San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
COTTAGES’ FUTURE UNCERTAIN
After fire damage at historic La Jolla site, hope remains that 126-year-old buildings will be restored, rebuilt
The fate of two historic cottages near La Jolla Cove — left boarded up, vacant and deteriorating for decades — has yet to be determined after a fire late last month extensively damaged one of them, leaving a few charred walls standing and a brick chimney intact.
Fire officials said a passerby spotted flames around 2 a.m. on Oct. 26 and called 911. The blaze started in the back of the home, built in 1894 and known as Red Rest, and burned through its roof, floor and walls before it was extinguished.
The adjacent redwood cottage on Coast Boulevard, known as Red Roost, wasn’t burned. It is covered by a large multicolored tarp.
The buildings are among a handful of dwellings from La Jolla Cove’s early development as a seaside resort and art colony and were named national and local historic landmarks in the mid-1970s. Then-owner Jack Heimburge had hoped to knock the buildings down to build an apartment complex and fought the designations as an infringement of property rights.
For the next 40 years, the cottages — forerunners of the California Craftsman-style bungalow — were left to decay, becoming notorious eyesores in the picturesque spot. Most of the other original cottages in the cove have been demolished.
News of the destructive fire came as a blow to preservationists who had long feared a fire could ignite at the vacant buildings. Both cottages were set ablaze in June 2002 by a suspected arsonist, causing some damage before flames were put out.
“Any time you have a property or a building that has been abandoned, there are all kinds of risk to it,” said Heath Fox, executive director of the La Jolla Historical Society. “They were the victims of the worst thing that can happen to historic buildings and that is, they are abandoned. And they are not restored and reused for something that people today need it for.”
When he heard about the fire, Heath jumped in his car and rushed to inspect the damage.
He wasn’t alone. Architect Wayne Donaldson was in Yuma when he heard about the
nite at the vacant buildings. Both cottages were set ablaze in June 2002 by a suspected arsonist, causing some damage before flames were put out.
“Any time you have a property or a building that has been abandoned, there are all kinds of risk to it,” said Heath Fox, executive director of the La Jolla Historical Society. “They were the victims of the worst thing that can happen to historic buildings and that is, they are abandoned. And they are not restored and reused for something that people today need it for.”
When he heard about the fire, Heath jumped in his car and rushed to inspect the damage. He wasn’t alone. Architect Wayne Donaldson was in Yuma when he heard about the fire. Donaldson worked to save and revitalize dozens of historical landmarks in San Diego before taking on the job as state historic preservation officer in 2004 and moving to Northern California.
He, too, raced to the coast, arriving while it was still light. What he saw left him feeling depressed.
“Those poor buildings are really pieces of monumental architecture that date back to the turn of the century. There are very few of those left in La Jolla,” he said. Seeing the damage up close was an emotional experience.
“When I was in there I could smell the burnt embers and the structure was creaking,” Donaldson said. “I just had to see for myself if anything was salvageable. Even the floor was burnt... Going through the house I felt lonesome, I felt cheated. I felt like something in La Jolla’s heritage has been stolen again.”
The owners of the property have indicated a desire to restore and reconstruct the cottages — but some fear the fire could mean the end of Red Rest.
“Based upon my 45 years of working in historic preservation, normally what happens when buildings are lost like this and you are able to build something new, normally the owner does not opt to reconstruct their building,” Donaldson said.
Arson investigators went through the home to look for clues but have not been able to determine a cause of the fire, said San Diego police Sgt. Rick Pechin, who is on the city’s Metro Arson Strike Team. No video surveillance of the incident was located. He said if any clues emerge, the investigation could begin again.
Within days, workers erected chain-link fences around the two homes to protect them from trespassers or any further damage. Items like sinks and bathtubs were intact and could be salvaged, along with undamaged wood and bricks from the home’s fireplace.
Architect Tony Ciani, active in San Diego preservation fights in the past, said he will advocate for the two cottages to be stabilized, protected and reconstructed in their original setting. Architectural historians have called the bungalows “monuments of American architecture” and said they represent fundamentals of our American heritage, he said.
The cottages not only are La Jolla’s oldest buildings on their original site but represent the arts and crafts style of construction in La Jolla’s early period and were a prototype to the California bungalow-style that became prominent in the 20th century, Fox told the La Jolla Light.
While there is little left of Red Rest in terms of original materials, Ciani said the structure has been well documented in drawings and photographs. He said it is possible to reconstruct it relying on the records and using the same methods and materials.
City officials say it is too soon to say what will happen to the cottages, but they want residents to know that the community “is going to have ample opportunity to provide input on what happens with that site,” said Scott Robinson, a spokesman with Development Services.
Architects working on the project met with city staff Friday and were told to return Monday with detailed plans on how they intend to better secure and protect the structures, including protecting them from wind and rain. They also need to provide a timeline for their proposal, said Gary Geiler, assistant director of the city’s Development Services Department.
The cottages were used as residences up until the 1970s when they were purchased by Heimburge, the owner of the hotel next door. The property was acquired by Denverbased Apartment Investment and
Management Co. in 2014 and sold in 2018 to a group of investors in the hotel business after litigation that prohibited development was resolved, according to the La Jolla Light.
On its website, preservationist group Save Our Heritage Organisation described the lengthy fight to save the two La Jolla cottages as “one of the most frustrating challenges in SOHO history,” and noted that despite being listed on historical registers they have “suffered greatly” as restoration and development plans have been stalled.
“Before they became dilapidated, they were character-defining features of the early La Jolla beach community and the cove,” Bruce Coons, executive director of the organization, said in an email. “I think everyone that passed them wondered what it would have been like to live there and sit on their great open verandas overlooking the cove after a day at the beach.”
The new owners contacted Coons after the sale went through to say they planned to restore and incorporate the buildings into their development plans for the site. He is hopeful that work will still occur.
Paul Benton, an architect representing the owners of the property, said planning for rehabilitating the cottages had been under way long before the fire. While plans are not yet being made public, Benton said they center on a goal of creating a useful building that “not only respects the heritage” of the site but is a “new center of attraction” for the area.
“They really intend to take good care of it, and this is quite a setback,” Benton said, adding that the owners were appalled to learn of the fire. “They were quite upset.”
“It has been a real dilemma, how do we go about preserving something like this ... There is no intention to demolish any of them. Everyone recognizes the value in these.”