built the first house on the bluffs to serve as both his residence and an architectural model for the new community. For years, even local historians believed that house — supposedly built on San Elijo Avenue (the one nomenclatural nod to California’s Spanish past) — to have been lost to time, until a visitor from the original Cardiff pointed out that the home was still standing, albeit a few blocks away on Oxford Avenue. It turns out early photographs of the home were a bit misleading – with no other homes yet built in the neighborhood to lend a sense of scale, the Cullen House appeared much closer to the sea than it actually was.

“This is the original house built on the side of the hill in the Cardiff Walking District,” the Zillow remarks promise at the outset of the listing for 2286 Oxford, which, having served as a vacation rental for years, is now up for sale. Let’s have a look, shall we?

The ocean: further away than it looks!

There’s a bit of a challenge here, as there are actually two listings for the property: one asks $4.3 million and includes three parcels on which the home sits, while another is going for $6.35 million but adds another two 25-by-100 foot adjacent lots. Since the cheaper of the two pops up first in my search results, that’s the photo tour we’re going to take (though I did snag a historical photo available only on the other listing).

The first few shots show the exterior; we can see the “180 degree ocean views from all levels,” despite the home being about four blocks further inland than originally thought. I like the original Craftsman styling, the blue-green paint, and the wraparound deck, even though it appears to be sagging a bit above the garage. The home has reportedly been remodeled a few times over the years; the windows appear to be neither original wood nor modern vinyl, but 1960s-style aluminum-framed single-panes, and quite a few of them have air conditioning units unceremoniously jutting out into the atmosphere.

Our first inside shot shows what appears to be just the edge of a kitchen, looking out past an enormous China cabinet toward the dining area. What we’re really supposed to be seeing here is the ocean view just beyond, but I’m going to pause for a moment to admire the open-beam vaulted ceilings. We also see a small living area off the dining room, and looking back, it appears the front door opens directly onto the kitchen. That doesn’t make sense, however, as we’re clearly upstairs, and this door features some inlaid stained glass that the front door pictured earlier on the ground level does not possess.

Sponsored
Sponsored

These photos are confusing me a bit, and the layout of the house, with its upstairs kitchen and mystery door, isn’t helping. Back downstairs, we see a larger living room with a river rock fireplace that’s curiously painted black, coffered ceilings, and wooden shutters over the windows.

Now I think we’re back upstairs, at least judging from the slope of the ceiling in the bedroom we’ve entered. The bedroom, one of four, is spacious but a bit oddly shaped. At least it looks like we get a nice west-facing private balcony.

Heading back outside, we get a few shots of the larger downstairs deck and then many, many photos of the ocean view, interspersed with a few shots of the garden that sits below the house itself. This would be a pretty steep slope (nice for privacy from your neighbors), but someone had the good sense to terrace it off and create a relatively level grass lawn with a pleasant-looking brick patio for al fresco dining.

The listing doesn’t really have a lot to say about the place, and we don’t even get photos of the other bedrooms or a single shot of the two baths before our tour ends. Sadly, that seems to be because the Cullen House’s days may indeed be numbered.

“Check with city to find out if you can still build 6 units on 3 lots or 3 units each with ADUs,” the listing intones, suggesting that the perceived best use of the land is not to play host to a historical home, but to serve as a subdivision, with a bunch of new, expensive residences shoehorned into as little space as possible. That could explain why they’re asking more than a million dollars each for those other two 2500-square-foot lots.

Public records list a Cattail Properties LLC out of Scottsdale, Arizona as the Cullen House owner. Both listings went live in early October, and the asking prices for each have since been slashed by $300,000. I’d love to see this house restored to its former glory, and it looks like lots of the components are there to do so (please scrub the paint off that fireplace), but if you’re going to buy it just to tear it down, please don’t tell me about it.

2286 Oxford Avenue | Cardiff, 92007

Current owner: Cattail Properties LLC | Listing price: $4,300,000-$6,350,000 | Beds: 4 | Baths: 2 | House size: 1781 sq ft

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

94th Aero Squadron – French farmhouse still works

Try the antinoise –tomatoes with olive oil dressing plus capers, garlic, toasted coriander seeds, basil, spring onions, salted anchovies
Next Article

Was Reddit ghost sighter hired by Hotel del Coronado?

Parking 1/2 mile away and complaints of vandalism
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader